It would be fitting if Sunday’s game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the host New Orleans Saints play Sunday comes down to a kicker.
The kicking mathcup is one of the bigger storylines in this game.
In March, the Raiders signed veteran Matt Gay ending the Daniel Carlson era in Las Vegas. He signed with the Raiders in 2019. Carlson, after surprisingly sitting available all offseason as a free agent, signed with the Saints in August.
Carlson, 31, has made four of five field-goal attempts as a Saint.
His one miss was a 62-yarder at the end of regulation in Week 1. Gay, 32, has made all three of his field-goal attempts with the Raiders, including a 59-yarder at the end of the first half Sunday in the win at the Chargers.
Gay has been kicking in the NFL for eight years, originally breaking in with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019. He spent one year in Tampa Bay before three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, making the Pro Bowl in 2021, then two campaigns with the Indianapolis Colts before spending this past fall with the Washington Commanders (10 games) and San Francisco 49ers (two games).
Going into this season, Gay had a career field goal percentage of 84.3 percent (73.9 percent in 2025) with a long of 58 yards (56 yards in 2025) and has made 96.7 percent of his extra points (100 percent in ‘25). Carlson entered this season with an 86.9 career field goal percentage (81.5 percent), a long of 60 yards (which was set this past season) and 95.7 extra point rate (95.5 percent).
Now, they go head-to-head Sunday with both players wanting to send a message to the Raiders.
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