The Saints weren’t able to secure a win vs the Raiders in a game most people had chalked up as a win on paper until the 4th quarter arrived on Sunday. Not many teams in NFL history could overcome a 4 turnover 4th quarter and the Saints were no different as they fumbled (literally) away an 11 point 3rd quarter lead. While the breakdown below will not mention the referees from Sunday, I will speak on their performance briefly. They were terrible: missed holding calls, an egregious roughing the passer,
the return of the “intent rule”, constant uncalled push offs – it was all there. The best way to describe this game was if the Drew Brees 5 interception game (Falcons 2012) and the No Call NFC Championship had a baby. This was a truly miserable and frustrating experience for anyone who was watching and- when fans of other teams (including the Raiders) are coming up to you expressing remorse for what just happened, you know it was exceptionally bad. As a fan of football this game left me with little hope for the future of the NFL as the league has made the refs too important and the group I affectionately call the “Theatre Kids on the Field” took every chance they had to have their “Look at me!” moment. So at last, after a few days of time away from NFL content, I am here to give you a look at what the film said about the game.
Takeaways from the Film
Brock Bowers is a Problem
Brandon Staley is once again my first point of discussion this week as he had the unenviable task of trying to decipher how to stop Brock Bowers in his first game action of the 2026 season. While no one could predict the future and tell how the Raiders would be using their best player (sorry, Maxx Crosby), it was evident that Klint Kubiak had been thinking about Bowers for a long, long time. Vegas was able to stay in heavy personnel for most of the game and present looks that almost no other teams in the NFL would be capable of achieving. How Bowers was positioned all over the field while the Raiders stayed in 22 personnel (2 running backs & 2 tight ends) reminded me of how Sean Payton would use Jimmy Graham and proved to be a handful for any package the Saints threw at him. When watching the film it was hard to not keep cheering for my fantasy tight end (I drafted him and Trey McBride in the 2nd and 3rd rounds and am 3-0, no big deal) as Kubiak’s plan of using him as WR1 on their team seemed to work just as they planned. The Saints simply did not do enough to pressure Kirk Cousins (Key to Victory Number 1: X) into making mistakes and left too many yards in the flats that the veteran quarterback was able to take advantage of all day in their play action passing game which allowed Bowers and Michael Mayer to thrive.
Win the Rushing Battle
The only key to victory from last week’s preview that the Saints were able to accomplish was winning the rushing battle. While the Raiders defense made their fair share of plays to stop the Saints rushing attack, the ground game seemed to be getting into a grove before Travis Eitienne went down with a hamstring injury. Las Vegas wasn’t able to do much on the ground outside of their 36 yard rushing touchdown by rookie Mike Washington Jr and the Saints held firm in the redzone as they were able to put a stop to Ashton Jeanty for most of the afternoon. Vernon Broughton and Khristian Boyd (below) were two young players that stood out with their efforts against the run game as the youth of the Saints defensive front continues to impress me. Nonetheless this will still be an area where the Saints need to improve on offense as they were clearly missing Kelvin Banks Jr. and Eitienne down the stretch in the fourth quarter and will need to rely on this aspect of the offense in games going forward.
Costly Mistakes
The 4th quarter of the game couldn’t have gone worse for the Saints as their drive chart sounded eerily similar to a Sarah McLachlan special (IYKYK) and read the following: Fumble, Interception, Fumble, Fumble. This put a king sized sharpie strike through my Key to Victory Number 3: Mistake Free Football. In his first start replacing Kelvin Banks Jr. at left tackle, Asim Richards held up well against the Raiders until the 4th quarter when he seemed to unravel in front of our very eyes and Malcom Koonce was able to make two game changing plays from the right end position. Juwan Johnson had a great game that included 2 touchdowns off of 8 receptions and 53 yards, but was unable to avoid the turnover bug that plagued the team a committed a costly fumble that ended the Saints final drive.
End of the Day
Despite how frustrating the Zebras were, the Saints were not able to capitalize on the many chances they had to win this game and ended the day -3 in turnover margin. A recipe for disaster. This will be a defining moment for the Saints season as the film suggests they were the better team on Sunday, but the emotional toll of a loss like this will test the moral of the team and the leadership skills of coaches and captains alike. While this team is young and the situation is much different from the last few “all in to win” years of Brees’s career (although it might feel different in some corners of the Who Dat Nation), the Saints now find themselves in a must win game to get ahead of the NFC South while they can. I will be in attendance for the game on Monday vs that team from Atlanta and hope to see a team that is hungry to right the wrongs that were on display Sunday.
