Live from New Orleans: 3rd Quarter
New Orleans, LA – The Oakland Raiders opening drive of the second half was a dud, as JaMarcus Russell continued his woes tossing the football, again nearly picked off by a defender in the secondary on a pass intended for Javon Walker.
They went three and out and punted to Reggie Bush, who returned the ball to the Saints 45-yard line.
There, New Orleans went on an 11-play drive covering 55 yards that took up 5:46 of time. During the possession, Reggie Bush had a run of 5 yards on 3rd and 2, and Drew Brees continued finding holes in the Raider secondary, hitting Lance Moore on pass plays of 9 and 7 yards before finding Aaron Stecker near the goal line for 8-yards and a score. The Saints took a 17-3 lead on Brees 22nd completion of the game and Stecker’s first touch of the game.
Oakland gave the ball right back to the Saints when Russell tossed his second interception of the season right into the hands of cornerback Jason David. The pick came on 3rd and 5, and was returned 18 yards to the Raiders 16 yard line.
Two plays later, Brees and Bush hooked up for the third time, and the speedster broke two tackles to burst 15 yards into the end zone to give the Saints a 24-3 lead.
At that point, the Saints had amassed 311 total yards of offense along with 25:27 of time off the clock. They also had a racked up 18 first downs, as oppose to Oakland’s six.
With Russell’s difficulties, Tom Cable went back to running the football to start the Raiders next drive. Rookie Darren McFadden carried the ball twice for 13 yards to begin the possession, and then Justin Fargas converted on a 3rd and 2 with a 4 yard run. But the drive came to screeching halt at their own 45-yard line when Russell tossed three straight incompletions.
Unlike Russell, Brees was in a zone and he continued his hot streak as the 3rd quarter wound down, finding Devery Henderson on a 51 yard bomb, as he got behind free safety Michael Huff.
Score: Saints 24 – Raiders 3
