Instead, Raiders coach Jack Del Rio chose to go for two and Carr connected with Amari Cooper on the two-point conversion.
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The folks at ESPN Stats and Info, who do wonderful work finding excellent fun and interesting stats, tweeted out a note that according to their probability model, Del Rio had a better chance of winning the game by kicking.
“Everyone knew about our strategy”, said Del Rio, now in his second season with Oakland. “Mechanically, I thought things went really well yesterday”.
Carolina head coach Ron Rivera is often called Riverboat Ron for his propensity to go for fourth down conversions, but maybe it’s about time we actually gave that nickname to a coach whose name literally means “from the river”. But the game wasn’t over, defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr. had to find a way to to stop veteran quarterback Drew Brees, something they failed to do all day. Let’s face it, the Raiders defense was shredded this entire game by Drew Brees and the prospects of facing him in OT was very daunting.
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.
The Saints allowed Oakland’s Derek Car to throw for 319 yards, one touchdown and two 2-point conversions on Sunday, including one conversion to give the Raiders the lead for good at 35-34 with 47 seconds left.
Brees, who threw four touchdowns on the night, drove the Saints down the field in the dying seconds to set up a long-range field goal for Will Lutz.
Carr finished with 319 yards and one touchdown passing Jalen Richard ran 75 yards on his first National Football League carry for a touchdown and Amari Cooper caught Carr’s pass for a 2-point conversion to briefly tie the game at 27 in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Somehow, Packers quarterback Rodgers got rid of the ball with a guy pulling on him and, some way, Davante Adams caught it for a 29-yard touchdown just before half-time of Green Bay’s win over the Jaguars. The Raiders pulled out a one-point victory. Lutz hit his first field goal from 42 yards out.
BALTIMORE 13, BUFFALO 7: In Baltimore, the Ravens used a touchdown pass by Joe Flacco, two field goals and a throwback defensive performance against the Bills. One of those was a powerful 6-yard touchdown run by Latavius Murray, who plowed over a would-be tackler at the 1-yard line.
To quote reports from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and The New Orleans Advocate’s Nick Underhill, sources from the Saints indicate Breaux is expected to miss “significant time”.
The Raiders, fueled by young leader Derek Carr, had completed a big road comeback with nearly every ounce of intestinal fortitude. If the Oakland Raiders reach the playoffs this season, they will look back on this important win to begin the year. Cooks finished with six catches for 143 yards and two scores.
It doesn’t factor in the fact that New Orleans had already given up over 300 yards through the air.
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By NFL coaching standards, going for two late in a game when an extra point attempt will tie counts as downright radical thinking. “We have to play better”, Saints coach Sean Payton said. That’s what grinding through some of the lesser runs helps do and the Raiders rushed 167 yards on 26 carries, generating a 6.4 yards per attempt average.
