Two of the most surprising teams through two weeks of the NFL season will meet when the Las Vegas Raiders visit the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon.
The Raiders (2-0) finished in a four-way tie for the worst record in the league last season (3-14), and their reward for such a poor season — No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza — hasn’t even been a factor. He has been an understudy to 15-year veteran Kirk Cousins, who is thriving in first-year head coach Klint Kubiak’s offense, throwing three touchdown passes in each of the first two games.
New Orleans head coach Kellen Moore, a former quarterback, noted that he and Cousins entered the NFL the same season (2012) after being teammates in the Senior Bowl. Cousins’ experience is paying off for Las Vegas.
“I think it’s important that we come back every day and every week regardless of the outcome with the same locker room to have your process, your way of getting ready the same,” Cousins said. “That’s got to be consistent.”
The Raiders’ defense has also been a big factor, allowing the second-fewest points in the AFC (27) in victories against the Dolphins and the Chargers, and they are second in the league with five takeaways.
“We’re still trying to improve defensively,” Kubiak said. “We’ve done some good things defensively and we know that our opponents are working on our weaknesses all the time so we’ve got to keep working to get ourselves better.”
The Saints (1-1) are one of five teams that began the season with consecutive road games. Only they, the Browns and Packers managed to win a game while the Dolphins and the Commanders both started 0-2.
But like the Raiders, the Saints are emphasizing that an encouraging start doesn’t mean much this early in the season.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of games to go,” Moore said.
New Orleans’ quarterback is a lot less experienced than Las Vegas’, but in just his second season, Tyler Shough leads the NFL in passing yards (662). New Orleans, however, is 28th in rushing (78 yards per game).
“It’s a consistency thing,” Moore said of the run game. “There are times that it looks the way you want it to and other times when it doesn’t. There are 11 pieces to it and then there’s also a design perspective.”
The Saints are just one failed two-point conversion in their opener from being 2-0 despite facing early double-digit deficits in both games. They fell behind Detroit 21-0 before Shough led a comeback to reach overtime, where his two-point conversion pass went incomplete on the final play of a 31-30 loss.
Last week, they fell behind the Ravens 14-3 before Shough led another comeback and sneaked one yard on fourth down for a late touchdown that produced a 24-17 victory.
“We’re trending in the right direction,” Shough said. “There are some early details we have to focus on. We have a lot of football left and a lot more to clean up if we’re going to play at a high level week in and week out.”
One Saints starter — return specialist Barion Brown (hamstring) — missed practice Wednesday and Thursday. Running back Travis Etienne (hamstring) was limited both days, and fellow running back Kendre Miller was a DNP Thursday due to illness.
One Raiders starter — safety Treydan Stukes (concussion) — did not practice Wednesday and Thursday. Star tight end Brock Bowers (knee) was limited each day.
