The New Orleans Saints journey to the Super Bowl starts on Sunday. They found themselves just a win away from reaching the game last year, and are poised to make another run in 2019.

However, you have to walk before you run, and crawl before you walk. To get to the Super Bowl, you need to win some playoff games. To get to the playoffs, you need to win some regular-season games.

For the Saints, their first game is against the Houston Texans. That Week 1 matchup is a challenging one and should be extremely fun to watch. While New Orleans is a very well-rounded team, so is Houston.

The Texans have an elite receiver (arguably the best in the NFL) in DeAndre Hopkins – which a bunch of talent receivers behind him. Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson create a nice pair in the backfield and Deshaun Watson is a rising superstar at quarterback (now with Laremy Tunsil blocking for him).

Meanwhile, the defense is anchored by J.J. Watt. Veterans like Whitney Mercilus and Johnathan Joseph make major impacts as well.

Overall, it's just a really solid team that will cause problems for anyone standing in their way.

With that in mind, someone will need to step up and ball out for the Saints. Who though?

For the New Orleans Saints, their X-Factor in Week 1 vs. the Houston Texans is pretty simple – Jared Cook.

Why Jared Cook, you ask?

The Saints offense is extremely dangerous, everyone knows that. Drew Brees is a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. Meanwhile, Alvin Kamara is an elite receiving back and Latavius Murray will help on the runs.

Of course, Michael Thomas proved to be one of the best wide receivers in football last year as well. However, Brees will need more downfield targets. They have some solid receivers behind Thomas, but need a true go-to target.

That's where Jared Cook comes in.

For years analysts everywhere had been pegging Cook as the breakout start of that season. It never happened. Finally, they gave up on it last year when he was with the Oakland Raiders.

Naturally, he broke out.

Cook set career-highs in receptions (68), yards (896) and touchdowns (6). That's an elite year out of a tight end.

This offseason, he capitalized that by signing with the New Orleans Saints – a team who has done a lot of good things with tight ends in the past.

Now Cook enters the year as the starter, and likely the number two option to Michael Thomas down the field (number three receiving option if you count Alvin Kamara).

He needs to have a big game because the Texans will be focusing on stopping Thomas and Kamara. Those two will get the most attention by far, leaving the rest of the offense in single-man coverage.

For most of the other players, that's not something they'll be able to exploit much. The Saints have some solid options behind Thomas but no one that's going to make a defense's head spin.

Cook could though. His size and speed make him an absolute matchup nightmare. It's the reason he was always pegged for those breakout years. He's far too big for a defensive back to try and cover him, and way too fast and athletic for a linebacker to keep up with.

If the Texans try to cover him single man, he's going to feast. Or at least, he better feast. If Cook struggles to get separate or finds himself dropping passes, the Saints could be in a little bit of trouble.

Houston's offense is going to score. New Orleans can absolute keep up with them. However, they aren't as deep receiving wise as the Texans. If Thomas and Kamara are blanketed and Cook isn't capitalizing, things could go south rather quickly.

Jared Cook was brought in to be the massive security blanket and another downfield threat for quarterback Drew Brees. If he plays that role nicely on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints will be walking out of Week 1 with a 1-0 record. It's pretty easy to see why he's the X-Factor in this game.