Stunning Fast Start

By Jim Gazzolo

With little expectation from when the season began, the Saints became the early surprise team in the NFL.

They have raised more than a few eyebrows two weeks into the new season.

It’s one thing to pound the hapless Carolina Panthers at home, like they did in the opening week 47-10, but it’s another what they did last Sunday.

The Saints sent a pair of messages to the league when they went into Dallas and destroyed the Cowboys 44-19 in Jerry Jones’ billion-dollar backyard.

The first message is their Week 1 victory was no fluke and they might be a good team, especially on offense.

The second, the Cowboys didn’t fix their defense issues from last season.

The Saints suddenly look like a completely different team than what was expected, racing off to a 2-0 record with the highest-scoring offense in the league. 

Alvin Kamara looked like the best player in the league with 180 yards on 22 carries and four touchdowns. That helped him over the 6,000-yard mark in rushing for his career.

And quarterback Derek Carr, well he looks completely different from a year ago. Carr threw for 243 yards and two scores on 11-of-16 passing against Dallas.. 

The Saints also made it all look so easy, scoring touchdowns on all five of their first-half drives and first six overall. They laid waste to the overhyped Dallas defense, making the Cowboys look slow and confused.

And while Dallas did manage a few big plays, the game was never really in question.

“This is early, very very early," Dallas owner Jerry Jones said after the game. “And we certainly didn’t see it coming. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of room for improvement here.”

Meanwhile, the Saints can’t look any better. 

“It’s just the belief that we have right now,” said Kamara. “I think the sky is the limit.”

A lot of the changes with these Saints point back to new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who has remade that side of the football. That has led to a faster pace of play and much faster starts in games. 

“All I know is we believe in one another,” Carr said. “We had a really hard offseason and a really hard training camp, but it led to days like this. We are thankful for the fast start, but next week is a whole different test.

“Klint puts us in positions where we are comfortable and able to be successful.”

It is also making this team look far better than anybody ever could have expected or even hoped for. The turnaround has come by the team staying in the moment and keeping things simple. 

“It is about us, doing the things we need to do to be successful and to be focused,” said Saints head coach Dennis Allen.

The win was also a bonus for the fans who had to endure a long week that included fighting through a hurricane and its aftermath.

“It’s tough anytime you hear the word storm and New Orleans, so it was tough for some people,” said Kamara.

The season is a long way from being over and a lot will happen, but for now, the Saints have gotten off to the type of start that makes their fans dream big. 

And just think, the Super Bowl is in New Orleans this season, so the faithful of this football team are dreaming big.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese athletics. He is the host of Poke Nation on CBS-Lake Charles