"That's #Saints football!"
-DA after New Orleans' 47-10 Week 1 WIN! pic.twitter.com/LTazHlZAsU
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 8, 2024
Dennis Allen took a well-deserved victory lap around the New Orleans Saints locker room after their 47-10 dismantling of the Carolina Panthers, congratulating his team on their total win while working to keep perspective. It’s a long season. It would be great if they could bottle up everything that worked on Sunday and tap into it each week until January, but it isn’t that easy. They’ve got to recreate what worked over and over again and chase success the hard way.
“This is what Saints football is going to be about. Hear me out,” Allen said, referencing the team’s performance on third downs and the offense’s success running the ball. They had nearly as many rushing yards (180) as the Panthers offense gained in total (193). He pointed to a positive turnover differential as a big reason for their victory, but noted there are other things in their control that must be cleaned up.
Specifically penalties. Allen continued, “We’ve got to clean up the penalties. Because that, in a tighter game, is going to be the difference in winning and losing.”
The Saints were fouled 10 times for 95 yards — last year they averaged 5.6 penalties for just 49.8 yards. That’s a huge jump and Allen is right to feel concerned by it. But at the same time this was a win, and he made sure to compliment his team for accomplishing that.
“We played tough. We played physical. And guys you competed your ass off for sixty freaking minutes. And when we do that with the talent we have in the room? We have a chance to be pretty damn good,” Allen said.
A 47-10 win, no matter who it happens against, would be proof of that theory. Let’s see if the Saints can run it back against the Cowboys next week.
