Allen: Saints will play anyone who’s healthy in preseason opener Sunday vs. Chiefs

METAIRIE – The New Orleans Saints are about to play a football game for the first time in more than seven months.

The outcome of the game against the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at noon Sunday in the Caesars Superdome won’t count in the standings.

But it does have meaning.

It’s an opportunity for players who aren’t assured of making the regular-season roster to demonstrate under game conditions that they are worthy candidates to make the roster.

It’s an opportunity for newcomers to the team to get acclimated to their new teammates under the conditions they will face when games are played for real beginning in four weeks.

And as much as anything it’s an opportunity for a team that lost more games than it won last season (7-10) and has missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons to enhance its competitive nature.

“We just treat it like a game,” Saints tight end Juwan Johnson said. “I think we’re just competing. It’s a preseason game, but preseason games lead to the (real) game and we’re all just trying to be comfortable in it. Our main focus is just trying to win.”

The NFL trend for several years has been to play top players less and less – and sometimes not at all – during the preseason, but that won’t be head coach Dennis Allen’s approach – at least not for this first game.

“Anybody who’s healthy enough to play is going to play,” Allen said after the Saints practiced in the Superdome on Friday morning. “I think they’re ready to see somebody else and I’m ready to see us go against obviously a tremendous opponent.

“Our guys have worked extremely hard, and we’ve had a good camp. It’s time to start playing some games.”

Sunday’s game will mark the Saints debut of new starting quarterback Derek Carr, though his appearance figures to be brief. Carr played in just 14 of 30 preseason games during nine seasons with the Raiders and said Friday that he couldn’t remember the last time he played in one.

But he’s with a new team with a new system and new teammates so he’s eager to play Sunday.

“As much as (Allen) wants me to play,” Carr said in terms of how much he wants to play. “I need all the work I can get. It’s usually never as much as you want because you’re just starting to feel good and bam, you’re done.”

Both Allen and Carr said that starting over with a new team makes it more important for Carr to play than otherwise would be the case.

“When you’ve been released,” Carr said, “any time you get a chance to put a uniform on in an NFL game you take advantage. If they want me to play the whole game I’ll gladly play the whole game because I’m not going to take any of this for granted.”

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Friday that quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the other available starters would play about one quarter. Allen was less specific about how long Carr will play.

“You get into the game, you watch how the game’s going and then when I’ve seen enough we’ll make a switch,” Allen said.

Once Carr is done, Allen said backup Jameis Winston and rookie fourth-round draft choice Jake Haener also will get snaps at quarterback. “I would expect that we’ll see a lot of Haener,” Allen said.

Allen said he’s eager to see all of the first-year players, and defensive linemen Bryan Bresee and Isaiah Foskey – the team’s No. 1 and No. 2 draft choices, respectively – and running back Kendre Miller, a third-round pick, will attract the most attention.

“All these rookies, I’m curious to see how they handle a game,” Allen said. “I’ve never seen anything of them in a live game situation where I’m there in the building watching them play so I’m anxious to see how all these guys respond on the sideline, how do they respond to a good play, how do they respond to a bad play.”

Friday’s practice was held in the Dome so the new players could get introduced to their new home stadium and everyone could get a feel for the new turf.

One of the players making their Saints debut in the Dome is defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, who was present with the Chiefs but didn’t play when they visited the Saints in 2020.

A crowd of just 3,000 was on hand for Kansas City’s 32-29 victory because of COVID restrictions.

“It just sounded like we were playing Madden out there,” Saunders said. “There was just like a bunch of grunting and foot shuffling. I’m excited to see the energy of the Dome and get back to playing some football and seeing the fans and the energy.”

Saunders will have to wait until the season opener against Tennessee on September 10 to experience the Dome at its best, but even this preseason game will be closer to the real thing than that experience in 2020.