Las Vegas Sun

By Case Keefer

Published Mon, Sep 21, 2020 (3:30 p.m.)

Updated Mon, Sep 21, 2020 (8:44 p.m.)

Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden paced his new home sideline as the final seconds ticked off NFL Week 2 and tracked down all the stars of his offense for a hug or a shoulder-pad shove.

Derek Carr, Darren Waller, Josh Jacobs, Henry Ruggs III and more were all on the receiving end of some Gruden encouragement as the Raiders celebrated winning their first-ever game in Allegiant Stadium. Las Vegas’ offense outdueled New Orleans’ on Monday Night Football and secured the Raiders a 34-24 win to start the season 2-0.

The Raiders were so amped for a moment that they may have forgotten about the bizarre circumstances around opening their $2 billion venue across from the Strip. No fans were in attendance, and for the second straight game, the lack of energy may have affected Las Vegas early.

The Raiders went down 10-0 early, and then 17-7, before coming to life. Las Vegas scored the next 24 points from late in the second quarter to midway in the fourth, and the cushion was too much for New Orleans to come back from.

Carr was terrific in his first start in Las Vegas, completing 28 of 38 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Waller was far and away his favorite target, catching 12 balls for 103 yards and a touchdown.

Jacobs wasn’t as unstoppable as a Week 1 win over the Panthers but chugged his legs all night to prolong drives, break tackles and break 100 yards from scrimmage for his second straight game. The second-year running back wound up with 105 combined rushing and receiving yards.

He keyed a drive right before halftime that ended with Zay Jones hanging onto a 15-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. After an ensuing interception by Nicholas Morrow, Las Vegas was able to tie the game at 17 despite being outplayed for most of the first half.

The Raiders weren’t going to be outplayed in the second half. They were far more efficient than the Saints, coming out with a 9-play, 75-yard drive that gave them a lead they never relinquished.

Waller hauled in the touchdown. The next touchdown came on a 20-yard sweep from Jalen Richard, who had lost a fumble on a similar play the drive before, to put the Raiders up 31-17 with 7:43 to go.

The Saints answered quickly with running back Alvin Kamara — who had 174 total yards from scrimmage — scoring his second touchdown, but the Raiders drove down and got kicker Daniel Carlson in position for a long field goal. Carlson nailed a 54-yard field goal to ice the game with just more than a minute to go.

Check back to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage from the Raiders’ win.

Saints answer to cut Raiders lead to 31-24

The Saints offense had been silent the whole second half, but just revived when they needed it most.

New Orleans went on an 8-play, 67-yard scoring drive in just more than three minutes to cut the Raiders’ lead down to a touchdown with 4:33 to go. Alvin Kamara scored on a three-yard run for the touchdown.

The game has been fairly even statistically with the Saints holding a narrow 376-358 yardage edge. Las Vegas will need to answer with a long drive of its own to secure a victory.

Raiders go up 31-17 on Saints

The Raiders are less than eight minutes away from winning in their first-ever game at Allegiant. Stadium and starting the season 2-0.

On third-and-10 from the 20-yard line, Jalen Richard sped off the right edge of the Raiders’ offensive line, turned the corner and found the end zone. It was a big bounce-back for Richard, who had fumbled on a similar play earlier in the fourth quarter.

The Raiders defense held strong, however, and kept the Saints from doing anything more than getting one first down. New Orleans punted back to Las Vegas and the Raiders went on a 10-play, 89-yard drive that may have potentially won it the game.

Stay tuned.  

Raiders lead Saints 24-17 early in the second half

The Raiders have a lead at Allegiant Stadium for the first time in history.

Las Vegas stormed out of the locker room after halftime to score on an 9-play, 75-yard drive. Aggression ended up being a key, as Las Vegas went for it and 4^th-and-goal from the 1-yard line, calling a play-action pass that Darren Waller caught alone in the end zone.

Waller had two other catches on the drive, but the biggest play was a Marshon Lattimore pass interference called on a Carr throw intended for Bryan Edwards.

Carr fumbled the snap on 3^rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line but the Raiders were able to recover to prolong the drive.

17-17 at halftime

The final two minutes of the first half couldn’t have gone better for the Raiders.

Las Vegas looked overmatched for much of the opening 30 minutes against the Saints, but the score doesn’t reflect that. The Raiders go into halftime locked up with the Saints after scoring twice in the final 101 seconds.

First, Zay Jones made a tough catch in the corner of the end zone to put Las Vegas within three points of New Orleans. Then, four plays later, Nicholas Morrow picked off a Drew Brees pass to give the Raiders a short field at the New Orleans 38-yard line.

