Derek Carr didn't a have a ton of time to study the subject, but he was pretty sure that the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season have been the most efficient weeks that he has guided in his now 161-game career.
In fact, victories over Carolina (47-10) and Dallas (44-19) have the '24 Saints as the second-highest scoring team after two games since the merger – trailing the '09 Saints, who totaled 93 points after the first two games.
With Carr on the field, in a new offense installed by first-year coordinator Klint Kubiak and staff, the Saints scored on their first nine possessions (five touchdowns, four field goals) against the Panthers, and followed up by scoring on their first six possessions (all touchdowns) against the Cowboys.
"It's hard to score that many times in this league," Carr said. "Obviously, you want to continue to do that. You want to keep putting pressure on defenses and things like that.
"You see the stats, you see the numbers out there for the whole offense and where it's been in history and all that kind of stuff, and it's cool. But at the same time, it doesn't mean anything this week."
This week's challenge is Sunday against Philadelphia (1-1) in the Caesars Superdome. And the Eagle defense will see a Carr that has operated at his peak for two weeks, having completed 30 of 39 passes (77 percent) for 443 yards and five touchdowns, with an interception.
Against Carolina, Carr almost had as many touchdown passes (three) as incompletions (four) and against the Cowboys, he needed 11 completions (in 16 attempts) to amass 243 yards, including touchdown passes of 70 yards to Rashid Shaheed and 57 to Alvin Kamara.
"There's so much that goes into it," Carr said. "The coaches have been unbelievable, and the standard they've held us to. And our guys have worked their butts off.
"The extra film – you see guys that come in here on their off day, and you see so many guys in here watching and they're in the building and they're doing things to get ready for the game and it's like, 'Wow.'
"It's all that extra hard work, and the offseason that our strength coaches put us through, the OTAs and the training camp that D.A. (Coach Dennis Allen) put us through. It's all that work. How hard it was then, you're thankful for it now."
The early payoff has been an offense that has exploded – including pass completions of 70, 59, 57 (all touchdowns) and 39 yards – which had difficulty generating chunk plays last season, and a quarterback who calmly has driven it.
"His approach has been awesome," Allen said of Carr. "His approach has been awesome since he's been here. I think there's even been a heightened sense of urgency with him, knowing that we were putting in a new scheme and knowing the challenges that go along with that at the quarterback position.
"But he embraced the challenge, he bought in to everything that we've been asking him to do. I think he's in a great head space right now. I think he feels good about what we're doing offensively, I think he's got good rapport with his skill players.
"And so, I'm really pleased with where he's at and what he's been able to do and excited for him. I think he's going to keep getting better. So I'm excited about what he can do as we keep moving forward."
LATT BACK, DOWN HILL: Cornerback Marshon Lattimore (hamstring) returned to practice Wednesday, while tight end Taysom Hill (chest) did not practice.
Lattimore was limited.
"I thought he did some good things," Allen said. "My expectation is he got some limited work today, maybe he'll get a little bit more tomorrow and the week goes on we'll kind of progress ourselves up to being ready to go on Sunday. That's the anticipation and that's the hope."
Hill possibly will return to practice in some capacity Thursday.
"Kind of hopeful that he'll be able to get out and at least get some limited work in," Allen said. "We'll just monitor him throughout the course of the week and hopefully he'll be ready to go and if not, some other guys will have to step up."
The rest of the practice report: Linebacker Jaylan Ford (hamstring) and Shaheed (hip) were full participants; left tackle Taliese Fuaga (back), safety Tyrann Mathieu (heel) and receiver Cedric Wilson (abdomen) were limited; and linebacker D'Marco Jackson (calf), defensive tackle Khalen Saunders (calf) and offensive tackle Landon Young (foot) did not practice.
