The Saints looked poised to make the Superdome feel good again, then the fourth quarter turned into a mess they couldn’t climb out of.
New Orleans dropped a 35-27 decision to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday in its home opener, squandering an 11-point lead in a second half packed with mistakes. The loss also kept the Saints from getting above .500 for the first time since Week 3 of the 2024 season.
For a while, it looked like Tyler Shough might have been headed for the kind of afternoon that changes the tone around a team. Instead, the Saints’ second-year quarterback got swallowed up by the final frame. Shough finished 29 of 42 for 255 yards with a career-high four touchdown passes, and he also broke off a 36-yard run, the Saints’ longest offensive play of the game.
He was especially sharp in a stretch that bridged the second and fourth quarters, completing 10 straight passes for 84 yards and three touchdowns. But all of that got buried under the turnover avalanche that followed.
The fourth quarter was where everything broke down. The Saints, who had controlled the final period in their first two games, gave the Raiders four turnovers in the last frame, and Las Vegas used that gift to score the final 13 points of the game.
The first blow came on a strip-sack by Malcolm Koonce, on a play that drew loud boos from the Superdome crowd when the replay hit the video boards. Koonce hit Shough during his wind-up, the ball popped loose to Shough’s right, and Maxx Crosby recovered at the Raiders’ 45.
That seemed to tilt the game. Shough then threw an interception on the third play of the next series, and the Raiders quickly turned that into another touchdown on a short pass to Brock Bowers, pushing ahead 35-27.
New Orleans had another chance to answer, moving into scoring range on its next possession, but Koonce got to Shough again and forced another fumble on third down.
The Saints still had one more shot, and that ended the same way. Juwan Johnson was stripped after catching a short pass in the right flat, and the Raiders came up with the loose ball to shut the door.
The Saints had gone nine quarters and an overtime without a giveaway before Sunday’s fourth quarter. Then the game flipped fast.
Offensively, the Raiders kept leaning on Bowers, and the Saints never found a clean answer for him. Playing in his first game of the season, the tight end caught 10 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. New Orleans even used Kool-Aid McKinstry on him, but Bowers still proved too much.
He wasn’t the only Raiders tight end making an impact. Klint Kubiak’s offense featured both Bowers and Michael Mayer, and the pair fueled the attack in the first half. Together, they caught 10 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown before halftime.
In Other News...
Saints Fans Have Every Reason To Hate This Tyler Shough Ruling
The Saints had another rough Week 3 finish against the Raiders, and one sequence involving Tyler Shough has only added to the frustration. The NFL upheld the ruling on the field, saying Shough lost control of the ball before his arm started moving forward, leaving the play as a fumble and not an incomplete pass.
For Saints fans, the irritation is obvious because the league handled a similar-looking situation differently in Week 1 when Jared Goff was involved. NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth explained why the two plays were separated, but the explanation is unlikely to make New Orleans feel any better about how the call broke in a game already going the wrong way. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Collapse Came Down To Tyler Shough And One Brutal Call
The Saints had their best early footing under Kellen Moore on Sunday, jumping ahead after the first quarter and giving themselves a chance to carry that edge into a needed win over the Raiders. Instead, the game unraveled late in a 35-27 loss, with New Orleans giving the ball away four times in the fourth quarter and watching a promising night slip into a frustrating collapse.
Tyler Shough was at the center of it, with multiple turnovers and a strip that led to one of the games most contentious moments, when Las Vegas came away with the fumble recovery. A late Juwan Johnson fumble only deepened the damage as the Raiders kept answering with offense, leaving the Saints to sort through how a game they once controlled turned so quickly in the final period. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious Over This Replay Ruling
The Saints already had plenty to argue about during their game against the Raiders, and the replay decision only deepened the frustration. Adrian Hills crew drew heat for a series of controversial calls against New Orleans, including multiple penalties on the defense, but the play that really stuck with fans was a quarterback drop that ended with the Raiders coming away with the ball.
NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth upheld the ruling after review, saying the quarterback lost control before his arm came forward. The problem for New Orleans is that the explanation landed differently than another similar play earlier this season, when the league ruled it an incomplete pass, leaving the Saints and their fans to wonder why a key judgment can look so different from one week to the next. [Read more 🡒]