This is a good sign. The New Orleans Saints finished their Week 1 win over the Tennessee Titans with 282 net passing yards — Derek Carr threw for 305 yards but lost 23 yards to sacks. Why is that number important? It’s the highest net passing yards total the Saints have posted in a win since Drew Brees was their quarterback. Their offense is finally starting to look like itself again.
To be specific, the Saints haven’t had more net passing yards in a win since Dec. 25, 2020 (when they had 319). Their highest number last year was 235. It was 271 a year earlier. Yards lost on sacks really shouldn’t count against passing yards (they’re otherwise counted as rushing plays), but net yards do give us an idea of teams’ positive and negative passing plays.
Buy Saints TicketsIt reflects a competent passing game. Too many passing yards in losses reflect garbage time and desperation heaves when the game is already out of reach. When the Saints win and pick up a lot of passing yardage, it means the aerial assault is effective and moving on schedule. And that’s what we saw on Sunday. Carr connected on gains of 20-plus yards with Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Michael Thomas, and Juwan Johnson. That’s exactly the kind of versatile, dynamic attack the Saints ran with Brees. It’s what was missing in the halting and hiccupping version of the offense with Jameis Winston under center, or the defanged and talent-poor units led by Andy Dalton and Trevor Siemian in recent years.
That’s not to say everything is great. They need to do a lot of work on their protection plan, specifically on the left side of the offensive line. Trevor Penning was outmatched by pro defensive ends at left tackle and James Hurst was at fault on several pressures when the Titans used stunts to work around him. They retooled things late in the fourth quarter and helped Penning out with chip blocks by tight ends and help from the fullback, but it was very nearly too little too late.
And the red-zone offense was miserable to watch. Carr struggled to throw clean passes under pressure and he twice missed Michael Thomas in the end zone on their opening possession. His interception was a terrible decision that gave his receiver no shot at working back to the football. This has been a major criticism of his game throughout his pro career and it’s discouraging to see him continue to wilt in scoring position.
But it’s a long season. The Saints have the weapons to elevate Carr’s game in this important phase, and they have time to work on it in practice. It’s very possible they improve. It’s also possible they won’t. Coming off a win, we’ll exercise some optimism and hope for the best.
