Saints vs. Raiders, Week 2: How to watch, what to watch on Monday Night Football

The New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders enter the second week of the NFL season coming off a high scoring victory. The Saints beat out Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-23, while the Raiders took down the Teddy Bridgewater-led Carolina Panthers 34-30 on Sunday.

Drew Brees outdueled Brady in the battle of old quarterbacks, though neither played particularly well. Brees threw two touchdown passes but completed 18 of 30 passes for 160 yards. The Saints running game wasn’t all that spectacular either with Latavius Murray carrying the ball 15 times for 48 yards, while Alvin Kamara had only 16 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown.

For the Raiders, Josh Jacobs ran the show on Sunday, scoring three touchdowns. His overall yards per carry wasn’t great, carrying the ball 25 times for 93 yards but he found his way into the end zone. Derek Carr finished with a solid stat line, completing 22 of 30 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown with rookie Henry Ruggs leading the way with 55 yards receiving.

Let’s dive into the numbers to get you ready for Monday night’s matchup.

TV Info

Date: Monday, September 21
Time: 8:15 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
Live stream: WatchESPN

Notable Statistical rankings (Football Outsiders)

Saints: 24th on offense, 9th on defense, 1st on special teams
Raiders: 5th on offense, 23rd on defense, 15th on special teams

DraftKings Sportsbook odds

Saints: -6, -225
Raiders: +6, +195
Total: 50.5

Pick: Saints

Injury report

Saints

Coming Thursday

Raiders

Coming Thursday

Fantasy football start/sit advice

Saints

Emmanuel Sanders: It’s possibly if not likely Michael Thomas does not play in this game, and passes have to go somewhere without him. Sanders is probably the best wideout the Saints have at this point outside of Thomas. He finished with just three catches for 15 yards with a touchdown but can be looked at as a WR3 or a flex option with plenty of upside on Monday night.

Raiders

Henry Ruggs: The rookie wide receiver out of Alabama had a solid start to his NFL career with three catches for 55 yards. He was also credited with two rushes for an additional 11 yards. Ruggs is probably not a player worth starting at this point but could be used as a flex option in deep leagues with potential to move up quickly if he can produce on a consistent basis especially on a team without a whole lot of wide receiver talent.