Carr couldn’t lead the Raiders to another touchdown, but they cashed in with a 28-yard field goal from Daniel Carlson to tie the game.

Saints up 17-7 with 5:22 to go in first half

The Raiders can’t stop the Saints. At least they haven’t been able to stop the Saints on three of four drives.

New Orleans cashed in on another long drive to answer the Raiders’ first touchdown with Jared Cook catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees. New Orleans has 216 yards, gaining 7.4 yards per play on the night.

Brees is 8-for-15 passing with 128 yards and a touchdown.

Raiders score, Saints still lead 10-7

The Raiders are on the board at Allegiant Stadium.

Fullback Alec Ingold caught a 2-yard pass from Derek Carr to cap an 11-play, 63-yard drive with just less than nine minutes to go before halftime. Carr struggled to adjust to the Saints’ defensive schemes on the Raiders’ first two drives, but he was more comfortable on the third.

Carr completed two passes on the drive to tight end Darren Waller and another to Josh Jacobs, who also plowed the path to the end zone with his typical, hard-nosed running style.

Las Vegas’ defense also forced a three-and-out on New Orleans. The first NFL game in Las Vegas history is looking much less likely to be a blowout.

Saints lead Raiders 10-0 with 3:51 to go in first quarter

Remember Will Lutz and Alvin Kamara as Allegiant Stadium trivia answers.

Lutz, the Saints’ kicker, scored the first NFL points in Las Vegas history as he capped his team’s first drive with a 31-yard field goal. When New Orleans got the ball back, they drove down the field before the running back Kamara punched in a 1-yard touchdown run.

The Raiders gained one first down on their first drive behind hard running from Josh Jacobs, but not much more as they punted to pave the way for the Saints’ 9-play, 78-yard touchdown drive.

Raiders announce inactives

Three of the four Raiders who missed the majority of practice this week will not play against the Saints tonight.

The team announced that linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and tackles Trent Brown and Sam Young would be inactive. Wide receiver Henry Ruggs III will play.

Without Brown and Young, Denzelle Good presumably slides into the right tackle spot as he did when the two went down last week. The Raiders could also use backup left tackle Brandon Parker, who's active after he wasn't a week ago.

At linebacker, the Raiders will likely go with Raekwon McMillan and Nicholas Morrow starting alongside Cory Littleton, though UNLV rookie Javin White and Kyle Wilber could rotate in.

Pregame

Nearly 1,300 days since the NFL approved the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, and more than 1,000 days since they broke ground on their new stadium across from the Strip, the franchise is ready to unveil its new home.

The New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders will introduce the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium off of Interstate 15 on ESPN’s Monday Night Football in less than two hours.

It’s not the way they expected to do it. Heck, the primary driver of the deal to get the $2 billion venue completed, Raiders owner Mark Davis, won’t even be in the building.

Davis has vowed not to watch a game in the stadium until fans are allowed in, and that won’t come this season as social distancing protocols continue to be in place out of coronavirus precaution.

The Raiders’ focus tonight therefore is singular and familiar — in the words of late owner Al Davis, it’s “just win baby.”

The organization is looking for its first 2-0 since 2017, the final season before coach Jon Gruden took over the team. To do it, they’re going to have to pull an upset — albeit not as big as one as was once expected.

The betting market has moved in Las Vegas’ direction tonight as it’s currently as low as a 3.5-point underdog to New Orleans after getting as high as +6.5 earlier in the week. A lot of the line move has to do with Saints’ injuries to top receiver Michael Thomas and feared edge-rusher Marcus Davenport, neither of whom are expected to play.

The Raiders aren’t fully healthy either, though, with several starters considered questionable to doubtful. Clarity should be coming on tackle Trent Brown, linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and tackle Sam Young but they appeared unlikely to be ready to go earlier this week.

One announcement earlier in the day makes one unexpected player ready to go — former UNLV linebacker/undrafted free agent Javin White. The rookie impressed in training camp and nearly earned a roster spot but came up just short and was added to the practice squad.

He only had to wait one game — missing last week’s 34-30 win over the Carolina Panthers — to get elevated to the active roster. White could play too.

With Kwiatkoski injured, the Raiders may need a player with the specific set of skills White employs — a linebacker with coverage skills. He’s already a fan favorite and surely some of the people lining up in cars outside the stadium to get as close as they can to the action or pickup “gameday to go” packages — full of gear and food from Allegiant Stadium eateries — celebrated his promotion.

Traffic around the stadium was at a standstill three hours before game time, even though only essential workers and media were allowed inside.

For the first time in history, it’s NFL gameday in Las Vegas.

Follow along here for live coverage of Saints at Raiders all night.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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