When Derek Carr finished putting on his uniform before his preseason debut with the New Orleans Saints, he couldn’t help but be struck by the sight of himself in black and gold – instead of the Raiders’ silver and black he’d worn for all of his previous nine NFL seasons.
Carr threw a touchdown pass on his opening series and rookie Blake Grupe kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Saints to a 26-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the opening exhibition game for both clubs.
Chiefs star QB Patrick Mahomes started but took just five snaps before Kansas City’s first drive ended with a failed fourth-and-1 play on a direct snap to reserve tight end Blake Bell.
That’s what Carr did. He looked comfortable taking his first live snaps in his new offense, completing six of eight passes for 70 yards during his only drive.
Aftrer twice rolling away from pressure on first-down completions to tight end Juwan Johnson and running back Alvin Kamara, Carr capped the 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 4-yard pass to Keith Kirkwood as the receiver crossed the back of the end zone.
With backups in the game for both teams, the Saints rallied late.
After rookie Jake Haener’s 2-yard scoring pass to running back Ellis Merriweather pulled the Saints within 24-23 with 1:20 to go, New Orleans’ 2-point conversion attempt for the lead went awry on a botched shotgun snap.
But Saints defensive end Kyle Phillips tipped Chris Oladokun’s third-down pass and caught the deflection on the Kansas City 22 to set up the winning kick.
Jameis Winston relieved Carr after the Chiefs’ fourth-down failure and drove New Orleans 48 yards in four plays for a 14-0 lead on a 29-yard pass over the top of the secondary to rookie receiver A.T. Perry. A sixth-round draft pick out of Wake Forest, Perry was New Orleans’ leading receiver with six catches for 70 yards.
Blaine Gabbert played most of the first half for Kansas City and pulled the Chiefs within 17-7 on a 1-yard fade to Richie James in the corner of the end zone.
Kansas City third-stringer Shane Buechele threw for 155 yards and a pair of scores, the first on a 15-yard pass over the middle to Justyn Ross.
Buechele put the Chiefs in front 21-17 when he escaped two near sacks, stepped forward and found Kekoa Crawford in the middle of the end zone.