Raiders serve up easy win to Saints

After all the festivities were over to honor our military service personnel, the Saints fireworks began. The Saints drove 80 yards down the field on their first drive to score a touchdown. It couldn't have been much easier than it was either. They didn't face a single third down on the drive and finished it off with a wide open touchdown by All Pro tight end Jimmy Graham.

The Raiders could do nothing on three drive attempts with the third ending on a Carson Palmer interception returned for a touchdown.

The Raiders were able to get on the board in the second quarter thanks in large part to a 56-yard catch and run by Marcel Reece to set up a one yard touchdown catch by Brandon Myers to pull within a touchdown, 14-7.

That didn't last long, however, as the Saints took the ensuing possession and drove for another touchdown on a 38 yard touchdown from Drew Brees to Lance Moore. The 21-7 score was taken into the half.

The third quarter, as it has all season, was greeted with the Raiders surrendering a touchdown. This time it happened in 17 seconds. A 75-yard kick return and one play-a 25-yard run-and the Saints added to their lead 28-7. The Saints would add one more touchdown in the third quarter and the game was pretty much over before the fourth quarter began.

Those two touchdowns add to the already embarrassing statistic of the Raiders being outscored in the third quarter this season 123 to 34.

"The change in momentum in the game really occurred in the first half when they were able to get the touchdown on the double move," Said Dennis Allen. "Then they came back out in the second half and opened up with a big kickoff return and scored on the first play. That was really the biggest difference in the game."

The only bright spot for the Raiders was Marcel Reece who was essentially their entire offense. He had 193 yards from scrimmage on 103 yards rushing and 90 yards receiving. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry and 8.3 yards per touch.

Carson Palmer threw for over 300 yards again (312) with two touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions with the one returned for a touchdown.

"We had our opportunities," said Palmer. "we had our chances and you know, great teams finish and great teams, when you have your opportunities like we've had in a number of games this year, you capitalize on those, and we haven't done a good enough job of that, and that's something that, the way you fix that is to continue to work, continue to grind. This team does not turn it down, this team does not shy away from competition. What this team does is continue to work, and we've got to work, offensively, defensively and special teams wise and find ways to get better. I believe this team will."

Drew Brees had just 219 yards passing but he threw for 3 touchdowns with just 7 incompletions for a QB rating of 134.6.

The Saints three-headed monster of Mark Ingram, Chris Ivory, and Pierre Thomas had a combined 134 yards rushing on 25 carries.

The Raiders have now given up 135 points in the last three games.

The Raiders fall to 3-7 on the season. They have the Bengals next week. The hardest part of their schedule is over but with the way they played against the terrible Saints defense leaves little confidence in how they will perform against any team the remainder of the season.

Box Score

New Orleans Saints (5-5-0) Oakland Raiders (3-7-0)

Saints

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

D. Brees 20/27 219 3 0

C. Daniel 1/1 10 0 0

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

M. Ingram 12 67 1 27T

C. Ivory 8 37 0 25

P. Thomas 5 30 0 14

C. Daniel 3 19 0 19

Receiving REC YDS TD LG

M. Colston 4 69 0 24

L. Moore 2 53 2 38T

J. Graham 6 29 1 10

P. Thomas 3 28 0 19

T. Cadet 2 25 0 17

J. Collins 2 21 0 11

D. Henderson 1 3 0 3

M. Ingram 1 1 0 1

Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS

J. Graham 1 0 1 0

Kicking FG LG XP PTS

G. Hartley 1/1 47 5/5 8

Punting NO AVG I20 LG

T. Morstead 4 43.0 1 50

Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG

T. Cadet 3 41 0 75

Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG

T. Cadet 0 0 0 0

Defense T-A SCK INT FF

R. Harper 9-2 0.0 1 0

M. Jenkins 5-1 0.0 1 0

W. Smith 4-1 1.0 0 0

I. Abdul-Quddus 3-0 0.0 0 0

M. Wilson 3-0 0.0 0 0

A. Hicks 2-0 0.0 0 0

T. Johnson 2-0 1.0 0 0

C. Jordan 2-1 0.0 0 0

J. Patrick 2-0 0.0 0 0

J. Vilma 2-2 1.0 0 0

J. Greer 1-4 0.0 0 0

D. Hawthorne 1-1 0.0 0 0

C. Lofton 1-2 0.0 0 0

T. McBride 1-0 0.0 0 0

B. Bunkley 0-1 0.0 0 0

E. Mack 0-3 0.0 0 0

Raiders

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

C. Palmer 22/40 312 2 2

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

M. Reece 19 103 0 17

T. Jones 3 13 0 7

J. Stewart 2 7 0 4

C. Palmer 1 2 0 2

D. Moore 1 -5 0 -5

Receiving REC YDS TD LG

M. Reece 4 90 0 56

D. Heyward-Bey 4 69 0 22

B. Myers 6 55 1 27

R. Streater 2 26 0 20

J. Criner 3 23 1 13

J. Stewart 1 23 0 23

D. Hagan 1 17 0 17

D. Moore 1 9 0 9

Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS

J. Hanson 0 0 0 0

Kicking FG LG XP PTS

S. Janikowski 1/1 40 2/2 5

Punting NO AVG I20 LG

S. Lechler 3 38.3 0 53

Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG

C. Francies 4 23 0 30

J. Stewart 2 13 0 15

Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG

P. Adams 1 0 0 0

Defense T-A SCK INT FF

M. Mitchell 6-4 0.0 0 0

M. Burris 5-3 0.0 0 0

M. Giordano 3-1 0.0 0 0

R. McClain 3-7 0.0 0 0

P. Wheeler 3-3 0.0 0 0

R. Bartell 2-1 0.0 0 0

D. Bryant 2-3 0.0 0 0

J. Hanson 2-0 0.0 0 1

M. Huff 2-0 0.0 0 0

A. Carter 1-0 0.0 0 0

J. Crawford 1-0 0.0 0 0

M. Shaughnessy 1-1 0.0 0 0

T. Kelly 0-1 0.0 0 0