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Reason for optimism: They're capable of playing mistake-free football

The Saints have lamented being their own worst enemy for almost the entire season, turning the ball over in a loss to the Bucs, allowing a late touchdown against the Bengals and throwing two pick-sixes against the Cardinals. But they showed against the Raiders that they're still capable of playing the kind of defense that led them to wins in the past few seasons. They also didn't turn the ball over Sunday, sparking hope that perhaps Alvin Kamara's accountability speech to the team helped them turn the corner.

The Saints are one of the NFL's genuine mystery teams as we spin toward the season's second half. The good version of Dennis Allen's bunch showed up on Sunday, beating up on the Raiders on both sides of the ball in a 24-0 win. The star of the day was Alvin Kamara, who scored three touchdowns a little over a week after he gave a passionate speech to teammates imploring the Saints to play up to their potential. "I stick to what I said," Kamara said after the shutout. "We was going to go out there and beat their ass, and we did that."

The defense finally showed up this season in beating the Raiders. If the Saints play like that, they can still be a playoff team in a bad division.

Note to Dennis Allen — QB Andy Dalton is historically dreadful against Baltimore and has lost four consecutive appearances to the Ravens. Might be time to page Jameis.

Fact: By TruMedia's measure of success rate, Taysom Hill has been the best ball carrier in the league. His success rate of 61.5 percent on 39 carries for 337 yards is tops in the league among the 72 players who have at least 20 rushing attempts. Only four other players are over 50 percent: Cordarrelle Patterson (55.2 percent), Darrel Williams (55 percent), Kenneth Gainwell (54.2 percent) and Josh Jacobs (50.4 percent).

Opinion: Stop messing around and just make Hill the full-time quarterback already.

Dennis Allen took his defense to a level we haven't seen this season in a revenge game against the Raiders, the team that fired him as head coach in 2014. Entering Week 8, the Saints ranked 31st in yards allowed and last in points allowed. Against a Raiders offense that ranked second in offensive EPA per drive going into the game, Allen orchestrated a shutout. Making dominant defensive displays like this the norm is paramount for Allen and the Saints to gain control of an ailing NFC South.

Alvin Kamara scoring his first three touchdowns of the season is a great sign. It sounds crazy for a team that was just 2-5, but they're right in the mix of the NFC South race. It helps to play in an awful division.

If the defense keeps playing like it did on Sunday, they can become a factor.