Raiders 35, Saints 34: At New Orleans, for Oakland coach Jack Del Rio, calling for a do-or-die, 2-point conversion was less a gamble than a philosophical declaration.
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“Listen, I’m not gonna start the season off paying a fine”, said Payton, who admitted he had a bad angle on the play at first – but didn’t like what he saw on the video-board replays.
“In the end, we weren’t able to play well enough to win”, Saints coach Sean Payton said.
Saints quarterback Brees called the late two-point try gutsy but not surprising.
“At any moment”, Del Rio said, “if you let go of the rope, we were done, and we didn’t”. The story ended up being much of the same we’ve seen over the past several seasons.
The third-year pro out of OR did the rest, easily pulling away from Smith for a 98-yard touchdown, marking the longest play and longest scoring offensive play in franchise history.
On their second possession, the Patriots drove from their 8 to the Arizona 29 and Gostkowski’s 47-yard field goal made it 10-0.
“I knew it was coming; I was just out of position”, Crawley said. Quarterback Derek Carr completed 24-of-38 passes for 319 yards and one touchdown while the Oakland offensive line opened numerous holes in the running game to the tune of 167 yards on the ground.
Rookie Michael Thomas also joined the action, contributing six catches for 58 yards on six targets. Snead was on the receiving end of 9 catches for 172 yards and a touchdown.
The Saints took a 17-10 halftime lead when Brees threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cooks with 4:55 left in the second quarter. “He’s a great receiver and he got the best of me on that one”. Latavius Murray burst up the middle for the 6-yard touchdown and the Raiders took a 10-3 lead. Kicker Wil Lutz gave it his best shot.
New Orleans is hoping to turn around a defense that shattered National Football League records previous year for touchdown passes allowed in a season and opponents’ passer rating.
Brees found Travaris Cadet for a touchdown a play later and New Orleans was back on top with 6:03 to go.
Drew Brees had his passing game in high gear. He also handled kickoffs and hit a 20-yard field goal that was tipped.
Of course, not every coach that plays for overtime is going to lose, nor is every coach going for two in that situation going to win but mathetically the more sound decision is going for two points. “He’s really talented. There are obviously going to be some bumps along the way”.
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And they even lost two right tackles in the process, with Menelik Watson suffering a groin injury in the first half and Matt McCants injuring his left knee in the second half. Menelik Watson had already been knocked out of the game with a groin injury. The Saints have ZERO pass rush and no decent corners besides Delvin Breaux, which is like an airplane without wings or an engine.
