The New Orleans Saints with Drew Brees as their quarterback saw a lot of consistency. Brees and head coach Sean Payton were looked at as a bit of a machine.
This season, there's been a lot more inconsistency around the Saints offense. New quarterback Derek Carr has had some good games and some bad games throughout the season. He would even tell you that there's been some frustrating moments.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was asked about Carr's performance this season, along with the offense as a whole. He brought up Brees' early years with New Orleans.
"I think this season has been a tale of we've had quarters and halves and parts of games where you can see what we can be, but it's hard to point to a lot of games and say from beginning to end this is what we are, and that's not unusual.
I mean, this is Derek's first year with us and if we went back to 2006 and looked at Brees' first season or two with us, you wouldn't say, 'wow, that guy is going to the Hall of Fame' after season 1 or season 2, so sometimes it takes a while for us to be familiar with him, for him to have a real grasp of the offense, in terms of being reactive instead of thinking and making a play and getting on the same page with our staff, our coaches as well as our players."
-- Saints GM Mickey Loomis on offense/QB play this season
His first point makes plenty of sense. The Saints have looked incredible on offense in certain quarters. In other quarters, they cannot pick up multiple first downs. They stall out.
The comparison to Brees' time is a tough one, though. Brees was still somewhat early in his career when he joined the Saints in '06. Carr is a ten-year veteran playing in multiple schemes with different types of offensive talent. It isn't a one-to-one.
Carr doesn't not really deserve to be mentioned in the same category as Brees when it comes to play in New Orleans. He has not played well enough to get that sort of comparison. The excuse is a shaky one.
That being said, it will be intriguing to see how the Saints approach the offseason. If they somehow make the playoffs or even win a postseason game, do they keep most of the offensive staff?
As of late, there's been reports that they'll move on from offensive staff while keeping Dennis Allen. The situation is fluid, though.
If they bring in new coaches and change schemes, Carr will have to begin a new process. His grasp of the offense will have to change because it will be new plays and a different style. That being said, New Orleans cannot keep Pete Carmichael Jr. simply for 'continuity' reasons. That was their original reason for holding onto him after Sean Payton's departure, and it has not worked out for the black and gold.
Regardless, Loomis and co. clearly have confidence in Carr. They think that he will have a decorated Saints tenure.
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