Saints offense

I don’t know if the New Orleans Saints offense did enough down the stretch to save the jobs of coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. and other assistant coaches. And I don’t know if Derek Carr did enough down the stretch to scratch quarterback off the board in Round 1 of the draft -- where the Saints will have the No. 14 pick.

But I do know that they did their damnedest to change the narrative surrounding this offense over the past six weeks or so – culminating with their most explosive outbreak of the entire season in Sunday’s 48-17 romp over the rival Falcons.

It might not be enough for Carmichael and other assistants because this has been the same story for three years now really with this offense, even dating back to Sean Payton’s last year in 2021 before Dennis Allen took over as head coach in 2022.

And we had this same conversation 12 months ago — the exact same one — even down to the, “Well, maybe they could keep Carmichael on staff in a different role, but they need to bring in a new voice with some fresh ideas like what LSU did with Joe Brady joining Steve Ensminger in 2019.”

Needless drama overshadows best moment of season as Saints can't even get a blowout win right.What's it say about Dennis Allen, the Saints and everyone else that even a 48-17 win can't be easy?https://t.co/1ygRLIEieX— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) January 8, 2024

Most unfortunate of all for Carmichael, this Saints team needs something to sell to an apathetic fan base that showed its disapproval over another Groundhog Day 9-8 season in the form of empty seats or visiting fans taking over too many sections of the Superdome. And the offensive coaching staff feels like the only place to inject something new into this team right now.

Is ex-Raiders coach Jon Gruden a realistic possibility? Anyone who has ever worked in the vicinity of NFL wunderkinds Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel? The next hidden gem like the Lions’ Ben Johnson?

But you do have to sincerely credit Carmichael, Carr and everyone else involved for how radically they tried to redirect the ship midcourse — from their increased use of motion and play action to their drastically improved pass protection to Carr’s constantly improving rhythm with young pass catchers like Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Juwan Johnson and A.T. Perry.

🆕: Our player of the game presented by @HardhideWhiskeyQuarterback Derek Carr🍓: 22/28 passing attempts🍓: 264 passing yards🍓: 4 TouchdownsWatch LIVE: ⬇️https://t.co/rb8ZqJAHtW pic.twitter.com/92lf1sJpgr— NOF (@nofnetwork) January 8, 2024

Throw in rookie running back Kendre Miller's long overdue breakout performance in Week 18 after he returned from his lingering ankle injury as one added sweetener.

“I’d say the last half of the year for us, we were doing some real good things and improving. A lot of yards, getting better in the red zone, situationally third downs. And I felt like this was just like the icing on the top of all the hard work,” said Carr, who threw four touchdown passes for the first time as a Saint on Sunday while completing 22-of-28 passes for 264 yards. “It just came together all at one time for us, and (we’re) really proud of that.

“We didn’t get it done early on like we wanted to; it wasn’t clicking early on. But we wanted to give (our fans) something to be proud of, (hoping it would be) going into the playoffs, but if not going into the offseason.”

Carr, specifically, did more to change his narrative than anyone on the entire Saints roster — in just seven weeks and two polar-opposite matchups against the Falcons.

It was Week 12 at Atlanta when the Saints infamously gained 444 yards but scored zero touchdowns while going 0-for-5 in the red zone (including a 92-yard pick-6 by Carr). And it was Week 13 at home when Carr started hearing showers of boos from the home fans each time he took the field.

But since then, Carr’s passer rating has exceeded 100 in five of his final six games, including a new high of 145.5 on Sunday. He has 15 TD passes and just three interceptions over that span.

“I’ve been really impressed with the way Derek has handled himself all year, the way he’s played all year,” fellow QB Taysom Hill said. “But these last couple of games, man, I feel like everything has kind of clicked for him.”

Carr's 4th TD pass of the gameA.T.'s 2nd TD grabhave a day, fellas#Saints | 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/I0jDL4B7y5— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 7, 2024

Allen pointed to Carr’s improved health as the single biggest factor for the offense’s improvement, considering that Carr suffered a major injury to his right throwing shoulder in Week 3 and later suffered another shoulder injury, multiple rib injuries and two concussions.

Carr said he tried to downplay the significance of his injuries during the season because he knows that sounds like an excuse — and only his wife knows how bad he felt at times.

“But (I will say that) for me, it was the hardest year physically for me that I’ve ever experienced,” Carr said. “So you can’t say that while you’re going through it because then it looks terrible and all those kinds of things. But now that it’s at the end, yeah, I do feel better. The last few weeks I haven’t gotten hit, so I didn’t reinjure anything. And the swelling hasn’t gotten worse, it got better.”

Just as importantly, Carr has continued to talk about how long it takes to develop the right rapport with pass catchers on a new team. And he said he put in as much work as he possibly could with those guys to get their timing and anticipation down as the season wore on.

As I wrote last week, that connection clearly blossomed with Olave. Last week was Johnson’s breakout performance. Sunday was Perry’s, with his first two-TD game.

CHRIS OLAVE. You are insane 🤯📺 @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/DhuvvklaSK— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 7, 2024

“It feels great, because I think we proved over the last two months that it’s not just a fluke. We showed spurts early on … but I’m talking about consistently,” Carr said. “We’ve proven it can be consistent. We’ve proven we can get better. When you work at something with a bunch of dudes that want to work at something, it will get better in time.

“We all wanted it sooner; we wanted it to look like that all the time, sooner. But hopefully, this last half of the year has shown that this is what we can be going forward.”

Offensive linemen like Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz both echoed that sentiment. They know the role that their unit played in both the early-season struggles when Carr was getting killed and the role they played when the pass protection improved so substantially as the season went on.

“When we protected him, he carved guys up. And he gives the playmakers a chance to make plays,” McCoy said. “And as I told y’all earlier, I think a big part of that has been a much larger incorporation of the play-action game. I feel like that’s something we didn’t incorporate enough earlier in the season. (It’s) extremely beneficial to all five guys on the line. …

“Regardless of what happens, I’m optimistic about the future. Shout out to those young cats, freakin’ … when their number was called today, they put up numbers. AT Perry, Kendre Miller, Chris Olave, (Shaheed), all these guys are like 22, 23 and under and they answered the call today.”

Great throw Carr & great catch A.T. 🫡📺 @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/XZfwjvdUlX— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 7, 2024

Again, it might not be enough to save the offensive coaching staff. And it should be an indictment on Carmichael that he didn’t incorporate more play-action concepts sooner, among other obvious changes that spurred the offense.

And no matter who is coaching the offense next year, the Saints definitely must consider drafting a young QB as early as Round 1 to expand their future options. If not QB, then another offensive lineman could be an even higher priority since they don’t know what they’ll ever get out of 2022 first-round pick Trevor Penning. Their run blocking never improved in the same fashion as their pass protection, and both areas could get better going forward.

Still, it’s much better to be having these tough conversations about an offense that played its best football down the stretch rather than one that never showed any glimpses of its potential at all.