Week 3 will be the long-awaited home opener for the New Orleans Saints when they host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. New Orleans recorded their first win of the young season last Sunday when they defeated the Baltimore Ravens on the road to improve to 1-1. The 2-0 Raiders are playing their second straight road game after a win at the Los Angeles Chargers last week.
Former Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is in his first year as the Raiders head coach. Kubiak and other former New Orleans assistants Andrew Janocko and Rick Dennison are tasked with improving an offense that ranked at the bottom of the NFL in nearly every category last season. Taking on their former offensive coaches will be a Saints defense that has been mostly stout
but has had obvious struggles against the run. It's here that we focus this analysis.
Las Vegas Raiders rushing attack
2025 statistics
- 77.5 yards per game (32nd)
- 3.6 per carry (32nd)
- 5 touchdowns (32nd)
- 369 attempts (31st)
2026 statistics (2 games)
- 93.3 yards per game (23rd)
- 2.8 per carry (32nd)
- 0 touchdowns
- 66 attempts (3rd)
The Raiders hired Kubiak primarily because of his success as an offensive coach at multiple NFL stops. That success hasn't translated to the running game quite yet. No Raiders runner has reached the end zone in 2026, though the team is making a more concentrated effort to run the ball much more than in 2025.
Ashton Jeanty was the sixth overall choice in the 2025 NFL Draft and is a versatile talent with power, but the Raiders have yet to get him on track. Jeanty did have 975 rushing yards as a rookie and was the only Raider to have a rushing score (5). Jeanty had his third career 100-yard rushing performance (102) in the opener against the Dolphins but had only 48 yards on 21 carries against the Chargers. Coming into last year's draft, Jeanty was touted as the type of talent an offense can build their entire attack around. Expect Kubiak to find ways to get the ball to him as often as possible.
Backing up Jeanty is rookie Mike Washington Jr., a fourth round pick in this year's draft. Washington is similar to Jeanty in that he has good size and power with a breakaway burst. While Jeanty has 44 rushes so far, Washington has 10 of the other 12 from the entire team for 48 yards. Fullback Connor Heyward has the other 2 runs, but is mostly used as a traditional lead blocker.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins offers no threat as a runner whatsoever. However, the Raiders line is at least as responsible for the team's awful yards per carry. The offseason signing of Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum has yet to pay big dividends for the running game. Left tackle Kolton Miller and right guard Jackson Powers-Johnson are the best blockers outside if Linderbaum.
New Orleans Saints run defense
2025 statistics
- 120.6 yards per game (19th)
- 4 yards per carry (6th)
- 12 touchdowns (6th)
2026 statistics (2 games)
- 134.3 yards per game (27th)
- 5 yards per carry (27th)
- 3 touchdowns (23rd)
- 9 tackles for loss
After improvements in this area during 2025 over the previous few seasons, the Saints looked to take another big step in fortifying themselves against the run. The results have been anything but that over the first two outings. Make no mistake, the Ravens got away from the run themselves last week rather than New Orleans doing much to stop them. Before that, Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs slashed through the Saints with ease. Kaden Elliss, Pete Werner, and a few others have made a few very impressive run stops. For the most part though, it's been a concern how the team has looked in this area.
Up front has been the biggest Saints red flag. Vernon Broughton has played pretty well and Nathan Shepherd has been solid. Rookie second round choice Christen Miller was supposed to fortify the nose tackle spot, but he left the opener with a toe injury, didn't play against Baltimore, and has yet to practice this week. The Saints have a major lack of quality depth in the trenches made worse by Miller's absence and the season-ending injury to Bryan Bresee in training camp. Davon Godchaux, Tyree Wilson, Khristian Boyd, and John Ridgeway III simply must do better with at least clogging up inside running lanes and tying up blockers.
Edge rushers Cameron Jordan, Carl Granderson, and Anfernee Jennings, along with Chris Rumph II, have often been used in a more traditional defensive end position because of the ineffectiveness of the trench rotation. They've done an adequate job of shutting down the edge, but may need to crash inside faster more often to close off gaps between the tackles.
Despite the rushing numbers, linebackers Elliss and Werner have played top-tier ball. Werner leads the team with 18 stops, including 11 solo, with Elliss close behind at 15 total tackles. Elliss has done an outstanding job of answering the challenge of replacing Demario Davis, making consistently good reads. Werner might be playing the best of his six-year career in terms of his run defense anticipation.
New Orleans has an aggressive secondary in run support. However, the unit has too often had to make the first contact on runners at the second level. Perhaps the most telling statistic of this run defense is the fact that the Saints have just 9 stops for loss as a unit.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints look to keep Raiders run game from establishing Week 3 momentum
