By Ross Jackson
What a leap for the New Orleans Saints.
The team made a much-needed change at offensive coordinator entering 2024. Unsurprisingly, the shift to new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has paid off. But what is surprising is just how much the shift has made a difference for the team.
After a, 47-10, rout of the Carolina Panthers to open the season, the Saints ranked with both the No. 1 offensive and defensive play callers to start the season per Steven Patton. Dennis Allen’s defenses have ranked among the NFL’s best throughout his time in New Orleans. Those types of offensive reviews left town with Drew Brees.
There were six first-time play callers on offense this past Sunday, and four of them finished in the top half of the league.
To no one’s surprise, Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, and Mike McDaniel all finished within the top 10 after the first week. pic.twitter.com/1Iy3gIspWi
— Steven Patton (@PattonAnalytics) September 11, 2024
Pete Carmichael ranked second to last in 2023.
Patton, who does remarkable NFL coaching research, gave some further context into his offensive rankings highlighting what are often referred to as “easy buttons.” Those include elements of an offense such as play action, motion and other wrinkles. Per Patton, the Saints deployed more of these factors than any other team, which played a huge role in their offensive success to open the season.
How often did play callers deploy “easy buttons” in their offense? Easy buttons include RPOs, play action, motion, and screen plays.
The four play callers with an easy button percentage of 30% or less are Drew Petzing, Joe Brady, Dave Canales, and Kevin Stefanski. https://t.co/MPnUxdBhu4 pic.twitter.com/sYVUrdagSu
— Steven Patton (@PattonAnalytics) September 11, 2024
As we highlighted in a previous piece, the Saints saw major leaps in both play action and motion to open 2024 compared to what they did all of last season.
Many have been critical of the Saints’ opening game success because they matched up with a favorable opponent. But the opponent does not call your plays for you. That is all Kubiak on the offensive side. Whether playing Carolina or their much more challenging opponent the Dallas Cowboys this week, the elements of play calling and offensive identity should not change. This is a good sign for optimism for the Saints after a couple years of underwhelming impact on offense.
Paired with Allen’s defense, Kubiak’s top-rated offense could help to propel the Saints back to the postseason for the first time since 2021. That would be a welcome result for Saints fans as well as the Saints’ organization. It is early, and you never know how an NFL season will shift and change. But at least early indications are that the Saints’ offense is in the right hands and complements one of the league’s top defenses very well to start.
