Saints vs Raiders

By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints combat against the Las Vegas Raiders in the Big Easy this Sunday. It won’t be an easy fight for the Saints, as the Raiders are 2-0. With that said, I’m going to lay out five bold predictions for the contest.

Ashton Jeanty gets 150+ rushing yards

The Detroit Lions RB Jamhyr Gibbs was a maniac in Week 1 against the Saints. He recorded 156 rushing yards and averaged 5.4 YPC. Derrick Henry only had 68 rushing yards, but they didn’t feed him the rock a lot. Kubiak, who was once the Saints OC, will know which buttons to press against the Saints defense. The Saints miss All-Pro LB Demario Davis and their LB group will struggle in this one without him.

Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty credits his strong work ethic to his parents, saying their hard work growing up in Haitian culture instilled those values in him from a young age:

"Growing up in Haitian culture and seeing my mom and dad work hard, that work ethic was instilled in me… pic.twitter.com/S8xtScjDPf

— Vegas Sports Today (@VegasSportsTD) September 24, 2026

Chase Young gets 3+ sacks

The “Predator” Chase Young is starting a career season. He had a strip sack for a touchdown that was called back in Week 1. Then he had 1.5 sacks last week. It won’t be easy for Young, as the Raiders have only given up one sack. That’s what makes this prediction so bold.

Chris Olave gets 150+ receiving yards

Chris Olave has been a Top-3 WR in the league thus far. He had 182 yards in Week 1 and then 86 yards a week ago. He was second in receiving yards entering this week. I don’t believe the Raiders have a stout secondary, regardless of their record. If the Saints can slow down Maxx Crosby, they can take a few deep shots down the field to Olave.

Tyler Shough zips it in to Chris Olave for SIX 🎯

NOvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/oDswfhPi71

— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026

Kirk Cousins gets benched

This is extra spicy. I believe the Saints will jump out ahead and be up a few scores by the end of half-time. Then, I believe Fernando Mendoza will enter the game and get rid of the boo birds. I believe Jeanty can still have an excellent game and he will get the ball a lot when Cousins is in the game and when he leaves.

The Saints get less than 75 yards rushing

It would be an understatement to say the Saints running game was less than lethal last week. Alvin Kamara had 9 carries for 15 yards. Travis Etienne had 8 carries for 25 rushing yards. In other words, the Saints running game wasn’t scaring anyone. Their play-action game wasn’t convincing given their lack of success in the run game.