It was a nice pressure pass in a hard situation and showed the poise Derek Carr proved all game.
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With heightened expectations, the Raiders traveled to the Superdome for a Week 1 game against the New Orleans Saints under pressure to deliver a statement. Williams was the victim on the long pass, though the Saints got zero pass rush on the play, allowing Carr way too much time in the pocket. “We’ve just got to really understand who we’re playing and who we’re taking away”.
Carr found Seth Roberts open in the endzone with under a minute left to put the Raiders within a PAT of a tie. Oakland just got plenty of confidence that when it does live up to its potential, the victories will come a little easier.
Because of Tony Romo’s back injury, Prescott and Elliott were the first rookie quarterback-running back combo to start an opener for the Cowboys since Roger Staubach and Calvin Hill in 1969. Garrett Grayson completed 11 of 16 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown while Drew Brees added 40 yards in 3-for-6 passes.
Per our chief analyst Keith Goldner, the conversion jumped their odds to 80.46 percent, and tying it up with a field goal actually would have bumped their odds to 41.09 percent.
Brees said, “Obviously a bunch of guys made big plays”. There’s always a balance in deciding when to send a blitz, and with top cornerback Delvin Breaux out for at least the next six weeks, the Saints might want to keep defenders back in coverage. With Breaux out UDFA rookie Ken Crawley was called on to fill the role and was victimized by Derek Carr and the potent Raiders receiving corps Breaux had so effectively helped keep in check. Prescott was 25 of 45 for 227 yards. Meanwhile, Oakland held the Saints to 88 yards rushing.
Oakland also scored on two short touchdown runs, something Del Rio hinted might have factored into the decision to go for the game-winning two-point conversion. Del Rio’s unconventional call prompted reliable kicker Sebastian Janikowski as he was watching the two point pass connected to Crabtree for the go ahead score with 47 ticks left.
The Oakland Raiders trailed the New Orleans Saints by seven on their final drive Sunday.
“Everyone knew about our strategy”, said Del Rio.
“I think we just need to do a better job of being disruptive and getting to (the quarterback)”, Kruger said.
In that same time period, there were 410 occasions when a team kicked the extra point down by one in the fourth.
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.
Coach Sean Payton lamented the late game no-show from his defense after the game as he discussed their inability to stop anything in the fourth quarter in a post-game conference.
“The big thing is trying to take one or two things that you can hang your hat on into the game and kind of trigger on those”, Moore said. As long as fantasy players had Cooks and Snead and not tight end Coby Fleener in their lineup, they were likely pleased with Sunday’s outcome. “The ball moved on me”. 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.
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New Orleans almost held on, but Saints linebacker Craig Robertson was flagged for interference on a fourth-down pass that sailed out of bounds.
