Welcome to the first Saints regular season preview! Every week, we’ll look at that week’s matchup and key storylines. This week, we look at their matchup against the Oakland Raiders.
How Was The Preseason? The Oakland Raiders preseason wasn’t very fruitful winning only one game against the Arizona Cardinals before dropping games to Green Bay, Tennessee, and Seattle. The Saints had another year where the preseason resulted in zero wins against Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Houston, and New England.
Last Matchup: The last time the Saints and the Raiders faced off was back in 2012 and walked away with a convincing 38-17 win. The Saints also lead the overall series 6-5-1.
What to Watch For:
New Era for Oakland: Last season, the Oakland Raiders seemed to move forward and improve in their first year under head coach Jack Del Rio going from 3-13 to 7-9, having less than 10 losses since 2008. Derek Carr has slowly been getting offensive weapons with Michael Crabtree coming over and drafting Amari Cooper and the defense under Khalil Mack looks good even with Charles Woodson retiring at the end of last season. The Raiders look to be one of those surprise team and it’s justified based off of what they’ve done to try and get back over .500.
Focus Back to Football for New Orleans: If there’s been one thing looming for the New Orleans Saints, it was the contract for Drew Brees. Would he re-sign? Would they not be able to meet in the middle and it would be his last season? Would the Saints be crippled by another big contract to an aging quarterback? Well, only a couple of days before his self-imposed deadline, the Saints and Brees agreed to a new contract that will be voided at the end of next season and give Brees nearly $50 million. This was the best case scenario, especially if some of these defensive players that have a “prove it” contract show that they can still go and you want to get them on board for a little while longer. It also feels refreshing that the Saints won’t have to worry about signing their big names until 2017.
Oakland’s Front Seven Could Make It a Long Day: The Saints offensive line has been almost paper thin the last couple of seasons and when they take on teams that have a strong front seven, it becomes a long game for the Saints and also for Drew Brees. Recently the Saints signed Jahri Evans, but perhaps his age will hinder the O-Line even more, forcing Brees to make questionable passes. With rookie Jihad Ward and Khalil Mack at both ends of the line, this could be one of those days if the O-Line doesn’t clean up their act. And based off of the performance in the preseason, it’s looking unlikely.
The Saints Will Win If:
If the Saints offensive line can hold up enough to make sure Brees can get the ball to his big name receivers, the Saints have a great chance to walk away with a win in the Superdome. There will also need to be a quick maturation of the Saints corners. Delvin Breaux has one year under his belt and had a great debut in the NFL, but P.J. Williams hasn’t seen a snap that meant anything in the league. The Raiders might be looking towards whoever is up against the inexperienced player.
The Raiders Will Win If:
The Oakland Raiders need Derek Carr to perform well and get things going with passes to Cooper. Based off depth chart, the second-year wideout will be up against the aforementioned Williams. Cooper could have a field day if this happens (take note fantasy owners). They will also win if they can push around the Saints O-Line and with guys like Mack, that can be expected.
-Clint Domingue