The Las Vegas Raiders opened their new building in style on Monday Night Football.

While they didn’t have any fans inside the building for the first game at the brand-new Allegiant Stadium, we can definitely imagine what the atmosphere would have been like if they did for the Raiders’ 34-24 win over the New Orleans Saints in prime time.

As it stands, the eventual return of the “Black Hole” will be pretty special if Las Vegas continues to perform at the level it did last night.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday Sept. 22, 2020.

A Signature Win

Quarterback Derek Carr completed 28-of-38 pass attempts for 282 yards and three touchdowns.

Tight end Darren Waller accounted for 36.5 per cent of Carr’s passing yards total with 12 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.

The Raiders trailed by as many as 10 points, but Carr and company outscored New Orleans 17-7 in the second half to rally for the victory.

It was a signature win, both literally and figuratively.

After the game, Carr signed the wall in the Las Vegas locker room.

Nobody was happier after the game than head coach Jon Gruden.

At 2-0, his Raiders are tied with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the AFC West.

While it’s still early, Monday night’s win was absolutely crucial for a Las Vegas side that should gain some confidence after opening their most difficult stretch of the season with a victory over the Saints.

Over the next four weeks, the Raiders will visit the New England Patriots, host the Buffalo Bills, travel to face the Chiefs, and then return home for a date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Those next four opponents are a combined 6-2 to start the season.

Meanwhile, it didn’t take long for Drew Brees to be asked about dealing with a potential decline in his final NFL season.

Brees, who completed 26-of-38 attempts for 312 yards with a touchdown and an interception, laughed off that notion when questioned by reporters.

Brees was without his top receiver Michael Thomas. However, there were still some obvious red flags with Monday night’s performance.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Brees led the NFL in completion percentage on passes outside the numbers last season at 74 per cent.

Through the first two games of this season, Brees ranks 32nd in the NFL with a 48 per cent completion rate on passes outside the numbers.

The lack of big plays has also been an issue. Brees has attempted only two passes of 20 yards or more through two games, with one completion.

His interception late in the second quarter took away a chance for New Orleans to add to its lead before the half. Instead, the Raiders took the ball the other way and kicked a game-tying field goal as time expired.

Running back Alvin Kamara accounted for 30.5 per cent of Brees’ total passing yard production with nine catches for 95 yards. Kamara finished with a combined 174 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

Meanwhile, Tre’Quan Smith did the best he could to fill the X receiver role that Thomas has thrived in over the years with five catches for 86 yards on seven targets (his player prop was set at 34.5 receiving yards). Emmanuel Sanders disappointed with one catch for 18 yards on three targets.

The Saints have a lot to clean up and they won’t have much time to do it before they are back in the prime-time spotlight.

New Orleans will host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football in Week 3.

Lightning Strike Back

The Tampa Bay Lightning held on for a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night.

Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Kevin Shattenkirk scored first-period goals as the Lightning jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced to preserve the victory.

With a pair of assists, Nikita Kucherov set a franchise record for most points in a postseason with 28. Kucherov surpassed the previous franchise record set by Brad Richards during Tampa Bay’s 2004 Stanley Cup run.

The Lightning are the consensus favourite to win Game 3 on Wednesday night at -150 odds.

After missing their captain for the entire playoffs so far, it will be interesting to see whether Steven Stamkos will be able to return in time for that contest.

WNBA Playoffs Resume On TSN

The WNBA playoffs continue tonight with a semifinal doubleheader on TSN 5.

First up, the Las Vegas Aces will attempt to bounce back and even their series following an upset loss to the Connecticut Sun in Game 1.

Las Vegas is a 5.5-point favourite to win Game 2, which starts at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Then it’s Game 1 between the Minnesota Lynx and the Seattle Storm. The opener of this series was pushed back from Sunday after multiple Storm players had inconclusive COVID-19 tests, according to WNBA officials.

Seattle was initially listed as a consensus 8.5-point favourite for Game 1.

The line for that game was not available as of Tuesday morning.

You can catch that game at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.