There were several factors that contributed to the Saints 34-24 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders Monday night. But Saints running back Alvin Kamara was able to easily sum it up.
“We didn’t do enough tonight,” he said. “It was ugly … it’s a hard truth.”
New Orleans (1-1) struggled at times on offense, gave up over 100 yards in penalties and allowed the Raiders to have success in the passing game.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a real pleasant film to watch,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “For some of our star players as well.”
New Orleans built a 10-point lead in the first half before the Raiders scored 24 unanswered points. Raiders tight end Darren Waller made several plays during the run and finished the game with 103 yards on 12 catches including one of quarterback Derek Carr’ three touchdown passes.
While the Las Vegas offense was heating up the Saints’ struggled to find consistency.
“Are we totally in sync right now? No we’re not,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “We’re not even close to what we are capable of. We did some good things tonight early on but it just wasn’t enough for the few opportunities we had. We needed to take better advantage off that.”
Brees finished with 312 yards, a touchdown and an interception. His turnover came near the end of the first half when Raiders linebacker Nicholas Morrow intercepted a pass intended for Deonte Harris.
“I had to throw it a lot earlier than I wanted to and the bottom line is I shouldn’t have thrown the ball,” Brees said.
The Saints did receive an outstanding effort from Kamara who rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns and caught a team high nine passes for 95 yards.
Payton said the Saints ran the ball more effectively against the Raiders than they did in Week 1. But said the team needs to be more precise offensively.
“The last two weeks, I think it’s been average at best offensively,” he said. “And that starts with us. It starts with me and we gotta be better.
“I thought we ran the ball a little bit better tonight. We’re still not protecting the way we’re supposed to. We’re not functioning well enough and taking advantage of some of the opportunities we’ve had.”