This wasn’t a sure thing (nothing is), but it make no mistake: Del Rio was not playing an against the odds, longshot game of Russian roulette. “Everything about our strategy at the end was to win”.
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Let the New Orleans Saints 35-34 loss to the Oakland Raiders be a lesson for all of us; As long as Sean Payton is the coach, the concern should ALWAYS be about the defense.
“I think there are snaps that they played very well, and there are some snaps, obviously, we’ve got to get cleaned up”, Payton said.
Carr threw for 319 yards and a touchdown in 24-for-38 passes.
Somehow, some way, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers got rid of the ball with a guy draped pulling on him and, somehow, some way, Davante Adams caught it for a 29-yard touchdown just before halftime of Green Bay’s 27-23 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. “I thought Derek did an excellent job of continuing to battle and trade punches with a great quarterback like Drew Brees”. The Saints were down to one tight end in the game, and he’ll rebound, but the bottom line is that the Saints’ biggest offseason acquisition was limited to only one catch for 6 yards. “Be ready to face the music because they’re going to be coming at you, ‘” Del Rio said.
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. The defense held their rushing attack to 88 yards and no scores, but the secondary must regroup if the team is to make any noise this season.
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”. Brees should easily have another 4,000-yard season. First round draft pick Will Fuller led the team with five catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.
The Saints had one of the worst pass defenses in NFL history last season, setting league records for most touchdown passes allowed in a season (45) and opponents’ passer rating (116.1).
The Saints’ first possession was comprised of two incompletions and a Brees fumble.
Gutsy call or something else? 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.
The Saints responded with a 65-yard drive that yielded Lutz’s 42-yard field goal that tied the score with 5:52 left in the first quarter. Ware finished the day with 199 total yards for the Chiefs, including 129 yards through the air. The Raiders lined up with just 10 defenders after a timeout prior to the play.
“You can’t harp on the positives when there’s just so much of the fourth quarter that we wish we had back”, he said.
Oakland’s victory in New Orleans was just one of several Week 1 games that came down to the wire. RB C.J. Spiller was a non-injury inactive for New Orleans.
If Saints fans are to take anything away from their nail-biting week 1 loss it’s that Drew Brees is worth every guaranteed penny of the extension he signed earlier in the week and the Saints offense will continue to be entertaining and wildly productive with Brees at the helm.
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Against former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, now Buffalo’s head coach, the Ravens limited the Bills to 160 yards and sacked former teammate Tyrod Taylor twice.
