NEW ORLEANS — Three takeaways from the Raiders’ 24-0 loss to the Saints on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans:
1. Unacceptable performance
Go ahead, try to identify the worst aspect of the Raiders’ performance.
The offensive line, the secondary, the play calling, the tackling? All would be fine choices.
Quarterback Derek Carr couldn’t get the offense moving, and the defense never made a big play to change the momentum. The Saints were a runaway train, and the Raiders just laid on the tracks and never tried to get up.
Even the sideline provided no answers, as the Raiders were shut out for the first time since a 52-0 trouncing against the then-St. Louis Rams on Nov. 30, 2014.
One particular stretch of plays summed up the entire day.
The Raiders faced a third-and-1 early in the second quarter when they trailed 7-0. They gave the ball to Davante Adams on a jet sweep, and he was tackled for a loss, which made going for it on fourth down a more difficult decision.
So coach Josh McDaniels sent his punt team on the field and called for a fake. The play was blown up in the backfield and, to make matters worse, wouldn’t have counted anyway because of an illegal block.
The Saints took over and nearly threw an interception, but Tre’von Moehrig couldn’t get his feet down inbounds and New Orleans kicked a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Offensive woes, missed opportunities by the defense and questionable coaching decisions all highlighting a five-play sequence.
It didn’t get much better from there.
2. Stars burn out
Josh Jacobs had his run of three straight games going over 140 yards ended without much of a fight.
Between the struggles of the offensive line and the negative game script that saw the Raiders fall behind early, Jacobs was held to 43 yards on 10 carries.
It’s not like the passing game was the beneficiary.
Carr completed 15 of 26 passes for 101 yards before Jarrett Stidham took over for the final 3:33.
Adams had one catch for 3 yards. It snapped a streak of 81 consecutive games with multiple catches for Adams, which had been the second-longest current run in the NFL.
The Raiders mustered just 181 yards of total offense and 13 first downs against a defense that was surrendering more than 30 points per game over the past three.
It was an ugly trip to New Orleans, and the stats didn’t lie.
3. What now?
This was supposed to be the part of the schedule in which the Raiders could string together a few wins and get back into playoff contention.
Instead, they find themselves 2-5 and facing a week of practice in Florida before a game against the Jaguars in Jacksonville.
A split on this trip wouldn’t be disastrous, but now it’s the best they can hope for, and the Raiders didn’t offer much reason for optimism that they are ready to get things turned around.
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