NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Aidan O’Connell and the Las Vegas Raiders played with a lot of energy — and looked pretty sharp — for a last-place team that had every excuse to be sluggish and sleep-deprived.
O’Connell passed for two touchdowns, tight end Brock Bowers broke two rookie NFL records, and the Raiders won for just the fourth time this season, 25-10 over the struggling New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The convincing victory came after flight delays so long on Saturday that players didn’t get into their New Orleans hotel until after midnight — less than 12 hours before kickoff.
“These guys didn’t blink, flinch,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said with a satisfied grin. “We got in at 1 o’clock in the morning, got up this morning and rolled.”
Bowers’ seven catches for 77 yards gave him 108 receptions for 1,144 yards this season, eclipsing Mike Ditka’s 1961 rookie tight end mark of 1,067 yards receiving and Puka Nacua’s 2023 mark of 105 catches by a rookie at any position. Bowers also surpassed Darren Waller’s franchise mark of 107 receptions in a season, which had stood since 2020.
“It’s pretty shocking to me,” Bowers said of his records, saying he had “no clue what to expect, coming from college to the NFL.”
Ameer Abdullah rushed for 115 yards for the Raiders (4-12) — the journeyman running back’s first 100-yard game in his 10 NFL seasons.
“I’m not surprised by it,” Abdullah said. “I put a lot of work in. I’m very consistent. … I’m happy for it, but I still think there’s a lot more out there for me.”
O’Connell finished with 242 yards passing, including a 3-yard TD pass to Jakobi Meyers and an 18-yarder to Tre Tucker as the Raiders won their second straight on the heels of a 10-game skid.
“Better late than never,” O’Connell said. “We have a resilient bunch of guys and I’m sure it was probably harder for people to believe that when we were losing a lot of games.”
Daniel Carlson kicked four field goals — his longest from 54 yards — for Las Vegas.
With former Raiders QB Derek Carr unable to suit up for the Saints (5-11) because of his injured left, non-throwing hand, rookie Spencer Rattler received his fifth career start. He remained winless as a starter after completing 20 of 36 passes for 218 yards and one TD with two interceptions.
Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi cited dropped passes, untimely penalties and breakdowns in pass blocking as the leading causes of his team’s offensive anemia.
“I felt like Spencer really never got settled in there, and he was moving around,” Rizzi said. “And he made some plays moving around, to his credit.”
Rattler also rushed for 46 yards to finish as New Orleans’ leading rusher for a second straight week.
“It’s no secret our team is in a dark time right now,” Saints linebacker Demario Davis said.
The Saints used trickery to take an early 7-3 lead. Running back Kendre Miller took what looked like a toss sweep to the right before throwing a lateral back to his left, where Rattler caught it and threw 30 yards downfield to wide-open tight end Foster Moreau in the end zone.
Las Vegas moved in front for good on O’Connell’s short scoring pass to Meyers with a minute left in the second quarter.
Travel trouble
After congregating for their flight on Saturday, only to learn of mechanical issues with their plane, Raiders players were sent home for several hours.
“It was pretty weird,” O’Connell said. “I kind of got back home and my wife and my dog both looked at me like, ‘What are you doing here?’ It was fun to be home for an extra couple hours but last night was a late night.”
The Raiders returned to team headquarters for meetings that normally would have been held in their New Orleans hotel before finally flying two times zones east.
“It was kind of funny when we came in this morning,” O’Connell said. “It was really a lot of juice from a lot of guys that I think kind of saw it as a challenge and tried to just enjoy it.”
Injuries
Saints: Miller left the game with concussion symptoms in the second quarter. LB Jaylan Ford appeared to seriously injure his lower right leg on punt coverage in the fourth quarter. DE Payton Turner left with an ankle injury. WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling briefly went down, but walked off on his own, after a hard collision over the middle.
Up next
Raiders: Host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
Saints: Visit Tampa Bay on Sunday.
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