Opportunities Lie Ahead of Raiders Week 3 Clash With Saints

The Las Vegas Raiders entered this week of practice looking to stack a third consecutive week of sound practices. Las Vegas will travel to Louisiana to face the upstart New Orleans Saints. Both teams are coming off wins that many did not expect them to walk away with in Week 2.

The Raiders' Week 3 road game will be their toughest yet and a solid test before they play their second AFC West game in three weeks, next Sunday. As excitement continues to swirl around the team, it remains focused on the task at hand.

Raiders' Next Step

The two teams differed, but the Raiders won their first two games in similar fashion. In both wins, the Raiders' defense constantly pressured opposing quarterbacks, forced multiple turnovers, and generally disrupted opponents' offenses long enough to win.

Offensively, Las Vegas has developed a bit more gradually. This is to be expected for an offense with new play-callers and players at critical positions. Even through the expected early-season hiccups, the Raiders' offense has eventually found a way to score enough points to win.

Under Klint Kubiak, the Raiders have looked like a completely different team. Yet everyone involved knows the process of fully turning around the team, and the organization will take much longer than a few games or even a single season. The Raiders' 2-0 start is nice, but they have higher hopes.

According to RotoWire.com, since 2016, teams that start 3-0 have over a 70% chance of making the playoffs. The Raiders may be taking things a week at a time, as they should, but it is hard to deny the opportunity that lies ahead of them on Sunday.

The biggest challenge the Raiders will face against the Saints will be their offense's ability to handle a formidable Saints defense and a rowdy home crowd. Sunday's matchup against the Saints is the kind of game Kubiak was hired for. His play-calling ability will prove vital.

The Raiders' offense has averaged nearly 27 points through two weeks. Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins explained how the Raiders' offense has progressed throughout the preseason and the season's first two games.

"I think that's a big part of NFL football is not just the game plan. First of all, the system that you install in the spring and in camp, but then the game plan week to week, and then the in-game plan, if you will, through over four quarters,” Cousins said before practice earlier this week.

“So, there's a lot of schematics that take place. It's more my job to whatever you're installing, whatever you're calling, whatever you're adjusting to, I need to make sure that I own it so that I can really execute it, versus whatever look we could get."

It is fair to expect Las Vegas' defense to keep playing at a high level, helping set their teammates on offense up for success. The Raiders' win over the Chargers showed how much play-calling flexibility they have. Execution will again be the name of the game for the Raiders' offense on Sunday.

The Raiders' coaching staff and players insist that every practice and every game is more about them than their opponents. It would be easy to assume their words are coachspeak and cliche, but if you look at the first two weeks of the season, it is clear they are right.

Both the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Chargers did all they could to throw the Raiders off. The Chargers briefly succeeded at the start of the second half. Ultimately, Las Vegas made the necessary adjustments to their game plan and won.

Those adjustments confirm that each Sunday's result comes down to how well the Raiders adjust to what their opponent is doing and execute on those adjustments. Whether they win or lose will not always be primarily about them, but this week against the Saints undoubtedly is.

As they continue to make their way through the 2026 regular season, the Raiders have a chance to expedite their rebuild. Through the season's first two games, it looks like the expedition of the process is already underway.

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