The Raiders spent most of Sunday showing they could move the football. The fourth quarter showed something more important: they could answer when the game started to fall apart.
Las Vegas trailed New Orleans 27-16 after the Saints scored two touchdowns in 54 seconds and the Raiders coughed up the ball during a brutal third-quarter stretch. Instead of unraveling, the Raiders responded with the game’s final 19 points and four fourth-quarter takeaways to beat the Saints 35-27 at Caesars Superdome and improve to 3-0.
Before the game, Klint Kubiak called New Orleans “a hot team” and warned about the challenge of playing inside the Superdome.
“They’re playing really good football, playing in their place, very loud environment,” Kubiak said. “It will be a great challenge for our team.”
It became exactly that.
Washington stops the slide
The Raiders led 16-13 at halftime behind an efficient Kirk Cousins and three Matt Gay field goals, but New Orleans seized control after the break.
Tyler Shough directed an 87-yard touchdown drive, then Dylan Laube lost a fumble on the ensuing Raiders possession. Two plays later, Shough hit Noah Fant for a 16-yard touchdown and suddenly Las Vegas was down 27-16.
Mike Washington Jr. stopped the avalanche.
Washington burst through the right side for a 36-yard touchdown with 3:20 left in the third quarter. Replay overturned the original ruling that he was down at the 1, and even after a failed two-point attempt, the Raiders had cut the deficit to 27-22.
That run changed the temperature of the game. The defense changed the outcome.
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce sacks New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough during the fourth quarter on Sept. 27, 2026, at Caesars Superdome. Koonce forced a fumble on the play, helping spark a fourth quarter in which Las Vegas created four takeaways and rallied for a 35-27 win. Photo credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
Raiders defense takes over
Malcolm Koonce struck first, strip-sacking Shough early in the fourth quarter for a 10-yard loss. Maxx Crosby recovered at the Raiders’ 46, giving Cousins the chance Las Vegas needed.
Cousins immediately hit Ashton Jeanty for 22 yards underneath, Tre Tucker added a 15-yard catch and Cody White finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown. White now has three touchdown catches in the last two games.
Las Vegas led 28-27, but the defense was only getting started.
Hezekiah Masses intercepted Shough at the New Orleans 43 and returned it 38 yards before fumbling at the 5. Adam Butler recovered the loose ball and carried it back to the Saints’ 4, preserving possession through one of the wildest sequences of the afternoon.
Three plays later, Cousins found Brock Bowers for a 4-yard touchdown and a 35-27 lead.
Bowers makes his return count
Bowers entered Sunday questionable with a knee injury after missing the Chargers game. By the end of the first quarter, there was little question about his role.
Cousins targeted Bowers 13 times, connecting on 10 for 116 yards and the fourth-quarter touchdown. His return gave Las Vegas the matchup problem it had been missing a week earlier.
Cousins finished 22 of 33 for 248 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, earning a 119.3 passer rating. His third touchdown made him the first Raiders quarterback to throw at least three touchdown passes in each of the team’s first three games of a season.
Cousins had summed up his relationship with Kubiak before kickoff in simple terms.
“Coach, you call it, and I ball it,” Cousins said.
On Sunday, that partnership produced another three-touchdown afternoon.
Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers reacts during the first half against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 27, 2026, at Caesars Superdome. Bowers returned from a knee injury to catch 10 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown as the Raiders rallied for a 35-27 win and improved to 3-0. Photo credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
Four turnovers define the fourth quarter
The Raiders still needed their defense to finish.
Koonce stopped Alvin Kamara for no gain on 3rd-and-1 late in the fourth quarter, then Jeremy Chinn strip-sacked Shough on fourth down. Taron Johnson recovered, giving Las Vegas another chance to put the game away.
The offense could not quite close it. Chase Young sacked Cousins and forced a fumble that Connor Heyward recovered, forcing AJ Cole to punt with 1:44 remaining.
New Orleans got one final chance.
A Tonka Hemingway interception was erased by an illegal-contact penalty, and Shough followed with a 19-yard completion to Chris Olave. Then Nakobe Dean made the final defensive play the Raiders needed, stripping Juwan Johnson after a short completion.
Eric Stokes recovered at the Saints’ 35 with 1:02 left, and Cousins took two knees.
Las Vegas forced four fourth-quarter turnovers. Koonce, Masses, Chinn and Dean all created them, while Crosby, Butler, Johnson and Stokes finished the recoveries.
Dean led the Raiders with 12 tackles, including 11 solo.
A different kind of win
The Raiders did not play a perfect game.
New Orleans gained 376 yards, converted 9 of 15 third downs and scored touchdowns on all four red-zone trips. Las Vegas also went only 3 of 6 in the red zone and allowed Shough to throw four touchdown passes.
But the Raiders made the decisive plays when the game was at its most chaotic.
Las Vegas scored 35 points, its first 30-point game since a 63-21 win over the Chargers on Dec. 14, 2023.
More importantly, the Raiders responded when their first real crisis of the season arrived.
Crosby said during the week that Kubiak has kept the team focused on staying level through every swing.
“You just got to be present,” Crosby said. “Focus on winning. It’s just having that mentality, 1-0 every single day.”
For most of the third quarter, the Raiders looked vulnerable. By the end of the fourth, they looked like a team that had learned how to win when everything went wrong.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
