Surging Saints aim to rediscover their 'dome' advantage against the frustrated Eagles

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Saints quarterback Derek Carr hopes to experience the Superdome in a new way on Sunday.

The 50-year-old venue, which will host its eighth Super Bowl this February, has in recent years lacked the mix of anticipatory buzz and deafening crescendos that defined big games during the glory days of former coach Sean Payton and record-setting quarterback Drew Brees.

Carr even got booed at times last season, his first with New Orleans, as the Saints labored through a third straight non-playoff campaign.

But Carr and Co. sense a different energy as New Orleans (2-0) prepares to host the Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) on Sunday.

“We had to prove it to our fans. We didn’t give them good enough football last year,” Carr said. “We knew if we want to do what we want to do, we were going to need that stadium rocking. And we have to play good football for that to happen. I’m excited for this Sunday and to feel that atmosphere, for sure.”

The Saints' unexpected blazing start to 2024, credited in no small part to new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, has grabbed the attention of the NFL. First came their 47-10 rout of the Carolina Panthers, followed by an arguably more impressive 44-19 victory at Dallas in Week 2.

“They have an explosive running back with (Alvin) Kamara. They’ve got speed at wide receiver. Derek Carr has seen and played a lot of football, and when he’s on, he’s on,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “They run the ball well, they’re explosive with the pass game, and they’re going to be a big-time challenge in a hostile environment.”

Fan enthusiasm around the Big Easy, noticeably tepid during the offseason, has spiked dramatically since Sept. 8.

Tickets that could be had for as low as $11 near the top of the upper deck in Week 1 are now going for around $200.

“It’s going to be fun," said Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu, a New Orleans native who was in high school during New Orleans' 2009 championship season. "Obviously, we got off to a good start and you can feel it. You can feel it in the locker room. You can feel it in the city among the fans. And we’ve just got to keep that going.”

Still, the Saints expect the Eagles to arrive salty and motivated after losing 22-21 to visiting Atlanta on Monday night.

“They’re coming off a tough loss. You don’t think they’re going to come out and fight?” Carr said, noting the Eagles reached the Super Bowl two seasons ago. “This is a championship football team that we’re about to play and we better bring it.”

The Saints' first two opponents apparently were caught off guard by their new offense, which features a lot of outside zone runs and play-action passing.

Not only are the Saints' 91 points an NFL high through two weeks, but all of their scoring has come on 11 offensive TDs and five field goals.

Kubiak is “creative, he trusts us, and we trust him," guard Lucas Patrick said. “When there’s the marriage of the play-caller and the players, that’s when special things can happen.”

Kubiak, who was an offensive assistant with San Francisco's 2023 Super Bowl team, was hired by third-year Saints coach Dennis Allen in a break from a system installed by Payton in 2006 and retained, to a large extent, for two seasons after he left.

Allen, a defensive coach, said Kubiak's system, which allows for multiple plays to be run out of similar pre-snap looks, is “all about making the defense have to defend the whole gamut of plays, defend the whole field.”

While Allen's defense has started strongly this season, it has struggled against Hurts in years past.

Hurts had 175 yards and three TDs rushing combined in two triumphant starts against New Orleans in 2020 and 2021. He has 118 yards and a TD rushing this season.

“It's going to be tough for us,” Mathieu said. “Everybody has to do their job. ... If you're responsible to play pass, play pass. If you're responsible to play run, play run.”

General manger Howie Roseman once joked that had the Eagles kept drafting Georgia players, his team might be relegated to the Southeastern Conference.

The way they're playing, some of those former Bulldogs could be relegated to the bench.

Philly selected defensive tackle Jalen Carter with the No. 9 overall pick and edge rusher Nolan Smith with the 30th pick in the 2023 draft, a year after they picked linebacker Nakobe Dean and defensive tackle Jordan Davis in the 2022 draft.

Carter had just one assisted tackle against the Falcons, and has no sacks and one quarterback hit through two games. Davis, Carter and Smith combined for four tackles and no sacks against Atlanta.

“I think all three guys have shown moments of having a lot of good plays, and all of them have had bumps, too,” Sirianni said. “But that’s every player. I have a lot of confidence in those guys and their abilities ... but we’ve got to be better as a whole."

Former Eagles greats Fletcher Cox, who retired at the end of last season, and Seth Joyner have been critical of Davis, who has 2 1/2 sacks in 32 games with the Eagles.

