Written by AJ Olona

Monday, Sept. 21 at 8:15 p.m. ET

ESPN

SPREAD: Saints, -5.5

Monday Night Football in Week 2 sees two teams that had successful week 1’s face off against each other. The New Orleans Saints are heading to the desert to face the Las Vegas Raiders in their 2020 home debut. The Raiders will be playing their first game in their new, $1.84 billion Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders will be playing their first season in Allegiant stadium without fans, as they have opted to keep things safe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Week1 the Raiders were able to pull off a win against the Carolina Panthers. The MVP of that game was undoubtedly second year running back Josh Jacobs who finished the game with 93 rushing yards, 46 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. The Raiders made it clear that their offense was going to run through Josh Jacobs. While Derek Carr had a respectable day with 239 passing yards as well as1 touchdown and no turnovers, everything ran through Jacobs.

The New Orleans Saints on the other hand were able to stifle the Buccaneers in Tom Brady’s debut for the city. In that game, the Saints seemed to be in the driver’s seat the entire time. Drew Brees didn’t put up monstrous numbers on the day, but he didn’t have to. He took what the defense gave him, he put up 160 yards and 2 touchdowns and he did not turn the ball over on the day. Drew Brees was only sacked once in the game and Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara were able to combine for 32 touches on the day. While the loss of Michael Thomas will undoubtedly hurt the production of this offense, they should still be fine as long as they do not turn the ball over and as long as they rely on their defense.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Raiders were allowed Teddy Bridgewater and the Panthers to put up 30 points, and almost allowed them to come back and win the game. Bridgewater had a pretty clean day throwing the ball against this Raiders defense throwing for 269 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over. Bridgewater was also only sacked one time throughout the game while Christian McCaffrey was his normal self. McCaffrey had 125 total yards of offense while Robby Anderson had 114 yards through the air as well. The Raiders defense is going to need to apply much more pressure on Drew Brees than they were able to dial up in Week 1. With Michale Thomas out, the Saints are going to rely heavily on Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray on the ground. For the Raiders to keep this game close, they are going to need to make Drew Brees throw the ball, which also might keep the game out of reach as well.

The Saints defense was able to make the Buccaneers look much like the Jameis Winston led Buccaneers from 2019. The trend from 2019 carried over for the Bucs quarterbacks with Tom Brady throwing a pick-six to Janoris Jenkins in Week 1. The Buccaneers struggle to get anything of significance going on offense against the Saints. Mike Evans was held to 2 yards on one catch, Chris Godwin was held to under 80 receiving yards, Rob Gronkowski looked like he was still retired, only tallying 2 catches for 11 yards. Tom Brady was sacked 3 times by the Saints offense while turning the ball over twice. Despite the Buccaneers running the ball 26 times in the game, the Saints were able to hold them to only 86 yards. The Saints look like they are in a position this year to rely heavily on their defense and only rely on Drew Brees if they have to. The Raiders should not expect Josh Jacobs to find the end zone 3 times again this week. They will need to find much more ways to spread the ball around in order to move the ball on this Saints defense.

Entering this game, the Saints will be without their number 1 receiver Michael Thomas who is still nursing an ankle injury. The Saints will be getting their first round pick, guard Caesar Ruiz back after he missed the opening game of the season. Edge rusher Marcus Davenport will miss this game, as will linebacker Chris Hansen. Other than those three injuries, the Saints will go into Week 2 fairly healthy.

The Raiders on the other hand are dealing with a number of injuries. Starting tackle Trent Brown will more than likely not play against the Saints. Behind him, backup tackle Sam Young is also doubtful to play. That will leave Denzell Goode on the right side of the line to try and stop Cameron Jordan all night long. The Raiders will also be without big free agent signing Nick Kwiatkoski for the game. Not having Kwiatkoski will be a huge hit at an already weak position on the defense.

SHAWN’S PREDICTION: Saints 27 - 17

AJ’S PREDICTION: Saints 31 - 20

JAKE’S PREDICTION: Saints 35 - 17

DAGEN’S PREDICTION: Raiders 38 - 35

CADE’S PREDICTION: Saints 35 - 14

TIMOTHY’S PREDICTION: SAINTS 30 - 24

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