Saints finally come together as team, blank listless Raiders

  • October 30, 2022
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
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Alvin Kamara
(Photo: Parker Waters)

The deck did not appear stacked Sunday for the New Orleans Saints.

Once again, Jarvis Landry, Michael Thomas and Adam Trautman were out injured.

Once again, Marshon Lattimore was out. Bradley Roby is out for the year.

Facing a Las Vegas Raiders passing game with Davante Adams and Derek Carr, it looked to be trouble.

The Raiders were a slight road favorite.

The oddsmakers were slightly wrong, make that way wrong on this one.

The New Orleans Saints looked the part of the team many thought they would be at the start of the season, displaying balance and efficiency on offense, fielding a stout defense throughout and not making mistakes.

The result was a dominant 24-0 win, and the margin of victory could have been larger.

It was especially sweet for Dennis Allen, who once served as head coach of the black and silver.

Now, as head coach of the black and gold, his defense smothered a highly capable offense.

Where has this team been all season?

How significant was the shutout win?

Consider that in his long tenure from 2006-21, Sean Payton never coached a shutout victory in what is now Caesars Superdome.

The Saints did gave a home shutout of Tampa Bay, 41-0 in 2012, but that was the season when Payton was sidelined by the NFL.

Here are my quick takes on the impressive victory.

**On Saints Hall of Fame Induction weekend, Devery Henderson and Fred McAfee completed their special three days with a ceremony on the field before the game. Then, the duo led the “Who Dat?” chant prior to the game.

**Each team went three-and-out on its first possession.

**The Saints took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by Alvin Kamara, his first of the season, with 1:32 to play in the opening quarter.

**It was an impressive drive, with good play-calling and outstanding execution. Andy Dalton was 3-for-3 for 47 yards on the drive including a 30-yard strike to rookie Rashid Shaheed.

**Kamara had six touches for 22 yards and the touchdown on the drive while Taysom Hill had five touches, amassing 32 yards on the drive.

**Marcus Davenport made a play on a third-and-one at the Raiders 46-yard line, hitting Davante Adams for a one-yard loss.

**The Raiders then opted to fake a punt and Matthias Farley took a direct snap, ran right and was stopped by Chris Harris Jr. and Paulson Adebo for a loss of three yards.

**The Saints did not fully capitalize but Wil Lutz kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 12:43 to play in the half.

**The defense came up huge as Carr had a pass intended for Hunter Renfrow tipped by Pete Werner, who made a terrific play laying out for it, and on the rebound, Tyrann Mathieu came up with the interception at the Las Vegas 45-yard line.

**It was just the second interception of the season for the Saints and both have been by Mathieu.

**The Saints capitalized in full this time, driving 45 yards in six plays with Dalton hitting Kamara on a 16-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-0 with 7:15 to play in the half.

**On the play, Kamara popped wide open over the middle, Dalton hit him in stride, Kamara ran through contact and at the 1-yard line, reached the ball across the goal line for the score.

**Kamara became the first player in NFL history with 10 games of at least one rushing and one receiving touchdown in his first six seasons in the league.

**Mark Ingram left the game with a knee injury and did not return.

**New Orleans had a chance to add to the lead prior to halftime, driving from its own 26 to the Las Vegas 20-yard line but Lutz missed a 38-yard field goal wide right.

**The Saints amassed 205 yards to just 73 for the Raiders in the half. It certainly felt like New Orleans should have had a larger lead.

**New Orleans had just one penalty for five yards, did not commit a turnover and forced a turnover in the half.

**Undaunted, the Saints took the second half kickoff and drove 75 yards in seven plays, taking 3:57 off the clock with Dalton hitting Kamara on a 36-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 24-0 lead with 11:03 to play in the third quarter. An obvious pass interference call on Rock Ya-Sin on Chris Olave sustained the drive.

**Lacking a sustained pass rush for much of the season, the Saints got sacks on consecutive plays on the first possession of the second half for the Raiders, courtesy of David Onyemata and Cam Jordan.

**Jordan now has sacks against 28 of the 31 opponents in the NFL.

**Payton Turner came up with a sack on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was the first sack of the season for Turner and just the second in his career.

**New Orleans had a 15-play drive, milking 9:15 off the clock, to take the clock from 12:48 to 3:33 to play in the game, though the Saints did not score.

**Jarrett Stidham replaced an ineffective Derek Carr at quarterback and drove the Raiders to the 2-yard line but did not score, as the Saints got a well deserved, hard-earned shutout.

The decision by Dennis Allen to start Dalton over Jameis Winston was a good one.

Dalton did not make any mistakes, completing 22 of 30 passes (73%) for 29 with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Pete Carmichael made good decisions to utilize his two best weapons in Kamara and Hill.

Kamara had 27 touches for 158 total yards and his first three touchdowns. Hill had 12 total touches for 74 yards, including pass completion. Kamara caught nine passes on 10 targets from Dalton, who clearly gets Kamara more involved in the passing game than Winston does.

The Saints were a solid 7 of 12 on third down conversions, an outstanding statistic.

New Orleans finished with 367 yards and held the Raiders to 183 while adding four sacks of Carr.

Turner showed up with his best game in the NFL with two sacks. David Onyemata showed up and played to his contract. Alontae Taylor was outstanding. Werner was good, as he has been all season.

The Saints had a scant 27 yards in penalties on five infractions. They committed no turnovers. It was a well coached, well played game.

If you are looking for a negative, consider the kicker. After missing last season, Lutz is 12 of 17 on field goals including just 7 of 11 between 30 and 49 yards. In today’s NFL, especially playing home games indoors, that is simply not good enough.

Perhaps the effort was a result of good karma.

Perhaps the visit of Payton to New Orleans this week and to the Saints facility helped.

Perhaps the induction of Henderson and McAfee produced positive vibes.

Whatever it was, bottle it and open it again in eight days.

The Saints have a long week again, not playing again until a week from tomorrow on Monday Night Football against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.

Perhaps that will enable an injured player or two to return. Maybe not.

Either way, if the Saints play the way they played Sunday, they will have a good shot at another home victory.

This is the team we thought they would be.

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Ken Trahan

CEO/Owner

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Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

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