The woes of the so-called “Philly Bulldogs” have been a subplot in a subpar overall defensive performance — particularly against the run — under new coordinator Vic Fangio. The Eagles have allowed 157.5 yards rushing per game and have only three sacks. Defensive end Bryce Huff, a free agent signing, has no quarterback hits or sacks.

The Eagles have allowed 11 rushing plays of 10-plus yards and now face Kamara and his NFL-best 5.7 yards per carry.

“Do we have to put them in different positions and try different things? Yeah, and the defense was trying to do that,” Sirianni said.

AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs past Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle David Onyemata (90) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) reacts with teammates, including Kool-Aid McKinstry (14) and Jordan Howden (31) after intercepting a pass by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Mason Tipton (84) and quarterback Derek Carr (4) react after a touchdown run by teammate Alvin Kamara during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and Kellen Moore, offensive coordinator react to a two-point conversion by Eagles running back Saquon Barkley during the second half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New Orleans Saints fans celebrate during the second half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs with the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr looks to pass against the Dallas Cowboys during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has again refused to stop the execution of inmate Freddie Owens who is set to die Friday by lethal injection.

The justices ruled Thursday that a sworn statement from a friend whose testimony helped convict Owens and who now says he lied to save himself from the death chamber wasn't enough to halt prison officials from putting Owens to death.

His execution is set for 6 p.m. Friday at a Columbia prison for the killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk in 1997. It would be South Carolina's first execution in more than a decade.

Owens' lawyers on Wednesday filed the statement from his co-defendant Steven Golden saying Owens wasn’t at the store when Irene Graves was killed during a robbery.

Prosecutors reiterated that several other witnesses testified that Owens told them he pulled the trigger. And just like it did last week when Golden said in a sworn statement he had a a secret deal with prosecutors that he never told the jury about, the state Supreme Court agreed the execution should go on.

The justices wrote on Thursday that there was no evidence Golden had an independent attorney to talk to about his recent statements and they did not name who might have killed Graves if Owens didn't do it.

In his statement, Golden said he blamed Owens because he was high on cocaine and police put pressure on him by claiming they already knew the two were together and that Owens was talking. Golden also said he feared the real killer.

“I thought the real shooter or his associates might kill me if I named him to police. I am still afraid of that. But Freddie was not there,” Golden wrote in his statement.

Golden testified at Owens' trial, saying prosecutors promised to consider his testimony in his favor but he still faced the death penalty or life in prison. He was eventually sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, according to court records.

"I’m coming forward now because I know Freddie’s execution date is September 20 and I don’t want Freddie to be executed for something he didn’t do. This has weighed heavily on my mind and I want to have a clear conscience," Golden wrote in his statement.

The state's highest court owed t to Owens to at least allow Golden to be fully heard before killing Owens, his lawyers wrote in their final briefs to the justices.

“This Court has the power and the responsibility to ensure that the State of South Carolina does not kill one of its citizens for a crime he did not commit,” they said.

Prosecutors have said Golden wasn't the only evidence linking Owens to the crime since other friends testified that they, along with Owens, had planned to rob the store. Those friends said Owens bragged to them about killing Graves. His former girlfriend also testified that he confessed to the killing.

Prosecutors argued last week that Golden's decision to change his story shouldn't be enough to stop the execution because he has now admitted to lying under oath, thereby showing that he cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

“There is no indication that Golden will testify; there is no reasoning to why Owens would admit the shooting (of) Ms. Graves to officers, his girlfriend, and his mother if he was not the shooter as now claimed,” the state Attorney General's Office wrote in court papers.

Also on Thursday, a group called South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty presented a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to Gov. Henry McMaster's office asking him to reduce Owens' sentence to life in prison.

“Justice works for restoration. You cannot restore someone who you kill,” said the group's executive director, Rev. Hillary Taylor, as she read from one of the comments on the petition.

McMaster, a Republican, has said he will wait to announce his decision on clemency until prison officials call him minutes before the execution begins.

Owens would be the first person executed in South Carolina in 13 years after the state struggled to obtain drugs needed for lethal injections because companies refused to sell them if they could be publicly identified.

The state added a firing squad option and passed a shield law to keep much of the details of executions private. The state Supreme Court then cleared the way for the death chamber to reopen this summer.

Five other inmates are also out of appeals and the state can schedule executions every five weeks.

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)