Saints rebuilt offensive line is surprisingly leading the team to early dominance

Two weeks into the 2024 NFL season, the New Orleans Saints are playing a level above every other team. Winning 47-10 in Week 1 and 44-19 in Week 2, they have officially put the league on notice. Not even New Orleans’ most faithful fans expected the team to look this good to start the season.

While the level the Saints are playing at is certainly surprising, the most surprising thing is they’re being led by an elite offensive line. Throughout the offseason, not one person believed we’d be saying elite offense line and New Orleans Saints in the same sentence. However, after two weeks that’s exactly what everyone is raving about.

Saints offensive line has transformed into an elite unit

This is an offensive line with three new starters, and two of those new starters are extremely inexperienced. Left tackle Taliese Fuaga is a rookie, and he played right tackle in college. Right tackle Trevor Penning is in his third season, but he had only started in six games over his first two seasons, and those starts came at left tackle. Additionally, he struggled, and that’s why he was pulled from the lineup.

This season, though, there hasn’t been any struggle. The Saints offense has been able to do whatever it wants, and that’s because the offensive line gives them the freedom to. Through two games, Derek Carr has only been sacked twice. He’s barely even been pressured; most of his passes are coming from a clean pocket.

In the run game, the offensive line is even better. New Orleans has 370 rushing yards through two games, averaging 4.9 yards a carry. What was assumed to be the team’s weakness has evolved into a strength.

It’s especially incredible to witness, because the line looked really bad in the first preseason game, but they found a rhythm in the second preseason game, and have seemingly built on that moment to become a dominant unit. If they can keep building, the sky is the limit for New Orleans.

Fans have always acknowledged New Orleans’ weapons, and the team’s consistently good defense. The question was always about the offensive line. If the group can keep playing how they’ve been playing, the Saints will have a lot more games like the first two they played this season.

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