Saints fall to Raiders in another lousy performance

12/29/2024

Photo By: Michael Bacigalupi

Da Boot Sports
12/29/2024
Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Ken Trahan

For devoted fans of the New Orleans Saints, the 2024 home season schedule is done. That is a relief.For those devoted fans, the New Orleans Saints owe you a huge thank you for remaining loyal.
Some would say they owe you an apology for not providing any bang for your buck.
I felt sure there would be a ton of empty seats for the game with the Las Vegas Raiders today.
That was not the case.
Yes, there were a few Raiders fans but Saints fans showed up to watch a chopped up, poor football team play out the string.
The Raiders are a bad team.
What does that make New Orleans?
The Raiders were better, make that much better than the team Darren Rizzi put on the field today.
It was a miserable game to watch and a miserable performance as the Raiders dominated up front and the Saints were anemic on offense, scoring only on a trick play.
Here are my Quick Takes from the 25-10 Las Vegas win over New Orleans:
**Inactives for the Saints included Khristian Boyd, Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara, Jordan Mims, Anfernee Orji, John Ridgeway III and Mason Tipton.
**The Saints won the toss and elected to defer, giving Las Vegas the ball first.

**On the first series of the game, Carl Granderson committed a costly penalty on third-and-two, giving the Raiders new life.
**The Raiders drove to the New Orleans 1-yard-line but the Saints stood tough, with Cam Jordan making consecutive plays, once on a running play for a 2-yard loss and the second on a shared sack to force a 31-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead with 5:49 to play in the first quarter.
**The drive covered 60 yards in 17 plays, taking 9:11 off the clock.
**Spencer Rattler ran a keeper left on an RPO on the first play from scrimmage offensively for the Saints and he raced 28 yards to the Las Vegas 42-yard-line.
**Former Catholic High and LSU star Clyde Edwards-Helaire got in and had his first carry, running for four yards on the next play.

**Rattler then made a good throw deep down the middle to Juwan Johnson, who had it but did not hold it upon contact as the pass fell incomplete.
**The Saints were going to go for it on fourth-and-six at the Las Vegas 37-yard-line but Oli Udoh committed a false start penalty, killing the possession, and Matthew Hayball punted out of bounds at the Raiders’ 6-yard-line.
**Dante Pettis returned the ensuing punt 21 yards to midfield to set up the Saints with outstanding field position.
**Rattler hit Kendre Miller for 16 yards to the 30-yard-line.
**The Raiders had 67 yards to 52 yards for the Saints in the opening quarter. Las Vegas had the ball for 11:42 to just 3:18 for New Orleans. Las Vegas ran 19 plays to just six for the Saints.
**The Saints went to trickery on the next play and Rattler connected with Foster Moreau on a 30-yard touchdown pass. Rattler pitched to Miller, who threw back to Rattler, who threw across the field to a wide open Moreau for the score to give the Saints a 7-3 lead with 14:52 to play in the first half.
**The drive covered 50 yards in three plays and took just 53 seconds.
**Las Vegas cut the deficit to 7-6 with 10:19 to play in the half on a 39-yard field goal by Carlson. The drive was eight plays, 53 yards, taking 4:53 off the clock.
**Moreau was flagged for holding on the next New Orleans possession.
**Rattler overcame the penalty with a 25-yard completion to Juwan Johnson on the next play.

**Cedrick Wilson Jr. was penalized for an illegal shift.
**Rattler then bought time and hit Johnson for 40 yards to the 1-yard-line but Taliese Fuaga was flagged for holding.
**Miller left the game in the second quarter in concussion protocol, the latest in the injury-plagued young career of the promising but most often undependable running back. He would not return.
**Hayball came through again, punting the Raiders down at the 5-yard-line. J.T. Gray batted it back as it rolled to the 1-yard-line.
**Brock Bowers of the Raiders broke the NFL record for most receiving yards by a rookie tight end on a 13-yard catch late in the second quarter.
**Aidan O’Connell hit Jakobi Meyers with a 29-yard completion over Ugo Amadi on a perfectly thrown ball and that led to a 3-yard touchdown pass from O’Connell to Meyers, who beat Alontae Taylor for the score as the Raiders took a 13-7 lead with 57 seconds left in the half.
**The drive covered 95 yards in nine plays, taking 3:24 off the clock.
**The Saints pulled within 13-10 at the half as Blake Grupe kicked a 34-yard field goal on the final play of the half. The drive covered 54 yards in seven plays in 57 seconds.
**Rattler was very good in the half, completing 11-of-13 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown for a 139.1 passer rating with a run for 28 yards. The Saints simply did not have the ball enough as the Raiders had possession for 19:39 to just 10:21 for New Orleans.
**Las Vegas made it 16-10 on a 54-yard field goal by Carlson with 7:57 to play in the third quarter, completing a 49-yard drive in 10 plays, taking 4:56 off the clock.

**Jack Jones picked off a tipped ball from Rattler and that set up another score for the Raiders as O’Connell hit Tre Tucker on an 18-yard touchdown pass to make it 25-10 with 8:20 to play in the game. Carl Granderson blocked the extra point.
**Udoh was flagged for holding again to kill another possession.
**It only got worse. Jaylan Ford went down injured and had to be carted off the field with 3:22 to play in the game.
**Marquez Valdes-Scantling went down with just under two minutes to play when he was hit hard by Isaiah Pola Mao and could not hold on to the ball.
**Thomas Harper intercepted Rattler in the final minute to put the final touches on an awful performance by the Saints.
**For bad measure, Trevor Penning was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the play.
In his 10 years in the NFL, Ameer Abdullah had never rushed for 100 yards in a game. He has now. Abdullah ran 20 times for 115 yards before leaving injured in the fourth quarter.
While the Raiders ran it well, the Saints could not run it a lick.
For the second straight week, Rattler led the team in rushing, this time with three carries for 46 yards.
After playing well in the first half, Rattler was rattled in the second half, going 5-for-15 for 24 yards with two interceptions.

The Raiders accounted for 390 yards of offense and Las Vegas, lousy offensively all season and terrible on third down found an opponent to cure its woes.
Las Vegas was 10-of-18 on third down conversions as the Saints could not get off the field on defense throughout.
The Saints also had 10 penalties for 77 yards.
The anemic New Orleans offense had just 11 first downs, two of which came in the final two minutes on the final possession of the game.
If you are looking for a bright spot, Hayball finished with three punts downed inside the 20-yard-line, including two downed inside the 10-yard-line.
The Saints did everything that a bad team does.
New Orleans could not run the ball, could not throw it effectively, could not stop the run, turned the ball over and committed double-digit penalties. That will do it.
The forgettable season concludes at Tampa Bay next week. It cannot end soon enough.
Excluding the 2005 season of Hurricane Katrina (which deserves an asterisk), this was the worst New Orleans Saints season since the miserable Mike Ditka era and his last season in 1999.
That is how far the once mighty have fallen.

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Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi

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