New city, again
Las Vegas Raiders will host their first game in their new home - The Allegiant Stadium. Obviously a MNF was booked for this special opportunity and the visiting team is worthy of it as well. Raiders will look to build on their Week 1 performance, where they defeated Carolina Panthers in a 34-31. We've seen a lot of the same from the Raiders, compared to last year. The offense is still pretty solid. They are taking good care of the football, the OL is doing their job in the running game and Josh Jacobs is benefiting from that work the most.
But despite adding some weapons offensively, they are still struggling to create explosive plays in the passing game. They drafted Henry Ruggs just for that in the first round of the NFL draft, but it didn't help so far. Offense is still too careful, focused on running the ball and not taking too many risks. Defensively, they are still not doing well against the pass. They couldn't handle the speed that Carolina has at the wideout position. Besides that, Bridgewater was way too comfortable in the pocket. No pressure and mediocre corner play is very dangerous combination in the NFL
Who is stepping up?
Maybe they could get away with it vs the Saints. New Orleans' offense is extremely efficient, but they are not that vertical as some might think. They are excelling in the short to intermediate passing game. High completion percentage, getting the ball out of Brees' hands fast and using their playmakers at skill positions to get yards after the catch. Speaking of those playmakers, one of them is out for tonight. Michael Thomas, one of the best wide receivers in the game suffered a high ankle sprain last week and will most likely miss a couple of games.
Drew Brees will miss his most reliable receivers. Someone he often looks for when in need for a 3rd down completion to move the chains and extend the drive. Players like Alvin Kamara, Jared Cook and Emanuel Sanders will be forced to step up their game and compensate for those 7-8 catches and 100 yards that Thomas would usually produce. Their defense is really good. They will be a handful for an OL missing their best player in Trent Brown. That will affect Jacobs' production. While in the passing game, Gruden will look to stretch the field with Ruggs, but I don't know if he can do it effectively on a bad ankle that he injured last week.
Raiders vs Saints betting tips
I don't think anybody is surprised that I'm looking at some of these player props here. I was very disappointed by Bryan Edwards' performance last week. Considering how much hype he was rising on, coming out of the training camp, I thought he would beat that line easily vs Carolina's secondary. He struggled to get open and Carr didn't seem very interested in looking into his direction. He has a tough matchup this time vs Lattimore and Jenkins, where he'll have a difficult time improving on that week 1 performance.
Latavius Murray rushed 15 times for 48 yards vs the Buccaneers. He got more carries then Kamara, which was probably an indicator on how the Saints play to use their backs when in the lead. They are very much expected to be ahead for the majority of this game, and I don't see Raiders defense keeping Murray down to 3.2ypc as the Buccaneers did. 8-10 carries with a 4 yard average will be enough to beat this line.
Emmanuel Sanders had only three catches for 15 yards in the opener, but I expect him to bounce back in this one. As I mentioned, Thomas is out, so there are some receiving yards for the taking in this offense. Even though deep passing game is not something they'll usually do, I believe Saints will test Las Vegas' young corners to see if they can handle the heat.
Also, don't forget to check out our new feature for comparing outright odds. If you think Josh Jacobs can be the player with most rushing yards in 2020 season, after OROY award slipped through his hands last year, check out the odds with this link: https://theplayer.com/odds/american-football/usa/nfl/nfl-regular-season-player-most-rushing-yards
