Raiders 35, Saints 34: At New Orleans, for Oakland coach Jack Del Rio, calling for a do-or-die, 2-point conversion was less a gamble than a philosophical declaration. “I didn’t really ask for any feedback there”, Del Rio explained.
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“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.
Amidst all this 7-9 rubble, the Saints still have one of the all-time 6-foot overachievers in the game, Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Drew Brees.
The Oakland Raiders entered training camp with a goal of reaching the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season, when they were defeated in Super Bowl XXXVII by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 48-21.
“I was thinking, we’re here to win, let’s win it right now”, Del Rio said.
“We’re developing that grittiness that we’re going to keep coming”, Del Rio said, “that we came here today to win and that’s what we’re about”.
Derek Carr threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Seth Roberts to get the Raiders within a point with 47 seconds left and Del Rio left his offense on the field.
The Saints had 3 receivers catch at least 6 passes, with Brandin Cooks leading the way with 6 for 143 yards and two scores.
But look. A win’s a win and this is exactly the sort of game the Raiders would have lost over any of the previous 14 seasons. ESPN’s Stats & Info Twitter account tweeted out this probability analysis of Del Rio’s coaching move. Auto passed for 319 yards, one TD and a pair of clutch 2-point conversions, first to Cooper to tie the game at 27 and later to Crabtree for the win.
The offensive line was as good as advertised in their regular season debut, giving Carr a clean pocket all game long.
New Orleans could still make changes, but everything ran smoothly against the Raiders. With Brees’ penchant for scoring the Saints defense doesn’t have to be great this season, but they will have to do better than their paltry performance in the second half of the team’s week 1 loss. Well, it might surprise long-time readers, but I am rewarding Dan Snyder and going with the Washington Redsk. One of its high-priced acquisitions, CB Sean Smith, even wound up being benched in the second half because of subpar play.
“It is just that kind of belief and that kind of trust for a coach to believe in us like that”, said Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who connected with receiver Michael Crabtree in the left side of the end zone on a fade pass for the conversion and a one-point lead. I’d prefer him not to run the option again, but Brees was fabulous on Sunday. ITs was longer than any play in the National Football League past year, and the longest touchdown pass in Saints history.
Latavius Murray rushed 14 times for 59 yards and a score, but it was the speed of Jalen Richard that provided a spark. The Saints’ previous longest play from scrimmage was as 96-yard passing play from Billy Kilmer to Walter Roberts on November 19, 1967, the franchise’s inaugural season.
The Raiders cut the deficit to 11 when Sebastian Janikowski made a 31-yard field goal.
Carr passed for 319 yards on 38 attempts, good for a very healthy 8.4 YPA, a number which many used to criticize his otherwise-encouraging sophomore season in 2015.
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It was obvious that losing Breaux was a tough pill to swallow, especially after Payton reviewed the game tapes on Monday – specifically with regards to his three youngsters. “I believed that going for it was the right thing to do”.
