Welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders-Saints game where the Raiders overcame a 400+ passing yards day from Drew Brees and the Saints to rally and win 35-34 on the road in New Orleans.
1-0 baby! It has been awhile since we can rejoice for an opening win to start the season. It wasn't easy though. The Raiders had to earn it in front of a very hostile crowd and they just grinded it out. My voice is hurting, my heart was beating so fast on the last drive, but what a win. This is what football season is about.
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O-line adjustments by Mike Tice. This won't show up in the stats book, but think about the situation the Raiders' O-line was in during this game. Menelik Watson goes down. Matt McCants goes down. Austin Howard is inactive. We were losing right tackles. Tice made some gutsy adjustments shifting K.O. to left tackle, Jon Feliciano to left guard, Donald Penn to right tackle. All of a sudden to O-line played much better, opening up holes in the running game and giving Carr a lot of time to throw. All I can say is thank goodness we signed Kelechi Osemele in the offseason and shored up depth on the O-line with versatility.
Michael Crabtree, 7 receptions, 87 yards. The two-point conversion for the win at the end of the game was the reason why we kept Crabtree for four more years. He got off to a slow start during the game, but he kept his head in the game and made a couple of clutch catches. The two-point conversion was one of them, but the other catch before that was huge. It looked like Derek Carr was going to throw it away, but Crabtree somehow made the catch to move the chains. But, there's no denying his catch for the win was huge to put the Raiders past the Saints.
Jalen Richard, 3 carries, 84 yards, 1 TD, 2 catches, 11 yards. I gotta say, I love how deep the running back position is for the Raiders: Murray, Washington, and Richard. Murray scored early, but he struggled the majority game, causing the Raiders to play running back roulette. The explosive run by Richard midway through the 4th quarter was huge, allowing the Raiders to get back into the game. Just one hole and he was gone to the house for the Raiders to pull within two before Coop was able to tie it up.
Amari Cooper, 6 receptions, 137 yards. A nagging foot injury bothered Coop last season and it costed him a couple of drops and a Rookie of the Year season. But, this game, Cooper was back. Yes, the drops at the end bothered me, but he had some nice catches from Derek Carr to help set up the Raiders into the Saints' own territory. It would've been nice if he capped off this game with a TD, he had a chance, but the Saints did a good job covering him in the end zone. At least, he caught one of two critical two-point conversions. To be honest, I was scared that he was going to drop that catch, but he held on and helped tie up the game at 27.
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Penalties. "Pass interference, defense #25, at the spot of the foul, automatic first down." For every P.I. penalty that D.J. Hayden committed, I just wanted to kick something on the spot. If I may recall, the Raiders committed 12-13 penalties this game and most of it was on the defense. That's the reason why this game was what it is because the defense was allowing Drew Brees and the Saints' offense on the field for too long when they should be off the field after a good stop. But, penalties plus the secondary giving up a couple of explosive plays to Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead were recipes for disaster.
MVP
It was an impressive debut for the undrafted rookie. Not to mention, Louisiana was the state in which Richard was born in and coming back had to be special for him. His 75 yard run to the house was, in my opinion, the game-changing play as it helped the Raiders get back into the game.
Conclusion
I said in my preview that this game should be a statement game for the Raiders. They're on the road, playing in the Eastern time zone, inside a dome where it's really loud, and they made one heck of a statement by notching a win against the Saints. It wasn't pretty though, there's still a lot of things that need to be worked on, particularly the secondary still needs a lot of work and the playcalling on offense has to allow the offense to start fast rather start slow and come back. But still, this is a confidence builder for this young Raiders team that a lot of people are putting high expectations on them and they delivered. This is not the same old Raiders anymore and it looks like they've put the league on notice with this early big win. Next week, the Raiders return home for another NFC South showdown with the Falcons. Most definitely, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and Devonta Freeman are going to provide yet another stiff test for the defense, but the Falcons are beatable. Also, they are not a very good road team so the Raiders have to maximize the advantage on that weakness. I'll see you guys next week for that game.
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