Saints struggle in Monday night showdown with Raiders, lose 34-24

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 21: Alvin Kamara #41 of the New Orleans Saints celebrates with Drew Brees #9 and Ryan Ramczyk #71 after scoring a touchdown during the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on September 21, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 21: Alvin Kamara #41 of the New Orleans Saints celebrates with Drew Brees #9 and Ryan Ramczyk #71 after scoring a touchdown during the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on September 21, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The New Orleans Saints took the field Monday and looked like a ghost of their Week 1 selves, losing 34-24 to the Las Vegas Raiders.

The New Orleans Saints proved dominance over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. In their color rush black and gold, the Saints took on the Las Vegas Raiders for the first time in their home stadium debut in Nevada.

The game went different than expected.

First Half: A tale of two quarters

New Orleans jumped out to an early lead, taking their first drive 62 yards for a 31-yard Wil Lutz field goal to open the game 3-0. After a Raiders punt, the Saints were back on top of the ball again marching down the field.

On their second drive, the Saints took it 78 yards that were capped off by an Alvin Kamara one-yard touchdown run. It was still early, but everything was going the Saints way but their luck was going to start running short.

The teams then traded punts, both of them going three and out. The Raiders back with the ball. After a choppy, unorganized drive, Derek Carr somehow found the endzone for the first Las Vegas touchdown of the night to Alec Ingold.

The Saints followed again with one of their own from Drew Brees to Jared Cook on a 7-play 76-yard drive. Las Vegas answered again as the teams started trading touchdowns with a 10-play drive of their own. That made the score 17-14.

With under 2:00 left to play, New Orleans took the field and four plays later, Brees threw an interception. The Raiders made a field goal tying the game at 17 before both teams headed to the locker room for halftime.

Second Half: Little resistance on both sides of the ball

The second half was tough as Las Vegas started with the ball. They marched down the field, taking over five minutes, and scored. With two punts and 11 total offensive plays, the Saints were held scoreless in the third quarter.

The fourth is where things got interesting as the Raiders took a 14-point lead to only have it quickly trimmed back down to seven. The Raiders ended up winning by ten after kicking a field goal late in the fourth quarter.

Next. Post-Week 1 Targets for Saints. dark

This wasn’t New Orleans best showing — that’s for sure.