Brock Bowers’ long-awaited return gave Las Vegas exactly the jolt it needed, and Nakobe Dean helped make sure the Raiders finished the job.
With two former Georgia standouts starring on opposite sides of the ball, Las Vegas moved to 3-0 with a 35-27 win at New Orleans. Bowers was back in the lineup for the first time since a knee injury sidelined him for the opening two games, and he looked like he never left.
The tight end delivered a game-high 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown after undergoing surgery on Sept. 9 to repair a torn meniscus suffered in training camp. He was on the field for 55 of the Raiders’ 70 offensive snaps, according to PFF metrics, and now has 1,990 career receiving yards, the second-most by any tight end in NFL history.
“It was great to be back flying around and be with the team,” Bowers said after the game on the Raiders GameDay YouTube show.
“It feels amazing being 3-0 …. I think we played some good football offensively and defensively, it’s really complimentary football.”
Bowers got rolling immediately. On the opening drive, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins found him three times for 37 yards, setting the tone for a big afternoon.
Then came the finishing touch: Bowers caught a 4-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter on an out route, giving Cousins his third scoring throw of the day. That pushed Cousins into a share of the league lead with nine touchdown passes through three games.
Dean made his own impact all game long. He finished with a team-high 12 tackles, while Quay Walker added eight after both were brought in through free agency in the offseason. Eric Stokes, the other former Georgia player in Las Vegas’ secondary, chipped in two tackles and sealed the comeback with a fumble recovery as the Raiders erased an 11-point deficit.
Dean, Walker and Stokes were among six Raiders defenders who played all 74 snaps. Dean also helped close the door in the final moments by forcing Saints tight end Juwan Johnson to fumble at the New Orleans 40-yard line, and Stokes was right there to recover it.
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Georgia Has One Dangerous Problem Heading Into Vanderbilt
Georgia has spent this season looking every bit like a team that expects to keep winning, and the matchup with Vanderbilt fits the same script on paper. The Bulldogs are undefeated, favored again, and coming off a run of steady, no-drama performances that have kept them in the thick of the national conversation while the rest of the league keeps trying to catch up.
Still, there is a little extra edge to this one because Vanderbilts quarterback is freshman Jared Curtis, who was once committed to Georgia before ending up with the Commodores. The bigger concern for the Bulldogs, though, is less about the opponent than about themselves and whether they can stay locked in for four quarters, since the season has shown they can control games when they stay sharp and leave openings only when their focus slips. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Hinted At A Bigger Georgia Role Fans Will Notice
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Georgia Just Got An Alabama Twist It May Not Have Wanted
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For Georgia, the timing only sharpens the stakes of a game that figures to draw national attention from the opening snap. Alabama is always a measuring stick, but this one arrives with both programs in strong position and the kind of atmosphere that can make an early October showdown feel a lot bigger than a single conference game. [Read more 🡒]