The New Orleans Saints aren't the only ones unveiling a new, revamped offense in the season opener at the Caesars Superdome.
Just as much on Sunday the Panthers will be doing the same, with first-year head coach Dave Canales months into the job after last having served as offensive coordinator for Tampa Bay.
It'll be up to the Saints' defense to quickly assess what Carolina is doing – how much has been shipped in from Tampa Bay, how much retained from the playbook in Carolina, how plays have been crafted to the strengths of second-year quarterback Bryce Young – and to adjust accordingly.
"You're really going back and you're looking at Carolina to see what they did against us for him as a quarterback," Saints defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. "Then you're going to look at the Tampa Bay stuff to see what they did with (quarterback) Baker (Mayfield)."
The Saints split the season series with Tampa Bay, countering a 26-9 loss in the Superdome with a 23-13 win in Tampa, Fla. Mayfield completed 25 of 32 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, with an interception, in New Orleans and 22 of 33 for 309 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions, in the loss.
"So we feel like we're going to see similar things but at the same time, we know they're going to have some wrinkles," Woods said. "I don't know if he's going to sit back in the pocket, if they're going to try to get him on the perimeter, things of that nature. So we're going to have to make some adjustments during the game."
"Every now and then you do see some things that, 'Ah, damn, we weren't ready for that,'" Saints Coach Dennis Allen said. "And yet, you have to be able to adjust. You have rules that can take care of whatever you're seeing, but it might be something that you hadn't really worked a lot against over the course of the practice week."
Carolina's personnel may be as different as the playbook.
Like the Saints, the Panthers have three new starting offensive linemen – left guard Damien Lewis, center Austin Corbett and right guard Robert Hunt. Also, there are two new receivers (former Steeler Diontae Johnson and first-round pick Xavier Legette), all additions made to help ease the load and increase the production of Young, the No. 1 overall pick last year who finished with 11 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, was sacked 62 times and saw two wins in his 16 starts.
"From an offensive standpoint, I thought they kind of beefed up their offensive line," Allen said. "They got probably bigger on the interior than maybe what they've been in prior years. They got a couple of young receivers – Legette was a draft pick this year and (Jonathan) Mingo was a draft pick last year, both of them high picks.
"(Receiver Adam) Thielen is the ultimate professional, and then I think they added an explosive play-maker in Diontae Johnson. So I think they've done some things offensively to really upgrade their team and trying to put some weapons around Bryce Young, help with the protection and the ability run the football, which always helps out a quarterback."
New Orleans' defensive mission is to quickly decipher the ways Carolina's new offense is attempting to help and counter them.
"We had a chance to go up against Canales a couple of times last year," Allen said. "And so, I think from a schematic standpoint we have an idea of kind of what the system is like. And yet, with a different quarterback, I don't know how they're going to want to utilize him.
"I have my thoughts, but again – as it is with everything – when you get into the first game of the season, I just think it's the team that's able to adjust the best that's going to have the most success. Because everybody's going to have something that you haven't seen yet.
"I think that'll be the challenge for us, is finding out what they're trying to do, how they're trying to attack us in all three phases, and then being able to adjust when we need to."
