Raiders
vs.
Saints
Week 1
NFL Pick
9/11/16
Boy ol’ boy, this going to be a good indicator of whether the Raiders have gotten over the hump of mediocrity or if the Saints and Drew Brees are back. If you haven’t noticed, the Raiders will be heading to New Orleans to take on the Saints in Week 1. The Saints are -1 point favorites at most online sportsbooks.
This is a Game that you’ll want to watch. Two talented quarterbacks and offenses that can be dynamic. The key question for the Raiders will be, can they refrain from committing turnovers? The key question for the Saints will be, can they stop anyone? There were times last year that it looked as if a junior high school running back could have success against them.
Of course I say this tongue ‘n cheek, but realistically the Saints have had continued issues on defensive side. In the immortal words of Bart SCott, the Saints “can’t stop a nose bleed.”
The Raiders bring plenty of talent to the table and I believe we’ll see a progression in the Game of Derek Carr. The guy can play the Game and can make all of the throws. It’ll be interesting to see if the Raiders can get their running Game on track as it was an utter disappointment last year.
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Amari Cooper showed flashes of brilliaNCe and Michael Crabtree seemed to move on from the whole Richard Sherman “Crabtree!!!” iNCident. LAtavius Murray, where you at? The Raiders need to have a solid run Game to go along with Carr’s passing ability if they want to get over that hump. Khalil MACk is a certified G and a bonafide stud on the defensive end. However, the defense GAve up 24.9 points per Game last year and that’s simply not going to cut it in the NFL. Especially when the offense is only putting up 22.4 points per Game. That is a recipe for mediocrity.
The Saints still had/have one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL. They ranked in the top ten, putting up 25.5 points per Game, but does that really matter when you are the worst defense in the NFL and give up 29.8 points per Game?
With a spread of over 4 points in point differential per Game… yea, you’re going to lose a lot of Games. Remarkably Drew Brees found ways to keep the Saints in Games in which like the Raiders, they finished 7-9.
If this Game were played at the end of last season, we would have had the Raiders winning by more than a TD. So, did the Saints get better while the Raiders got worse? We don’t think that’s the case. More likely, they both got better. We like the Raiders +1