If you’re reading this, I admire your perseverance. It isn’t easy to relive games like this if you’re a fan. But it can be cathartic. And sometimes you just go searching for answers. I hope I can provide some for you from this completely lopsided 24-0 game.
Ballers
None
This should come as no surprise in a game such as this that there were no standout exceptions to all the terribleness. I came out of the live viewing expecting this and the more in-depth look confirmed that. Pretty much just bad top to bottom.
And, no, there aren’t even any Honorable Mentions.
Busters
HC Josh McDaniels, DC Patrick Graham
The offense went nowhere and the defense couldn’t seem to stop anything. It was 24-0 and really it wasn’t even that close. The Saints missed a chipshot field goal and spent most of the second half just running the clock.
The Raiders were down 7-0 heading into the second quarter. The first play of the quarter was third and one. And instead of going to Josh Jacobs, McDaniels tried to get cute and gave it to Davante Adams on a sweep. It was blown up for a loss.
Now fourth and two at their own 28, the Raiders lined up in punt formation. And McDaniels tried to get even cuter with a fake. The direct snap to reserve safety Matthias Farley was stopped for a loss and the Saints took over already in scoring range. They added a field goal to make those two bad calls by McDaniels worth three points and a 10-0 deficit.
After a Carr interception gave the Saints the ball in Raiders territory again, Graham’s defense quickly made it 17-0 when Alvin Kamara was left wide open over the middle for a 16-yard touchdown catch and run.
That was Kamara’s second TD of the game, but not his last. In fact, his third TD, he was also wide open over the middle, this time going 36 yards for the score. Graham’s defense wasn’t accounting for Kamara just as it was completely failing to contain Taysom Hill who got good yards time and time again on designed runs.
This team never got off the plane. How they could be this unprepared is mind-boggling. An earlier start due to the Eastern Time Zone doesn’t explain this level of ineptitude. Not sure anything does.
QB Derek Carr
Not one snap in New Orleans territory. Not one. His fewest yards ever thrown in a game (101) with at least ten completions or 15 attempts. His third-worst passer rating (50.3) of his career. His third fewest yards per attempt (3.88) of his career. His fourth-fewest completions (15) in a game in which he threw more than 25 passes (26).
The first drive ended with him throwing too high for a wide-open Mack Hollins. Second drive with him throwing short of Davante Adams. Fourth with him getting picked off.
The first drive of the third quarter ended with him getting sacked twice — the second time because he held onto the ball too long — and then giving up with a dump on third and 23. His next — and final — drive ended with him throwing a three-yard bubble screen to Davante Adams on second and 27. Then, of course, another give-up dump to call it a night.
CB Rock Ya-Sin, CB Anthony Averett
When Taysom Hill wasn’t running wild, Andy Dalton was picking apart the secondary. Andy. Dalton. And Ya-Sin and Averett were making it look easy.
The first TD drive featured Averett giving up a 30-yard catch. It was Averett again who gave up an eight-yard catch that put them at the 11-yard line and they scored on the next play.
Late in the first half, the Saints drove into scoring range with Ya-Sin giving up a 14-yard catch on third-and-nine and Averett giving up a 10-yard catch on third-and-four. They escaped it being a scoring drive because of a missed chip shot field goal.
They wouldn’t escape it to start the third quarter with Ya-Sin being called for pass interference on third-and-nine and the Saints going on to score their third touchdown.
The two of them would give up third-down conversion catches on the final Saints drive to allow them to bleed the clock down.
T Kolton Miller, G Alex Bars, TE Foster Moreau
Blocking was a real problem for the Raiders. No one was great. These three were especially bad.
It wasn’t a happy homecoming for LSU alum Moreau. He was getting pushed all over the place trying to block. The first play had him blocked into the gap to cause a run stuff. The second play he gave up a pressure that led to a tackle for loss and ultimately a three-and-out to begin the game.
The second drive saw Bars miss his block to give up a run stuff for a three-yard loss. The drive ended with Miller giving up a pressure that forced Carr to step up and throw on the run and the pass fell short and incomplete. Miller would end the next drive when he did a face plant on his block that got Davante Adams nailed for a loss on the sweep.
Moreau would give up another run stuff on the next possession, then Carr was picked off on third-and-two.
After falling down 24-0, Bars gave up a sack on Carr and he was sacked again on the next play while trying to make up the yards lost on the first one.
Carr’s final drive began with Miller being flagged for a false start. Then after Moreau made a first down catch, he gave up another hit on Carr that led to another tackle for loss. And Miller gave up a hit on Carr on the next play to set up third and 13. So much for all that settling in they were doing.
LB Denzel Perryman, LB Divine Deablo
It’s times like this that you realize just looking at tackle numbers doesn’t tell the whole story. If it did, it would look as if Deablo had a great game. After all, he did put up 14 tackles. But many of those tackles were downfield after the damage had been done. The same goes for Perryman and his eight tackles.
For proof of this, you need only look at the game Alvin Kamara had. Seven of his nine catches came with either Deablo or Perryman in coverage. Against Deablo he had four catches on four targets for 38 yards and a TD. Against Perryman he had three catches on three targets for 47 yards and a TD.
I don’t think much more needs to be said.
DE Chandler Jones, DT Bilal Nichols, DT Andrew Billings
Nearly the entire defensive line. Maxx Crosby did enough to stay off the list. The others did not.
Jones was routinely losing containment on the edge and watching Taysom Hill run by him for first downs and chunk plays. He let Hill get by him for good yards on each of the Saints’ three touchdown drives. And after an early pressure on Andy Dalton, he didn’t breathe on him the rest of the game.
Neither Jones nor Nichols nor Billings had a single tackle until after the Saints had taken their 24-0 lead in the third quarter. And none had a single stat other than that. Just utterly ineffective.
Just so you know they were actually on the field, the first TD of the game was set up by Nichols giving up a five-yard keeper on first and goal from the eight. And then Kamara scored from three yards out right through Billings’s position,
WR Davante Adams
I don’t blame him for much of what he’s going through. But he did have a drop, couldn’t seem to get open consistently, even when lined up against a rookie corner, and at one point was even flagged for an illegal shift. He was targeted five times with one catch on a bubble screen. In total, he touched the ball twice for a net of two yards.