TENNESSEE TITANS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
SUNDAY, SEPT. 10, 2023 ● CAESARS SUPERDOME
GAME NOTES
- With the Saints starting 1-0, they will go on the road next week to face the Carolina Panthers on "Monday Night Football" at Bank of America Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. CT and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN (WDSU 6 locally).
- The Saints improved to 22-35 in season openers and continued their club-record winning streak of season openers to five straight. The five straight season-opening wins are the longest streak of opening wins in the NFL.
- Coach Dennis Allen is the first coach in the franchise's history to win his first two seasons openers in charge of the club.
- New Orleans' record against the Titans/Oilers franchise improved to 7-9-1.
- This was the Saints' first win against Titans/Oilers in the Caesars Superdome since a season-opening 33-21 victory over the Oilers on Sept. 5, 1993.
- After holding the Titans to 15 points, it matched the longest streak in franchise history (9/8/-11/10/91) of nine consecutive games holding an opponent to 20 points or less, dating to Nov. 13, 2022. It was the second time in three season openers that New Orleans kept their opponent out of the end zone, with the Saints defeating the Green Bay Packers 38-3 on Sept. 12, 2021. New Orleans held Tennessee to field goals on all three of its red zone attempts.
- New Orleans outgained the Titans 351-285 and won the turnover battle 3-2, recording three interceptions.
- While the Saints converted seven-of-16 (43.8 percent) third-down attempts, New Orleans allowed the Titans to convert only two-of-12 (16.7 percent).
- With eight combined field goals (three for New Orleans, five for Tennessee), it marked the most combined field goals in a Week One contest in the NFL.
- In making his Saints debut today as starting quarterback, Derek Carr started his 143rd career regular season contest, surpassing the retired Tom Brady for the most starts by a signal-caller since 2014, when Carr entered the league.
- Carr is the 37th player to start a contest at the position for New Orleans and the 12th to win his first start with the club.
- Carr completed 23-of-33 passes (69.7 percent) for 305 yards His 305 yards brought him to 35,527 career passing yards, ranked 31st in NFL record books, surpassing Jim Kelly.
- His 23 completions brought his career total to 3,224, ranked 26th in NFL record books, surpassing Matt Hasselbeck.
- Carr had a completion of 45 yards to receiver Chris Olave and a 41-yard completion to receiver Rashid Shaheed. His 83 completions of 40-yards or more since coming into the NFL in 2014 rank sixth in the NFL.
- Carr improved his record against the Titans to 4-2 and his season opener record to 6-4.
- Olave finished with a team-leading eight receptions for 112 yards, marking the fourth 100-yard receiving game of his career.
- Receiver Michael Thomas finished with five receptions for 61 yards.
- Shaheed recorded a career-high five receptions for 89 yards (17.8 avg.) and one 19-yard touchdown, carried twice for 11 yards, returned five kickoffs for 110 yards and two punts for six yards. He finished with 100 total yards from scrimmage and a career-high 216 all-purpose yards, the highest total by a Saint since running back Alvin Kamara's 283 in the 2017 regular season finale at Tampa Bay.
- Safety Tyrann Mathieu finished with five (three solo) tackles to surpass the 700 mark for his career (702)
- Three Saints had an interception, the first time New Orleans had finished with three picks in a contest since Sept. 26, 2021 at New England.
- Cornerback Marshon Lattimore had one pick to give him 15 on his career and move him into a tie with Ernie Jackson, Brett Maxie and Marcus Williams for eighth in club record books for career interceptions. Overall, he finished with the second quarter pick, two solo tackles and four passes defensed.
- Cornerback Paulson Adebo finished with two tackles and one interception to set up the Saints first touchdown of the season
- Safety Marcus Maye finished with six tackles and one interception, his first pick as a Saint and his first since 2020 as a member of the New York Jets.
- Linebacker Demario Davis led the team with 10 tackles (9 solo).
- Linebacker Pete Werner finished with eight tackles and a split sack.
- Defensive end Cameron Jordan, posted five tackles (two solo), a split sack and two passes defensed.
- Defensive end Carl Granderson finished with four tackles (two solo), a team-high 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits.
- Rookie defensive tackle Bryan Bresee, the team's first round pick, made his NFL debut and had a split sack near the end of the first half.
- Linebacker D'Marco Jackson led the team with two special teams tackles.
- Early in the second quarter, linebacker Zack Baun got his hands on a punt that was scored as a punt for one yard, after it deflected out of bounds one yard past the line of scrimmage.
- Kicker Blake Grupe drilled three-of-three field goals, including a 52-yarder and one PAT attempt. All five of Grupe's kickoffs sailed into the end zone for touchbacks. Grupe's became the first Saints rookie kicker to drill three field goals in his NFL debut.
Check out the game action from the New Orleans Saints game against the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season.