Last week
Raiders 35, Saints 27
Caesars Superdome, New Orleans · Sun, Sept. 27 · CBS
By quarter: LV 3–13–6–13 · NO 6–7–14–0 (NFL.com)
Raiders 3–0 (tied with Kansas City atop the AFC West). Saints 1–2.
Filed under False Hope, Vol. 49. Catalogued. Laminated. Hung next to Vol. 48, which is still drying.
New Orleans led 27–16 late in the third. The Saints went 4-for-4 in the red zone and 3-for-3 in goal-to-go. They outgained Las Vegas 381 to 340. Then their four fourth-quarter possessions ended fumble, interception, fumble, fumble.
The hinge sits in the museum now. Third-and-4 at the Raiders' 29, early fourth. Malcolm Koonce hit Tyler Shough as his arm started forward. The ball came out. It was ruled a fumble, and the ruling was upheld on review. Per the AP, that's a different ruling from the one on a similar Saints strip-sack of Jared Goff in Week 1. The Superdome booed. Kellen Moore held his palms to the ceiling. Maxx Crosby recovered, and six plays later it was 28–27.
Next, Hezekiah Masses returned an interception 35 yards and fumbled it himself. Adam Butler fell on the ball at the 4. Three plays later it was 35–27.
That's not a comeback. It's a raffle. The Raiders won it with someone else's ticket. A franchise that took all of 2025 to find three wins (AP) now has three in September, and every one came with a receipt from the other team.
Saints honor roll: Tyler Shough, the Tight-End Whisperer of Poydras Street
29-of-42, 255 yards, a career-high four touchdown passes, all four to tight ends: Juwan Johnson from 2 and 1, Noah Fant from 3 and 16. He added a 36-yard scramble that opened the Superdome's first touchdown drive of the season. Per Myles Simmons (NBC Sports/PFT), the two teams' six tight-end touchdown catches tied an NFL record, a note he credits to the CBS broadcast. Shough's own verdict on the swing play, via Brett Martel (AP): "I've got to get it out sooner, regardless." One man accepts blame for a coin flip. The franchise on the other sideline has never accepted blame for anything, including three relocations.
Honorable mention: Chase Young, two sacks, the third two-sack game of his career (John DeShazier, neworleanssaints.com).
Raiders exhibit of the week: Klint Kubiak — "We're not surprised."
On Brock Bowers, via Brett Martel (AP): "To come off an injury and play the way he did was very impressive. We needed it. We're not surprised."
Not surprised. Your defense needed four takeaways and a replay-booth ruling in 15 minutes. Your offense went 0-for-2 on second-half two-point tries, one incomplete, one a sack. Your kick returner coughed the ball up to set up a 27–16 hole. "Not surprised" is a strange way to say "rescued." Also noted: he described practice-squad call-up Cody White as "Glad we got him" (Adam Hill, Las Vegas Review-Journal). The coach is glad he has a practice-squad receiver. That's not culture. That's a staffing emergency with a smile on it.
And yes, the nepo line. AP's résumé says Kubiak turned one year as Seattle's offensive coordinator into this job. The Desk's résumé says the last name did the work. Gary won a Super Bowl in Denver, and the son got a headset and a parking spot with a famous name on it. Three wins in, the family business is doing fine. It's the family business. The rest of us just pay the cover charge.
Scorers — personal service (every Raider who put points on the board)
- Matt Gay (11 — FGs of 41, 37, 25; 2 XPs): The highest scorer on a "35-point explosion" was the kicker. Again. Gay, you're the smoke detector in a burning house. Accurate. Loud. Irrelevant to whether the house survives. A 25-yarder to end the half, after first-and-goal from the 7, is not a field goal. It's a white flag with the laces out.
- Michael Mayer (6 — 3-yd TD): Stretched the ball over Justin Reid for three yards and celebrated like he'd crossed the Rockies. Mayer, you spent two weeks as the understudy, and the week the headliner came back you got one bow. Enjoy it. Understudies don't get a curtain call on Broadway, either.
- Mike Washington Jr. (6 — 36-yd TD run): Rookie. Five carries, 54 yards, one touchdown. The field ruling said he was down at the 1. The Raiders had to challenge to get their rookie into his own end zone. First career touchdown, and it needed a committee vote. Welcome to the franchise, kid. Everything here gets relitigated.
- Cody White (6 — 4-yd TD): One catch, four yards, one touchdown. Three touchdowns on the season on three catches (CBS Sports box). White, you are statistically a vending machine that only dispenses touchdowns and never snacks. And you've been elevated off the practice squad for the third week in a row (Adam Hill, LVRJ). The Raiders' most efficient scorer is on a week-to-week lease. It's the most honest contract in the building.
- Brock Bowers (6 — 4-yd TD; 10 catches, 116 yds on 13 targets): The best player on the roster, finally active. First drive, three catches for 37 yards (raiders.com). Game-high everything. So the one Raider who is actually as good as the marketing says spent his whole afternoon rescuing the ones who aren't. Bowers, you're a Stradivarius in a garage band. The garage band thinks it's a symphony now. That's on you.
Tom Brady, minority owner, majority aura: The same afternoon his Brayders escaped New Orleans, Patrick Mahomes tied Brady for the most wins by a quarterback through 150 starts, 115, postseason included (Jonathan Vankin, Heavy). So Tom's records are getting repossessed by the guy coming to his building next Sunday. Tommy Boys football is a man in a suite trying to look like a legend while the actual legend's numbers walk out the door in another man's arms. Seven rings, one minority stake, zero passes thrown. The aura doesn't block. It barely waves.
Autopsy
For forty-five minutes the Superdome did what it's built to do. It exposed. The Raiders kicked field goals from the doorstep, fumbled a kickoff into an 11-point hole, and watched a second-year quarterback throw four touchdowns to tight ends like he was mailing Christmas cards. Then the fourth quarter started and New Orleans forgot how to hold a football. Four possessions, four turnovers. One came on a ruling the Saints had lost in reverse in Week 1. One came off an interception return the Raiders fumbled back to themselves. The Brayders won by doing nothing but existing near the ball. That isn't a formula. It's a weather event. Kubiak called it unsurprising. Cousins called it capitalizing. The Desk calls it borrowed. Just Win, Baby has become Just Wait, Baby. Wait for the other guy to fumble, then take a bow. Kansas City does not fumble for you. Kansas City is coming to your house. Vol. 49 is framed. The glass is already cracked.