Only five players on the New Orleans Saints roster have won a season opener while with the team.
The Houston Texans have added more players than that (six) to their roster just through trades since the weekend.
Two of the NFL playoff participants from a year ago meet in one of the marquee match-ups of the league’s opening weekend on Monday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Saints have won the NFC South the past two seasons and narrowly missed going to the Super Bowl last season in a controversial overtime loss to the Rams that featured a missed pass interference call on L.A. that led the NFL to alter its instant-replay rules.
But New Orleans has not been able to win its first game since 2013 when it won a home game against Atlanta 23-17 to trigger a 5-0 start. Tackle Terron Armstead was a rookie on that team.
“It’s definitely a focal point for us to start off fast,” Armstead said.
The Saints are pulling out all the stops to try to create a frenzied atmosphere in their indoor environs. They’ll go with all black jerseys — pants and socks included — in a monochromatic look never before worn by the franchise. Recent fortunes indicate the team is wise to seek an injection for Week 1.
Last season the Saints lost at home to Tampa Bay in the opener, then won their next 10 games on their way to a 13-3 regular-season finish.
In 2017, they started 0-2 then won their next eight games on their way to an 11-5 finish.
From 2014-16 they started 0-2, 0-3 and 0-3 on their way to three consecutive 7-9 finishes.
Even rookie second-round draft choice Erik McCoy, who earned a starting position in the preseason, is well aware of the losing streak even though he was in high school when it started.
“There has been a big emphasis on coming out strong just because in the past we have been very good in first games,” he said.
The Texans have been trying to get their newcomers up to speed for the opener.
“What we try to do is teach them the basics,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “Teach them what we call the basic information section of each playbook and also special teams, and then teach them the game plan. I think if you try to throw everything at them in one or two days and see what sticks, that’s not the right approach.”
The Texans traded away a marquee player when they sent star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle for two players and a draft choice and they brought in a marquee player when they acquired left tackle Laremy Tunsil from Miami for three high draft picks.
Tunsil is expected to bolster the protection for Deshaun Watson, who was sacked an NFL-high 62 times last season.
“I feel really good about being able to get a proven left tackle to protect Deshaun Watson,” O’Brien said. “They’re hard to draft. They’re hard to develop.”
Another acquisition from the Dolphins was former Saints wide receiver Kenny Stills, who had 37 catches for 553 yards and six touchdowns last season.
“He can run all the routes on the outside,” O’Brien said. “He can play on the inside. He’s a versatile wide receiver who can do a lot of things. He’s got good hands. He’s a really good route runner, a really smooth route runner.”
