2024 Week 1: Panthers 10, Saints 47

This game was never ‘a game’. The Saints scored on their first drive on a 59-yard TD pass to Rashid Shaheed. The very first offensive play for the Panthers was an interception by Bryce Young setting up a Saints field goal. The next few drives of this game for the Panthers went:

Punt-punt-fumble-punt-field goal – Half time – interception out of the gate. 

The Panthers are the worst team in the league and the Sains looked like the best team in the league here, but they’re not. They might not even be a playoff team.

======================================

QB Report:

- Bryce Young (13/30 for 161 yards, 0 TD/2 INT, 4 rushes for 12-1TD) is awful and I will continue to bet against him. This might be the biggest scouting failure since Jamarcus Russell. This was the worst game I’ve seen him play to date.

- Andy Dalton (0/1) is the only thing that can somewhat save this team, being semi-competent.

- Derek Carr (19/23 for 200 yards, 3TD) lit up a bad defense. Not much to say here.

RB Report:

- The Saints OC wants to run the ball with Alvin Kamara (15-83-1, 5 catches for 27-0/5) as he had said all offseason and they did successfully.

- Taysom Hill (5-35-0, 1 catch for 1 yard) is the #2 and is playing in the actual halfback position. Hill and Kamara’s numbers were down because this game got out of hand so quickly.

- Jamaal Williams (11-38-1, 1 catch for 13 yards) was buoyed by the blowout.

WR Report:

- Xavier Legette (4-35-0/7) was getting gassed up by the coaching staff after the game, but he was working the inside and was clearly uncomfortable. He needs to go back to the outside where he was successful in college. There is no sleeper-situation as long as Young is at the helm.

- Chris Olave (2-11-0/2) is great and I saw no issues, there was just no reason to lean on any one receiver.

- Rashid Shaheed (3-73-1/5) could have had 2 more touchdowns, one on a bomb that couldn’t connect, one on a punt return that he nearly broke.

- Foster Moreau (4-43-1/4) seems like the real TE1 over Juwan Johnson (2-26-1/3), but Taysom will always take his share from these guys. Since the Saints want to go the ground-and-pound style of offense, Moreau will get more playing time as the better blocker.

D/ST Report:

I have nothing to say about either of these defenses. Carolina is bad on both sides of the ball.