The Saints became the first team of the season to be shutout on Monday night.
The New Orleans Saints became the first team of the season to be shutout in their Week 16 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Monday night. The offense struggled immensely, but this week they get a much easier challenge with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders defense has not been good this season. They’re allowing 26.0 points per game, which ranks 27th in the league, and just won their first game since week four. They’ve given up 25+ points eight times and 30+ five times.
Despite some defensive struggles, the Raiders are actually a pretty good defense against the pass. They give up about 210 yards per game through the air (9th) and 6.4 yards per attempt (11th). Their secondary doesn’t have many household names – Jack Jones, Decamerion Richardson, Nate Hobbs, Tre’von Moehrig and Isaiah Pola-Mao – but they’ve played some really solid football this year.
In his fifth start of the season, Spencer Rattler did not impress in the 35-0 loss to the Packers on Monday night. He threw for 153 yards and a pick while completing just 50% of his passes. He was under pressure for most of the night, but he still didn’t show the fanbase what they wanted. This will be another tough challenge for him on Sunday, and we’ll have to wait and see how he responds.
Despite having one of the best pass rushers in football in the form of Maxx Crosby, the Raiders defense ranks towards the bottom of the league in sacks per game (2.2). They haven’t had much success getting after the quarterback this season, which bodes well for the Saints. Sacks have been an issue when Rattler has started, so they need to find a way to hold the Raiders to that two-sack number on Sunday.
The Raiders defense has a harder time defending the run than defending the pass, allowing 117 yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry on the grouch. Both of those figures still rank inside the top 15 though, and the Saints offense has struggled running the football recently. With Alvin Kamara out, things won’t get any easier for Kendre Miller, who averaged 1.9 yards per carry on Monday. He should be able to find some more success than he did against the Packers, but it could still end up being another long day for the TCU product.
Overall, the Saints offense just needs to have some success. Monday night was an absolutely atrocious performance and the fanbase needs something to rally around. Whether Rattler looks good, or Miller looks good, I don’t know, but they need something to be excited about moving forward. Just show some sort of competence and maybe the defense can step up against their not-so-good offense.
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