Week 2 of the NFL ends with two high-powered offenses battling in a brand new stadium. The New Orleans Saints will take on the Las Vegas Raiders in Allegiant Stadium in front of zero fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless, it will be a historic day in Las Vegas as it will be the first time an NFL game will be played in the city. The Monday Night Football game will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and ABC. It can also be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
For the Saints, they are coming off a 34-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Saints are favored to win on Monday night, but they will have to go without their star wide receiver, Michael Thomas, as he has been ruled out because of an ankle injury. Thomas, who set an NFL record with 149 receptions last year, injured his ankle late in the Bucs game and didn’t practice all week. This means Emmanuel Sanders will play a bigger role in the passing game as well as Alvin Kamara and Jared Cook.
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“Well, I think we definitely have a next-man-up mentality,” Saints QB Drew Brees said to ESPN earlier this week before Thomas was officially ruled out. “I think everybody’s always ready to step into a role and fulfill that role. I think our coaching staff does a great job of putting guys in the best position to succeed and building a game plan around the strengths of the guys that we do have.”
The Raiders are coming off a 34-30 win against the Carolina Panthers, and it was all about running back Josh Jacobs as he rushed for 93 yards and three touchdowns. Jacobs is ready to put on a show at the Raiders’ new stadium. “Obviously it means a lot, not only to us but to our fans in this community,” Jacobs said to reporters last week. Obviously, we want to get a win especially with it being our first time in this stadium, so it’s going to be huge.”
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is loving the stadium’s nickname, the “Death Star,” and doesn’t care what anyone thinks. “I think it’s a cool name for our stadium,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I don’t give a damn about Star Wars. That’s what we’re calling our stadium and I don’t care what anybody else thinks. It’s a cool stadium.
