Why Derek Carr and the Saints are off to a historic start - ESPN

There are so many different offenses to fear in the NFL. The elite quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen. The dual-threat quarterbacks: Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts. The elite schemers: Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay. The star wideouts with takeover potential: Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill. And of course, the New Orleans Saints, who have scored 4.33 points per drive to start the season. (The best offense this century, the 2007 Patriots, finished the season at 3.19.) The 15 consecutive scoring drives quarterback Derek Carr strung together to start the season is the longest streak since 1978, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. No biggie.

Even the most optimistic Saints fan did not have this on their bingo card: a 47-10 drubbing over the listless Carolina Panthers chased by a 44-19 statement win at AT&T Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys. The Saints were 25th on our preseason Power Rankings, with coach Dennis Allen firmly on the hot seat. Allen's defense still looked stiff, but on offense, they were planning to start rookie left tackle Taliese Fuaga and bump much-maligned left tackle Trevor Penning to the right side in place of the injured Ryan Ramczyk. Franchise running back Alvin Kamara has been asking for a new contract for months. Carr, signed to a big contract as a rare free agent quarterback, was under fire for substandard play in the first year of his deal.

In a last-ditch effort to fix the offense (and save his job), Allen did something that hadn't been done in New Orleans since 2005: He introduced a new offense. When coach Sean Payton was hired in 2005, Payton installed his offense, which was first coordinated by Doug Marrone (2006 to 2008) before Pete Carmichael took the headset in 2009 and held it all the way to