Back from the dead?

Back from the dead?

Good morning, and welcome to the Tuesday, Nov. 19 edition of the Saints Insider newsletter. The Saints may be on a bye, but we aren't. So we have a lot to discuss — including New Orleans' surprising two-game winning streak.

Rizz's Gris-Gris

Our Jeff Duncan summed it up well after Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns: "The gris-gris" is real for interim coach Darren Rizzi.

I don't think I knew what gris-gris was until moving to New Orleans a year ago, but I'm sure familiar now. And I'm seeing it unfold with a suddenly hot Saints team.

How much of this is for real? The Saints have played much better after firing Dennis Allen, but it remains to be seen if it can last. Still, I thought Jeff nailed it with his take:

"The Saints are winning in large part because of Rizzi," Duncan wrote.

Don't forget about Carr

So much was written about Taysom Hill's dominant performance against the Browns — including by yours truly — but Rod Walker had a smart next-day follow that focused on Derek Carr.

Carr said after the game that he feels he's playing the best football of his career. That might not be an exaggeration as Rod dove into.

"Since Rizzi took over as interim coach after the firing of Dennis Allen, Carr has completed 37 of 52 passes for 517 yards with four touchdowns," Rod noted. "More importantly, he hasn’t thrown an interception. He has an impressive 128.5 quarterback rating the last two games."

Bye bye bye

We'll have a bunch of content coming out over the bye week, so no need to worry. That included a Monday notebook that featured updates on:

The Saints' season looks a lot more interesting than it did just a few weeks ago. No matter what happens, we'll be sure to cover it all. Thanks for reading as always and stay tuned for more.

Take care,

Matthew Paras