Welcome in to the open thread discussion for the 1st half of the Raiders' road matchup vs. the New Orleans Saints. Leave some comments at the bottom of the post.
Q2
OAK 10 NO 17
What a luxury for the Saints to have someone like Drew Brees. The secondary is posing the same problems as last years. They're in soft coverage and it's allowing the Saints to hit on their short and hitch routes and of course, you have the explosive plays from Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead, which put the defense to the brink.
The Raiders offense early on, they had a slow start. Quick 3 and outs with uninspiring playcalling is not how you want to start on the road. We know how potent the Saints offense is with Brees, Ingram, and Cooks, but holding them to 17 points despite playing a couple bend-but-don't-break defense is a job well done. But like I said, the secondary is starting to get exposed out there and Mack and Irvin are being neutralized out there. Probably the only positive I can see out there is the AC/DC connection. Derek Carr found Amari Cooper for a couple of big plays to set up Latavius Murray's touchdown. Carr had a highlight for himself in the 2nd quarter with a good scramble and a flip out of bounds to extend his arm for the first down. We need to see Carr do that more because we know he has the mobility to flush out of the pocket. Michael Crabtree was cold, only catching 1 pass for 8 yards. A couple of those throws, he should've had, but it's rare to see Crab drop a couple of balls since he has the best hands in the world. What can we expect from the 2nd half? The Raiders have the ball, I expect the offensive playbook to open up more. They need to utilize Washington and Walford, use all the weapons the Raiders have. This offense has too much talent to have some soft playcalling fed to them. Let's see what happens. I will open up the 2nd half thread now.
Q1
OAK 10 NO 3
Well, not the start that I expected, but it's still good enough. The defense set the tone on the first drive of the game. They were not letting Brees have his way, but Bruce Irvin with the strip sack gave the Raiders some good field position to start. However, I didn't like the way the playcalling went on offense and it lead to a quick three and out. During the Saints' second drive, I was thinking to myself: "well, here comes Brees." But once again, the defense held their own out there. I really liked the way how the Raiders responded on their second drive deep within their own territory. AC/DC lit it up with two big plays during that drive to set up Tay Train's TD.
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