Oakland rallied with 22 points in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute before rookie kicker Wil Lutz’s 61-yard field goal sailed wide as time expired.
Advertisement
Del Rio told his players at the start of the decisive possession, which began at the Raiders 25 with 6:03 left in the game, that he was going for two points.
“There are snaps they played very well and there are some snaps obviously we’ve got to get cleaned up”, Payton said.
In that same time period, there were 410 occasions when a team kicked the extra point down by one in the fourth. Snead was on the receiving end of 9 catches for 172 yards and a touchdown.
RECORD TD: Brees’ touchdowns included a franchise-record 98-yarder to Brandin Cooks, who beat Sean Smith in single coverage and raced away from free safety Reggie Nelson.
The Raiders lost 8 yards on three plays and Janikowski kicked a 47-yard field goal. Breaux injured his leg in the second quarter of the Saints loss to the Raiders, and was carted to the locker room.
The Raiders, fueled by young leader Derek Carr, had completed a big road comeback with nearly every ounce of intestinal fortitude.
But Brees marched New Orleans back down field for a score, highlighted by a 57-yard completion that receiver Willie Snead fumbled and rookie wideout Michael Thomas recovered and advanced to the Oakland 2.
Previously, Billy Joe Hobert and Eddie Kennison owned the Saints’ longest scoring play – a 90-yard connection against Atlanta on October 10, 1999. Going into week 1 the Saints faced serious questions on the defensive end, and after giving up 486 total yards of offensive the Saints showed that their defensive struggles are not a thing of seasons past. There was one instance with a playoff-bound Houston Texans attempting to go for two in a Week 17 game against the Tennessee Titans, but this was more about avoiding overtime than trying to win the game as the Texans clinched the AFC South despite not converting.
It remains to be seen but I’m seeing signs that it could happen this season. He had 59 rushing yards on just 14 carries but averaged more than four yards per carry.
Latavius Murray rushed 14 times for 59 yards and a score, but it was the speed of Jalen Richard that provided a spark. Lutz’s 20-yard field goal had just enough strength to go through despite a deflection at the line by Denico Autry.
“It was not unexpected, I thought that was the direction they would go”.
The New Orleans Saints did suffer a crucial loss but there’s a lot of promise on the team and they’ll be ready for the New York Giants next Sunday on the road. “Listen, I’m not going to start the season off paying a fine”, said Sean Payton.
Oakland’s victory in New Orleans was just one of several Week 1 games that came down to the wire. He also faced NY last season while with Tampa Bay. He also handled kickoffs and hit a 20-yard field goal that was almost blocked.
Aaron Rodgers, meanwhile, was in decent form for the Packers, throwing two touchdown passes in a 27-23 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. While it’s fair to ask why a player like DJ Hayden has such a longer rope than Smith, it was still a bold and aggressive move that could pay dividends down the road.
Advertisement
When Michael Crabtree caught that ball, the Raiders caught all the fire from Del Rio.
