Last week
Chargers 14, Raiders 26
SoFi Stadium · Sun, Sept. 20 · CBS
Filed under False Hope, Vol. 48.
The Raiders went on the road, beat a Chargers corpse that cannot get out of its own way, and the fanbase immediately started drafting October speeches.
Tom Brady collected the applause. Tommy Boys football: borrow the aura, invoice the hope.
What actually happened
- Final: Las Vegas 26, Los Angeles 14.
- Kirk Cousins: 253 yards, three touchdowns.
- Defense: Masses two interceptions; late safety.
- Brock Bowers: inactive. Klint Kubiak: 2–0.
The Chargers handed Las Vegas a gift. They cashed it like they’d earned a philosophy. They’d earned a Sunday.
Next week
At New Orleans Saints
Caesars Superdome (indoors) · Sun, Sept. 27 · 2:25 p.m. MT (1:25 PT / 3:25 CT / 4:25 ET) · CBS — Chris Lewis & Luke Kuechly
(raiders.com · neworleanssaints.com)
The Saints (1–1): The most dangerous 1–1 team in football and the only honest thing on the schedule this week. Tyler Shough leads the entire NFL with 662 passing yards and 62 completions through two games. In Week 1 at Detroit he threw for a career-high 410, dragged New Orleans back from 21 points down, forced overtime, answered a Lions touchdown with one of his own, and then Kellen Moore went for two and the win instead of settling for a tie. That's a coach with conviction and a quarterback with a spine. Week 2 they walked into Baltimore as 8.5-point underdogs and walked out 24–17. Chris Olave has 18 catches for 268 yards, second in the league in receptions. Chase Young leads the team with 1.5 sacks. Kaden Elliss is flying around with 15 tackles. The offense is 7th in total yards and 2nd in passing. They're 8–0 against the spread in their last eight. And now it's the home opener, the first of a three-game homestand, in a building that doesn't do quiet. Even Moore took the high road this week and complimented the Raiders' "relentlessness." Class, confidence, and a live arm. Everything Las Vegas pretends to have while it's on camera.
And a little poetry: Daniel Carlson kicked for the Raiders for eight seasons, left, and now kicks for a team that actually wants to win. He's 4-of-5 this year, and his only miss was a 62-yarder. Sunday he faces the Brayders for the first time. Somebody warn the uprights. They're about to get a revenge tour.
The Brayders (2–0): Undefeated the way a lottery ticket is undefeated before anyone scratches it. Wins over Miami and a Chargers team that was 0–2, and now the whole fanbase thinks it's 1976. Ashton Jeanty ran for 2.3 yards a carry in Los Angeles, got stuffed on four straight goal-line tries, and dropped three catchable first-down passes. The rushing offense ranks 23rd. Kirk Cousins is tied for the league lead with six touchdown passes, which is what happens when you rent a veteran for the regular season and pray the lease doesn't come due in December. The team's best offensive player still hasn't played a snap in 2026. The whole thing is held together with turnovers, trick plays, and a punter.
Floating over the whole mess is Tom Brady, owner and full-time self-appointed legend, who treats a pro football team like a vanity license plate. The Tommy Boys didn't hire a vision. They hired a guy with a famous last name so the famous guy upstairs would have someone to stand next to in photos. Brady keeps confusing a spot in the owners' box with a spot on the field. He will not be throwing passes Sunday, and neither will his aura.
Then there's Klint Kubiak, the franchise's first-year head coach and second-generation beneficiary of the Kubiak brand. Gary coached the Broncos to a Super Bowl, so naturally his son got handed a headset and a head-coach parking spot. Klint is coming back to New Orleans, where he ran the offense in 2024. The last time he stood on the home sideline in that building for a Raiders game, on Dec. 29, 2024, his Saints offense scored 10 points in a 25–10 loss to a Raiders team that was 3–12 going in. That's the résumé. That's the "offensive mind." A 3–0 start would put him with Madden and Callahan in the team record book, and that should tell you everything about how cheap franchise history has gotten. The last name bought the ticket. The Superdome is where the ride ends.
Setup notes (facts only)
- Line (Ryan Gilbert, SI, 9/22): Saints −3, total 44.5, moneyline NO −192 / LV +160. Lines may move before kickoff.
- Saints Friday report (official): OUT: WR/RS Barion Brown (hamstring), DL Christen Miller (toe). QUESTIONABLE: CB Martin Emerson Jr. (shoulder). No game designation (full practice Friday): RB Travis Etienne Jr. (hamstring), S Jonas Sanker, DL Nathan Shepherd, EDGE Chase Young, LB Isaiah Stalbird, DL Davon Godchaux, RB Kendre Miller. LT Kelvin Banks Jr. is on injured reserve (ankle), so he's already ruled out.
- Raiders report (official through Thursday): TE Brock Bowers (knee) limited Wed + Thu. S Treydan Stukes (concussion) and QB Aidan O'Connell (not injury-related, personal) did not practice Wed or Thu. DE Kwity Paye (illness) did not practice Thu. LB Nakobe Dean, DT Folorunso Fatukasi, CB Darien Porter, and WR Dareke Young were full on Thu. Friday game statuses hadn't been posted when this was filed.
- Bowers: Kubiak said he'd practice this week, and he did (limited). His official game status is still pending. Do not write "Bowers returns" until the Friday report or Sunday's inactives confirm it. If he sits again, the only Raider anyone came to see gets to watch from the sideline for a third straight week. Very on-brand for this franchise.
- Series: Raiders lead 8–7–1. The last meeting was Raiders 25, Saints 10 on Dec. 29, 2024, at Caesars Superdome.
- Venue: Caesars Superdome, domed and indoors, so weather won't matter. Crowd noise will.
- Standings: Saints are tied for first in the NFC South with Carolina.
- Road game: the opposing-fan count at Allegiant waits for the next home date.
House read: New Orleans has the quarterback, the receiver, the building, the home-opener adrenaline, and the kicker the Raiders let walk. Las Vegas has a 2–0 record, a rented quarterback, a coach whose best credential is his dad, and an owner who thinks his aura makes a good offensive line. If the Saints win, the museum adds a wing and the natural order gets restored. If the Raiders steal it, it's False Hope, Vol. 49: frame it, laminate it, and start writing the October apology tonight. Either way Tom will post something about "the standard," and the Brayders will repost it like it was scripture. Same old Tommy Boys routine: borrow the glow, skip the blame, bill the fans for the hope.
