New Orleans 2024 season opener vs. division rivals!
The New Orleans Saints have emerged from the offseason ready to take on whatever the 2024 NFL season may bring. With starting QB Derek Carr, star RB Alvin Kamara, and a WR room led by an already battle tested Chris Olave, the Saints are looking to open up the season with a dominant performance against a familiar foe: the Carolina Panthers.
If the Saints win:
Starting off the season with a win is good enough but doing it against a divisional opponent makes it that much sweeter. Defeating the Panthers at home here would already begin to move New Orleans up in the division rankings. The first few months’ worth of games is a bit of a gauntlet for the Saints, so winning the easier games are a must when they come around like this. New Orleans needs to capitalize and come out of the gate to show both the world and them that they can still contend with the best (even if the best isn’t exactly the Carolina Panthers.)
There’s a bit of a challenge after Week 1 for New Orleans in the form of the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, and Kansas City Chiefs. With that being said, they need to win the easier games when they come around like this.
If the Saints lose:
Dropping the first game of the season to a lesser team like the Carolina Panthers should be a crime against the city of New Orleans. With that being said, it’s a good possibility that if the Panthers come to play and the Saints are caught sleeping that this game could be an upset. Losing here would also drop the Saints to 0-1 in both the regular season and divisional records. The silver lining here is that it’s only Week 1 and these is a lot of football left to be played.