Derek Carr jokes that he has many voices in his head.

“I don’t want to sound weird,” said the New Orleans Saints quarterback.

The “voices” are a collection of Carr’s various coaches over the course of his career. The 33-year-old has been in the NFL for 11 seasons and has learned almost as many offensive systems.

But the newest voice in Carr’s head – Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak – has him approaching the game differently than ever before. For years, Carr oversaw strategies that demanded a lot from the quarterback. That’s part of the job, and now the Saints’ success will largely depend on the quarterback’s performance.

But these days, Carr often uses the word “liberating” when talking about Kubiak’s offense. After last weekend’s 47-10 win over the Carolina Panthers, it’s easy to see why. He threw for just 200 yards, but he completed 82.6 percent of his passes, scored three touchdowns and led the Saints to nine consecutive scoring drives.

In a way, the Saints are confident that they can get more out of Carr by asking less of him.

That idea will be put to the test later this season, starting Sunday when the Saints face the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but I’m getting there,” Carr said of Kubiak. “I need those play-callers to learn that, but he makes it pretty easy for me. It’s total trust.”

Play to your strengths

ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky tweeted on Wednesday after he presumably finished his analysis of the Saints’ season opener.

“This is the most aggressive Derek Carr I’ve seen in three seasons,” Orlovsky wrote.

The numbers don’t exactly back that up. As for Carr’s long pass percentage, which measures throws with an aerial distance of at least 20 yards, the Saints quarterback was at 17.7% – his fifth-highest rate since joining the Saints and 10th-highest since 2021.

But Orlovsky’s conclusion is more than understandable considering how Carr drove the ball down the field. His long pass completion percentage was second only to Indianapolis quarterback Anthony Richardson in Week 1, and six of Carr’s passes ended in explosive plays (receptions of over 16 yards).

So what prompted Carr to speak out? Well, he now has a coordinator who plays to his strengths – and the Saints have repeatedly found themselves in favorable situations where Carr felt comfortable enough to let it slide.

Carr said Kubiak makes it “very clear” when to be aggressive. That comes across in the playmaking, the decision-making and the way Kubiak explains his reasoning. In this offense, the Saints rely on a pure progression system that requires quarterbacks to read their receivers in a linear sequence rather than explicitly reading the defense.

“It’s liberating for me,” Carr said, later adding: “I trust that he will let me know when the time comes and then I will deliver for him. That’s the most important thing for us as players.”

Common sense still comes into play. Carr said he won’t go into triple coverage just because circumstances dictate it. But over the past few months, Kubiak and Carr have worked to get to know each other better.

“It goes the other way too: (Carr) taught me a lot,” Kubiak said. “When you work with an experienced quarterback like him and have seen so much football, they get up to speed very quickly.”

Nowhere does Kubiak play to Carr’s strengths better than in his play-action game. The coordinator correctly recognized that Carr thrives in a play-action game. According to Tru Media, Carr posted a 100.7 passer rating when playing play action in nine seasons with the Raiders.

According to Pro Football Focus, Carr had 10 dropbacks on plays against the Panthers – one more than in any other game under former coordinator Pete Carmichael last year.

Carr completed 7 of 9 passes for 58 yards, a touchdown and a passer rating of 130.6, the third highest in the league.

“Derek saw everything so clearly on Sunday, and I think we emphasized that,” tight end Taysom Hill said. “You see guys that have one-on-one situations, then we’re going to do that and give the guys an opportunity to make plays.”

Locomotive movement

To set up his 59-yard touchdown, wide receiver Rashid Shaheed moved from the right side of the field to the left.

The subtle move was enough to prompt a reaction from the Panthers. Linebacker Shaq Thompson drifted toward Shaheed, safety Xavier Woods snuck toward the edge of the box, and cornerback Jaycee Horn began to back up, motioning toward Woods.

“I feel like the movement has left them guessing a little bit,” Shaheed said.

Motion, Shaheed said, creates a “guessing game” for the defense. And like plays, it has become a core principle of Kubiak’s offense — and so many other teams around the league. According to Next Gen Stats, Kubiak has made more pre-snap moves (49 plays) than the Saints made in any game last year.

This also helps Carr.

Carr said he saw the value of motion under Jon Gruden with the Raiders. From 2018 to 2021, Carr had four consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons, and the Raiders gradually increased their pre-snap motion rate under Gruden. According to Next Gen Stats, the Raiders ran the fourth-most plays with pre-snap motion in 2020.

“As much as we use this motion in this offense, we use it to our advantage,” Shaheed said.

“Quarterback is tough”

If the Saints continue at this pace, Kubiak will be the latest in a long line of playmakers who have had success with this style of offense. Former tight end Logan Paulsen, who played in a similar system under Kyle Shanahan in Atlanta and San Francisco, said strategies from the Shanahan pedigree can “take the pressure off” the quarterback.

This is achieved by giving the playmaker “easier” options, whether by having to pass the ball 20 times per game or by incorporating short, well-timed throws.

“When you have someone who does it right, you can really reduce the responsibility on the quarterback,” Paulsen said in February. “And I think that’s one of the reasons (the scheme) is so successful. … The general principle is that they understand that the quarterback role is tough.”

“And that’s something they’ve learned. And because the role of quarterback is tough, that’s why they’re developing an offense that’s a little different than everyone else’s.”

Kubiak, however, doesn’t necessarily agree with the idea that less is more for Carr. He said he wants to “continue to take on big things,” adding that there’s nothing Carr “can’t handle.”

However, Kubiak acknowledged that the Saints tried to keep the offer for Carr to a minimum.

“I think it’s always important to narrow the focus of our players,” Kubiak said.