Saints hand keys to Carr in hopes of a new direction

By Ed Daniels, Sports

So, Saints head coach Dennis Allen has hitched his wagon to quarterback Derek Carr – and vice versa.

On to a new chapter, where Allen’s team is the favorite in a weak NFC South, and Carr gets a chance to jump-start his career, away from the dysfunction that is the Raiders.

Will it work?

There’s no reason it should not. Derek Carr is not the top shelf of NFL quarterbacks, because if he were, he wouldn’t have been a free agent, free to sign with any NFL team.

But, he is certainly in the top 12 to 15 signal callers in a league with a true scarcity of outstanding quarterbacks.

Quarterback play has made or broken many a Saints head coach.

In 1976 and 1977, Archie Manning played in only 10 of the 28 games coached by Hank Stram. Stram was fired after the 1977 season.

In 1986, Jim Mora inherited USFL star Bobby Hebert, who gave him several good years. But, in 1990, when Hebert sat out the entire season in a contract dispute, a talented Saints team eked into the playoffs at 8-8 and lost in the first round at Chicago.

In 1993, Hebert was gone again, as a free-agent signee of the Atlanta Falcons.

The Saints did not have a winning season until 2000, when then-general manager Randy Mueller signed quarterback Jeff Blake in the first hours of free agency, and then in the summer traded for quarterback Aaron Brooks.

Brooks was the starter for the Saints’ first-ever playoff win against the Rams at the end of that season.

Late in the 2002 season, then head coach Jim Haslett refused to bench a struggling Brooks and start Jake Delhomme.

One year later at Carolina, Delhomme threw for 323 yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions in a Super Bowl loss against New England.

In 2006, the Saints took a chance on Drew Brees, and he on them.

What followed was a Super Bowl championship four years later, and three appearances in the NFC Championship Game. When Brees departed, he took much of the Saints offense with him.

The Saints averaged 30 points a game in Brees’ final year. Last season, the New Orleans offense, one that once struck fear in the hearts of opponents, averaged 19 points a game.

So, what should Dennis Allen do?

He should spend a lot of his draft capital on surrounding Derek Carr with playmakers.

Trading up to draft Chris Olave was a very nice start, but the Saints, with Alvin Kamara’s court case looming, need at least one running back, maybe two.

More than anything, the Saints need to be exciting. For 15 years, that was rarely an issue. It is now.

Dennis Allen has bet his second chance as an NFL head coach on Derek Carr, and Carr his second chance as a starter on Allen.

Saints Drive is suddenly the NFL’s version of Last Chance U.

Ed Daniels is sports director at ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].