METAIRIE, La. -- New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen had a message for his team after Sunday's 47-10 win against the Carolina Panthers: It's just one game.
Allen gathered the players in the locker room after the win, praising their efforts and emphasizing a need to correct mistakes that could hurt them in the future.
"You competed your ass off for 60 freaking minutes. And when you do that, with the talent that we have in the room, we've got a chance to be pretty damn good," Allen told the team. "But that's one. That's one. One doesn't mean anything."
The Saints, whose next test comes at the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Fox), are striving to maintain the same kind of offensive consistency after struggling to do that week to week last season. That was one of the reasons New Orleans hired offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak in February to replace Pete Carmichael. The Saints hoped to modernize their offense and play to quarterback Derek Carr's strengths. They want to utilize more pre-snap motion, play-action and offensive disguising.
The team moved on from the offense put in place by Carmichael and former Saints coach Sean Payton, spending the past seven months since hiring Kubiak installing the new scheme.
Sunday's game seemed like the culmination of that work after the new offense was rolled out almost perfectly against the Panthers. The Saints scored on their first nine possessions and didn't punt until the second-team offense entered. The 37-point win was the largest season-opening victory in franchise history, eclipsing a 38-3 win against the Green Bay Packers in 2021.
Carr completed 19-of-23 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns and was able to spread the ball around instead of relying on Chris Olave, who had only two catches for 11 yards.
Carr was also able to get the home crowd behind him immediately with a 59-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed on the first drive. It was a stark contrast to some games last season when Carr and the offense were booed for their performance.
THE NEED FOR SHAHEED!
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 8, 2024
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/n2sQeJgaa1
"I hope all this love continues all the time, for Klint," Carr joked after the game. "Because this is a long year, and I'm going to remind y'all about everyone loving Klint and myself right now. He had a great game, and anytime you can have a great game in this league, coaching or playing, you'll remember it forever."
It was the Saints' most dominating win since a 34-0 shutout of the New England Patriots in Week 5 of last season. That Saints team, along with the 2021 squad that beat the Packers, lost the next week.
Allen has seen how things can change week to week, particularly with last year's Saints, who never found their groove until the end of the season when they won four of their last five games to finish 9-8. It wasn't a surprise his mood after the game was cautiously optimistic.
"I think the biggest thing when you win a game like that is keeping guys grounded and understanding this is one of 17," Allen said. "So let's focus on the things that we have to improve on. We'll enjoy the win, but we understand there are a lot of things we've got to do better."
The Saints have the best chance of winning the NFC South for now, jumping from 18.6% in the preseason to 38.5% after beating the Panthers. Allen cautioned the team against reading too much into any praise or criticism.
"Look, the honest to God's truth is, and I told the team this today: There's a lot of people outside the building that didn't think we were capable of doing much," Allen said Monday. "Those same people are probably saying a lot of great things about you today, that were saying a lot of negative things about you before yesterday's game. We try not to pay much attention to that."
The Cowboys are coming off a debut in which they had six sacks in a 33-17 win against the Cleveland Browns. The Saints' offensive line struggled in the early part of last season and gave up 15 sacks in the first five games.
In response, the Saints moved left tackle Trevor Penning to the right side, put first-round pick Taliese Fuaga at left tackle and signed Lucas Patrick, who played left guard in Week 1. Patrick left the season opener with a toe injury and was replaced by Landon Young, and his status is unknown.
Allen said the offensive line held up in Week 1, but the Cowboys already proved they'll be a big challenge for the revamped unit.
"When you run the ball like that, when you're able to be effective throwing the ball and your quarterback doesn't get much and you put points up on the board like that, you can't do that and have your offensive line not play well, " Allen said. "And so, I thought those guys played well, and yet we'll have a much stiffer test this weekend."
The Cowboys return several starters from a 2023 unit that ranked fifth in points allowed per game (18.5), total yards allowed per game (299.7) and passing yards allowed per game (187.4). Among those is All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons, who had a sack and five quarterback hits against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson in Week 1.
"We know that we're going to have an extremely tough challenge this Sunday going up to Dallas," Allen said.
The Saints' offensive performance has already set the bar high under Kubiak, and running back Alvin Kamara said he hoped it was a glimpse of what the future could look like.
Now, the goal for the Saints is to figure out how to maintain it every week.
"I hope for the whole season we score on every possession that we get the ball," Kamara said. "That's farfetched, but I think we're going to work like that's the goal, that's the standard. We're going to always work and come out and hope that's the outcome.
"I've been here a while and I know what it was supposed to feel like. It felt good today."