NFL

Las Vegas Raiders at New Orleans Saints

· National Football League
4-12, 2-7 Away
Final
25 - 10
5-11, 3-6 Home

Brock Bowers sets NFL rookie records as the Raiders roll to a 25-10 victory over the Saints

Brock Bowers breaks second rookie record of the day

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.

How can I watch Raiders vs. Saints?

  • TV Channel: Raiders at Saints 2021-22 NFL, week 17 is broadcasted nationally on FOX and NFL Sunday Ticket.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.
    In Canada, viewers can watch Raiders vs. Saints on DAZN.

Scoring Summary

LV FG 1st Period 5:49 Daniel Carlson 31 Yd Field Goal
NO TD 2nd Period 14:52 Foster Moreau 30 Yd pass from Spencer Rattler (Blake Grupe Kick)
LV FG 2nd Period 10:19 Daniel Carlson 39 Yd Field Goal
LV TD 2nd Period 0:57 Jakobi Meyers 3 Yd pass from Aidan O'Connell (Daniel Carlson Kick)
NO FG 2nd Period 0:00 Blake Grupe 34 Yd Field Goal
LV FG 3rd Period 7:57 Daniel Carlson 54 Yd Field Goal
LV FG 4th Period 14:14 Daniel Carlson 25 Yd Field Goal
LV TD 4th Period 8:20 Tre Tucker 18 Yd pass from Aidan O'Connell (Daniel Carlson PAT blocked)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nfl/500/lv.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originLV https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nfl/500/no.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNO
22 1st Downs 13
14 Passing 1st downs 8
7 Rushing 1st downs 4
1 1st downs from penalties 1
10-18 3rd down efficiency 1-10
0-0 4th down efficiency 1-1
74 Total Plays 53
388 Total Yards 269
5.2 Yards per Play 5.1
11 Total Drives 11
232 Passing 188
20/35 Comp/Att 20/36
6.4 Yards per pass 4.7
0 Interceptions thrown 2
1-10 Sacks-Yards Lost 4-30
156 Rushing 81
38 Rushing Attempts 13
4.1 Yards per rush 6.2
2-4 Red Zone (Made-Att) 0-1
3-20 Penalties 10-85
0 Turnovers 2
0 Fumbles lost 0
0 Interceptions thrown 2
0 Defensive / Special Teams TDs 0
37:50 Possession 22:10
New Orleans Saints New Orleans Saints Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Juwan Johnson, TE Questionable Jul 31
John Ridgeway III, DT Questionable Jul 31
Treyton Welch, TE Questionable Jul 30
J.T. Gray, S Questionable Jul 29
Foster Moreau, TE Out Jul 22
Las Vegas Raiders Las Vegas Raiders Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Brock Bowers, TE Questionable Aug 1

Game Information

Caesars Superdome

Location: New Orleans, LA
Attendance: 70,031 · Capacity:

2025 AFC West Standings

TEAM W L PCT T PF PA
Los Angeles 1 0 1.000 0 34 7
Denver 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Kansas City 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Las Vegas 0 0 .000 0 0 0

2025 NFC South Standings

TEAM W L PCT T PF PA
Atlanta 0 0 .000 0 0 0
New Orleans 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Tampa Bay 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Carolina 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Full Standings

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