The Raiders clawed out a gritty 35-34 road win Sunday in New Orleans on the heels of a well-orchestrated (albeit penalty-assisted) drive that saw Derek Carr hit Seth Roberts for a touchdown and Michael Crabtree for the game-winning two point conversion.

Here’s how we grade that performance:

PASS OFFENSE: A

Derek Carr made the players the Raiders needed him to make and avoided those critical mistakes that have sometimes derailed him. He completed 24 of 38 passes for 319 yards and although he only threw one touchdown, it was part of the game-winning drive. His pass to Michael Crabtree for the winning two-point conversion was spot on, allowing Crabtree to get in good position to make the grab over the Saints’ Ken Crawley. That’s not an easy throw to make, especially with the whole game riding on it. He wasn’t perfect — he should’ve had a touchdown pass to Clive Walford when he got open up the right sideline but Carr’s pass was ill-timed and out of bounds. But he played turnover-free football and helped the Raiders get a key win on the road.

RUN OFFENSE: A

The idea behind being committed to the running game is that eventually you hope to pop one off. The offense came in wanting to establish the ground game, but had just 10 carries for 40 yards at halftime. One of those was a powerful 6-yard touchdown run by Latavius Murray, who plowed over a would-be tackler at the 1-yard line. The Raiders stayed committed to trying to get the ground attack established and then it popped when Jalen Richard’s first NFL carry went 75 yards for a touchdown. Long touchdown runs always help boost the numbers, but that’s kind of the point. That’s what grinding through some of the lesser runs helps do and the Raiders rushed 167 yards on 26 carries, generating a 6.4 yards per attempt average. The 167 yards was the top ground performance entering Monday night’s two games. Oh and by the way, free agent lineman Kelechi Osemele is a monster.

Why did the #Raiders pay almost $12M per year for a guard? Check out Kelechi Osemele on this 75-yard run pic.twitter.com/Dh5PlcDyli — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 11, 2016

PASS DEFENSE: D-

An F grade constitutes failure and so I don’t give out Fs when a team wins, even if I may have thought about it this time. Sean Smith had a nightmare of a debut that the Raiders said all the right things about, but has to create some concern and certainly deliver a knock to Smith’s confidence after signing that lucrative free agent deal. The other thing that prevents the F grade is the strip-sack that Bruce Irvin delivered on the opening drive that helped the Raiders take the early lead. But afterwards, Brees was able to sit back and torch the Raiders for 423 yards and four touchdowns. There is certainly plenty of work that Ken Norton Jr. has to do to get this group to shake off this awful performance.

RUN DEFENSE: C-

The Raiders weren’t awful stopping the run, but they weren’t good either. New Orleans picked up 88 yards on 22 carries, a solid 4.0 yards per attempt. They averaged 5.0 yards per carry during the second half, though they didn’t run it a ton (just eight attempts). New Orleans obviously doesn’t focus much on the ground game, so you’d like to see the Raiders shut down that attack. But the Saints too often got the yards when they needed them, including picking up seven rushing first downs.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+

Sebastian Janikowski made all his kicks, although they only went to him for a PAT once after four touchdowns. If you counted two-point conversions in the special teams category (to me, that’s the offense out on the field) this grade goes up because the Raiders converted twice. But Janikowski’s biggest contribution may have been his kickoffs, which were spectacular. The new touchback rules have teams trying more of the high angled kick and he executed those well. The Saints average starting field position was their 22. He helped overcome Crabtree’s celebration penalty by lofting a kick that forced New Orleans to start that last drive from the 23 — a big deal considering he had to kick from 15 yards back. Marquette King was also solid, including one perfect punt that Andre Holmes downed at the 2-yard line. Denico Autry deflected a field goal, but it still went in so he didn’t get credit for a block. Richard had one nice punt return called back by a penalty and that’s really what drags this grade down — the penalties.

COACHING: A

We’re not going to tell you there weren’t issues in this game. The 14 penalties for 144 yards were alarming and Jack Del Rio and his staff will have to find a way to coach the Raiders out of that kind of trouble. The offensive play calling after the Saints’ early turnover was baffling. A desire to establish the run is OK, but go for the throat when you get a big play like that. And of course, there’s the defensive-minded head coach who watched his team give up a league-high 507 yards. But Del Rio has to be praised for his aggressiveness to go for the two-point conversion. He’s trying to build a winner here and that type of play creates a winning attitude and, of course, helped them win this game. He also deserves credit for being willing to bench Sean Smith for his poor play. While it’s fair to ask why a player like DJ Hayden has such a longer rope than Smith, it was still a bold and aggressive move that could pay dividends down the road.