| Good morning, and welcome to the August 15 edition of the Saints Insider newsletter. If your day looks even half as good as Derek Carr's Superdome debut you're living well. "A perfect fit"That was columnist Rod Walker's take after watching Carr command a beautiful 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive our first look at him as the Saints quarterback. They're not all going to be like that, for sure. But even though it was a meaningless exhibition, and even though it was a very small sample size, it's hard not to get excited about what we saw Sunday from Carr and the Saints first-team offense. As Rod said in his column, "Carr passed his first test with ease, showing just why Saints coach Dennis Allen coveted him this offseason as the man who could breathe life into an offense that has struggled in recent years." - Side note: Here is our favorite anecdote from Rod's column about Carr's debut. It helps you get a sense for how new this is to Carr.
Carr didn’t want to risk getting to the Dome and not being able to find his parking space, so he reached out to center Erik McCoy and trailed him there. “I specifically made sure I had someone to follow,” Carr said. “Who better than your center?” Rookie reportCarr wasn't the only Saints player to make a positive impression in his Saints debut. New Orleans has a total of 19 rookie players on their roster right now, and only a handful of those players are going to make the 53-man roster out of training camp. A handful of those rookies made an impression in their first game with the Saints, and I take a look at three of them here. Of note: This number does not include rookie Kendre Miller, who left Sunday's game with a knee injury. But the Saints got some good news about Miller Monday. Risers and fallersWho helped their case with their performance Sunday, and who hurt it? Columnist Jeff Duncan has spent nearly a quarter century covering the Saints, and he's seen plenty of players make their case in the preseason. Here are his thoughts on who made an impression, good or bad, in Sunday's game. Moment of zenIf you haven't heard about what happened with rookie kicker Blake Grupe before and after he drilled a game-winning field goal Sunday, please do yourself a favor and rectify that. At least he seems to have a sense of humor about it. Programming note, the Saints will travel to Los Angeles tomorrow for a couple joint practices with the Chargers. We'll be out there covering their every move. Thanks, as always, for your readership. Cheers, Luke Johnson | 
