New Orleans Saints at Las Vegas Raiders: 3 things we learned in Week 2
By Nick Bailey
New Orleans Saints at Las Vegas Raiders: 3 things we learned in Week 2
Conservative playcalling kept Saints in the game
Once the Raiders take a double-digit lead in a game, head coach Jon Gruden loves to take the air out of the ball and run it down their throats. On Monday, that strategy nearly cost the Raiders the football game.
While driving down the field in the third quarter, the Raiders called a running back toss to Jalen Richard, who promptly took his eyes off of the ball and fumbled it. While the play didn’t cost Las Vegas, as the defense came up with the stop, it nearly swung the momentum back in New Orleans’ favor.
Las Vegas needs to be more aggressive when they have a lead in the second half. Josh Jacobs is a great running back, and is probably the best player on the team, but it’s hard to run when everybody knows that you are going to. The Raiders offense was impressive, and put up 30+ points on a good Saints defense, but they need to keep the foot on the gas a little bit to make this games a little less close at the ending.
Next. Derek Carr, Jon Gruden silence critics in Raiders 34-24 victory over Saints. dark
The Las Vegas Raiders looked like a team that can compete with anybody, and that has got to excite all of Raider Nation. Next week is another big test when we go to visit the new look New England Patriots led by Quarterback Cam Newton. New England looked good against Seattle on Sunday Night Football, and Newton presents a whole new host of problems for this revamped Raiders defense.