Rashid Shaheed has one small problem when he walks up to Klint Kubiak on the sideline with a question on game day.
He may not get an answer.
And no, Kubiak isn't ignoring him.
“He just doesn’t even realize I am standing there beside him,” Shaheed said. “He rarely looks up from his play sheet. That’s how dialed in he is.”
For about three hours on game day, Kubiak keeps his eyes focused on his play sheet like he’s staring at a menu trying to decide what to order. So far, whatever he’s ordered has been like the perfect meal, fulfilling the appetites of New Orleans Saints fans who have been starving for an offense like this one.
Kubiak needed just two Sundays in his new gig as Saints offensive coordinator to become the most beloved citizen in New Orleans. That’s what happens when you’re the brains behind an offense that scored 47 points on your first day on the job and 44 points on the second.
He created a buzz in New Orleans in his debut against the Carolina Panthers. That buzz then spread across the country a week later when he made the Dallas Cowboys look like the Panthers.
Not that Kubiak cares about any of that hype.
“He doesn’t give a s--- about that,” Saints backup quarterback Jake Haener said. “He’s so focused on just putting a great game plan together and not listening to the noise and not caring about the noise, because one second they love you and the next they can hate you.”
There’s been plenty to love so far.
The Saints are the top scoring offense in the league heading into Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Caesars Superdome. It should be an electric atmosphere as the Saints try to start a season 3-0 for the first time since 2013. If the Saints really want to get the crowd going early, they should just flash Kubiak’s picture on the video board and watch the crowd go just as insane as the Saints offense has been this season.
Not that Kubiak would look up from his play sheet long enough to notice.
“He’s all ball,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “Locked in. Laser-focused.”
Carr cites Kubiak’s attention to detail for much of his success.
“He doesn’t let anything fall through the cracks,” Carr said.
As a result, the Saints aren’t falling through the cracks, either. A team that most projected to be mediocre at best now looks like a legit playoff contender.
Much of that can be attributed to Kubiak, the most important acquisition Dennis Allen made going into what felt like a make-or-break season for the third-year head coach.
“He’s super intentional,” Shaheed said when asked to describe Kubiak. “He looks you right in the eyes and lets you know how it is."
He's all business with his players, much like he is when he talks to the media on Thursdays. And it's not just an act.
“That’s pretty much what he is,” Allen said. “He’s detail-oriented. He works extremely hard and puts a lot of hours into his preparation. He, along with the rest of the staff, do a great job of teaching and setting the standard for how we have to operate offensively."
Allen never had worked with Kubiak before this season. He wasn’t sure how Kubiak would call plays on the sideline. Allen had just one request.
“Just call the game, be aggressive,” Allen said. “Play the game to win, and I think he’s doing that. I think our players appreciate that and are responding to that.”
Tight end Juwan Johnson didn’t have to wait for the season to start to know what the Saints had in Kubiak. He noticed it back in April.
“You could tell he was obviously a mastermind,” Johnson said. “He knows what he wants. He’s really hard on us, but at the same time he believes in us. He’s one of those guys you want to be coached by, because he believes in himself.”
The Superdome will be rocking Sunday, but Kubiak will hardly be fazed by it. Just like he wasn’t fazed in AT&T Stadium this past Sunday when his offense scored at a video game pace, reaching the end zone on its first six possessions.
“In the moment, we are so focused on the job that we have to do,” Kubiak said. “What goes through our mind is the next play.”
Kubiak knows there will come a time this season when a play he calls won’t be executed to perfection. There will be a turnover or a dropped pass or a missed blocking assignment that will stall a drive. There will be a game when his offense has to play from behind.
“We’ll find out what our character is when it doesn’t go our way,” Kubiak said.
When that happens, chances are you won’t be able to tell by looking at Kubiak’s face. It won’t change much.
“He’s always pretty reserved, and I feel like the really good play-callers don’t get emotional,” Haener said. “There’s not a ton of emotion and highs and lows with him. He stays level-headed but also reminds himself to stay aggressive. That’s a good trait to have as a play-caller.”
Kubiak’s goal is simple: Keep the offense rolling and the wins coming. Meanwhile, one of his players has a goal of his own.
“I’ll make it my goal this year to try to make him laugh in a meeting,” center Erik McCoy said.
Good luck with that. Kubiak likely will be too busy focusing on the next opponent. He reminded the offense after the season opener against Carolina that “it was just one game.” His message after trampling the Cowboys was similar.
“We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us,” Kubiak said. “We’ve done some good things thus far. But we all know we are two games into this thing. We’ve got to stay humble and stay hungry. If we do that, we’ll be all right.”