It was the longe.
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What’s more, Brees often has chemistry with tight ends considering Benjamin Watson was third on the team with 825 receiving yards a year ago and Jimmy Graham notched a combined 4,396 receiving yards and 46 touchdown catches from 2011 to 2014 with New Orleans.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (9) drops back to pass in the first half of an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016. Instead, Raiders coach Jack Del Rio chose to go for two and Carr connected with Amari Cooper on the two-point conversion.
Del Rio said that Smith, one of Oakland’s top free agent acquisitions this offseason after signing a four-year contract worth almost $40 million, will start again this week in the Raiders’ home opener against Atlanta. “I didn’t really ask for any feedback there”, Del Rio explained.
“I was thinking, we’re here to win, let’s win it right now”, Del Rio said.
The Raiders did move the ball up and down the field at a rapid pace in the fourth, netting 22 points, and having the defense looking for answers.
“We had preached all offseason – so many of these games come down to two-minute situations, and wanting to be in that situation defensively and practicing it so much”, Laurinaitis said. Me neither. What are the odds Del Rio would beat the Saints TWICE on 2 point conversions? So you can expect a similar time frame on Breaux.
“In a game like this, conventional wisdom would point to the defense but I would say that we didn’t score enough offensively”, Payton said.
After the Raiders took their late lead, they still had to sweat out rookie kicker Wil Lutz’s last-second field goal attempt from 61 yards, which narrowly missed wide left as the Superdome crowd briefly erupted before realizing the kick was no good. I thought he was the Saints’ best defensive player on Sunday. Jalen Richard’s 75-yard carry was the Raiders’ second touchdown of the fourth quarter and ultimately seemed to swing the late game momentum in the Raiders direction.
Cooks appears to be hitting his prime in his third year, and his big-play ability shone through with a 98-yard touchdown catch. A key pass interference call on LB Craig Robertson helped sustain a final Raiders drive, but that’s not what cost the Saints the game.
The next four opponents are the Falcons, Titans, Ravens and Chargers, who went a combined 20-44 last season. “Listen, I’m not going to start the season off paying a fine”, said Sean Payton. Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Brees opened his 16th season by eclipsing the 400-yard mark for the 14th time in his career, tying for first all-time with Peyton Manning.
Elliott was held to a 2.5-yard average (51 yards on 21 carries), although he had his first touchdown, and the only one for Dallas.
Brees’ passer rating has been more than 100 four of the past six seasons; he has eight straight seasons with at least 30 touchdown passes and 10 straight seasons with 4,000 passing yards or more, including four of more than 5,000.
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With the game tied at 3 in the 1st quarter, Latavius Murray scored on a 6 yard touchdown run to give Oakland a 10 to 3 lead.
