A dubious New Orleans Saints streak is over: the Black-and-Gold held a lead at the end of the first quarter for the first time in 23 games.
Quarterback Tyler Shough connected with tight end Juwan Johnson with 50 seconds remaining in the opening frame to give the Saints an early 6-3 lead. It was the first time since December 8, 2024—a win on the road against the New York Giants—that the Saints led after 15 minutes of play.
However, that early lead dissipated, and despite 27-16 advantage in the third quarter, the Saints (1-2) fell to the Las Vegas Raiders 35-27 in the Caesar’s Superdome on Sunday.
The Raiders (3-0) scored 19 unanswered points in the final 17:26 of the game, benefitting from four Saints turnovers, including a controversial call in which the officials ruled that Saints quarterback Tyler Shough fumbled when a defender hit him while he was trying to throw the ball. The situation mirrored the play in the Saints’ Week 1 game at Detroit in which the officials ruled that Lions quarterback Jared Goff lost the ball while his hand was moving upward to begin his pass, thus rendering the play an incomplete pass. However, in Sunday’s instance, the officials ruled that Shough fumbled despite his arm moving upwards and forwards to pass the ball.
Shough finished the day with 29 completions on 42 attempts for 255 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception. Shough also rushed for 36 yards, matching halfback Alvin Kamara’s total. Travis Etienne led all Saints rushers with 57 yards. Chris Olave led the Saints’ receiving corps with 107 yards on nine catches.
The Saints’ offense had an inauspicious start, going three-and-out on their opening drive, setting up a punt and a Raiders’ drive that led to a field goal midway through the first quarter.
Shough and the Black-and-Gold offense rebounded on the following drive. Shough gave the Saints the spark they needed when he scrambled a career-long 36 yards to the Las Vegas 32. An illegal shift five plays later nearly derailed the Saints drive, but Shough and company recovered quickly. Shough connected with Olave for a 12-yard gain on a third-down play, extending the drive and putting the ball at the Raiders’ six-yard line. Three plays later, Shough found Johnson in the end zone for the two-yard touchdown. The Raiders blocked kicker Daniel Carlson’s extra point attempt, keeping the score at 6-3.
The Saints’ lead was short-lived.
The Saints gifted the Raiders possession at the 40-yard line when Carlson failed to put his kickoff in the landing zone. Despite Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins completing three passes for 31 yards during the drive, an offensive offside call ground the drive to a halt, forcing the Raiders to settle for a second Matt Gay field goal at the 11:30 mark of the second quarter, tying the score at 6-6.
The Raiders got the ball back quickly following a Saints’ three-and-out, and they capitalized on two major penalties to regain the lead. Two Cousins passes, one to Michael Mayer and another to Brock Bowers, put the ball at the Saints’ 21-yard line. A pass interference call followed by a roughing the passer call set up a three-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to Mayer at the 5:49 mark in the second quarter.
New Orleans answered with a scoring drive of their own. Three Travis Etienne runs for a total of 11 yards set up four big Shough passes ahead of the two-minute warning. The first two passes went to Olave for a total of 29 yards. Shough followed that with completions to tight end Noah Fant for nine yards and to Johnson for 14 yards. Three plays later, Shough found Fant in the front of the end zone for a three-yard touchdown, allowing Carlson to tie the game at 13-13 with 1:54 remaining in the first half.
Cousins burnt the Black-and-Gold defense multiple times during the final drive of the half. He connected with Bowers, running back Ashton Jeanty, and tight end Tre Tucker for 11 yards each before finding Bowers again for 15 yards with less than a minute to go in the half. The Saints appeared to force the Raiders into a fourth-down situation late in the drive, but a late hit penalty kept the Raiders’ drive alive. That penalty ultimately allowed the Raiders to send out Matt Gay to kick a 25-yard field goal to give Las Vegas a 16-13 lead as the first half clock expired.
The Raiders blew a make-it-take-it opportunity to start the third quarter, going three-and-out and promptly punting the ball to the Saints, and the Saints took full advantage of the situation.
The Saints used a balanced offense to go 87 yards downfield and regain the lead. Alvin Kamara rushed for 13 yards, and Travis Etienne contributed 10 yards on the ground. However, Shough was the star of the drive, completing eight passes to six different receivers, including a one-yard touchdown pass to Johnson. In all, Shough was six-for-six for 64 yards on the drive, pushing the Saints to a 20-16 lead.
New Orleans’s special teams unit stopped the Raiders’ next drive before it could begin. Saints’ edge rusher Anfernee Jennings stripped the ball from return man Dylan Laube. Defensive back Dylan Howden then recovered the fumble, giving the Saints possession at the Las Vegas 32-yard line. Etienne pushed the ball into the red zone with a 16-yard carry on the drive’s first play. Shough followed that up with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Fant, extending the Saints’ lead to double digits with 5:46 remaining in the third quarter.
The Raiders quickly responded, using a five-play drive to cut the Saints lead to five points. Two of the plays accounted for 56 of the drive’s 71 yards: a 20-yard Cousins pass to Bowers and a 36-yard touchdown run by Mike Washington, Jr. The Raiders attempted a two-point conversion, but it failed when Cousins’s pass to Jeanty missed its mark.
After the teams traded punts, the Saints regained possession and moved the ball inside the Raiders’ 30-yard line. However, the Raiders regained the ball after the officials ruled that Shough fumbled the ball during his windup when Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce. Defensive end Maxx Crosby recovered the loose ball at the Las Vegas 45-yard line. Six plays later, Cousins found Jeanty for a four-yard touchdown pass to give the Raiders a 28-27 lead with 9:21 left in the game. Cousins was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt.
On the ensuing drive, Tyler Shough threw a third-down interception. Cornerback Hezekiah Masses returned the pick 35 yards to the New Orleans eight-yard line. Three plays later, Cousins found Bowers in the front left corner of the end zone to extend the Raiders’ lead. Gay’s extra point gave the Raiders a 35-27 lead with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter.
The Saints drove to the Raiders’ 21-yard line on the following drive, but safety Jeremy Chinn strip-sacked Shough on fourth down, giving the ball back to Las Vegas with two minutes left in regulation. The Saints’ defense forced the Raiders to punt the ball with about 100 seconds left in the game. Five plays in to the drive, Johnson fumbled the ball after making a catch, allowing the Raiders to recover and kneel out the clock.
Cousins finished the day completing 22 of 33 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns. Bowers was the Raiders’ leading receiver with 116 yards and a score. Jeanty and Washington were relatively even in the rushing category. Jeanty ran for 56 yards, while Washington rushed for 54.
The Saints host the Atlanta Falcons next Monday night. The Raiders host the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday.
