The Las Vegas Raiders will be hosting the Baltimore Ravens for the Monday Night Football season opener at Allegiant Stadium.
This is the second year in a row that the Raiders will have their home opening game be on Monday night. Last year, they hosted Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. The Raiders and their three-headed attacking offense of Carr, Jacobs and Waller were able to get a win, 34-24, and move to 2-0.
Last year’s home opener was special for a number of reasons. The first one being that it was the first official NFL game at the newly constructed Allegiant Stadium. Another reason why last year’s game was so different: there were no fans in the stands.
This year will have a much different look. Fans will be allowed in the stadium at full capacity. This will be a first for the Las Vegas Raiders. The 2020 season didn’t see fans in the stadium for any of their eight home games due to Raiders owner Mark Davis’ “all or nothing” way of thinking for the fans. He wanted to see the stadium at full capacity, however, the Nevada Health Department was only willing to grant him 10% capacity for games.
Davis didn’t want to have to limit the number of fans that could attend the games, so he decided that he’ll wait for a full stadium in order to have any fans at the Raiders games. The only new caveat that has been added for this season is that all attending fans must provide proof of vaccination.
Former NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and the rest of the 2020 AFC North runner-up Ravens are coming to town and looking to start their season off on the right foot. Some view last season as a bit of a letdown. They finished second in the division, behind the Pittsburgh Steelers, with an 11-5 record after having the league’s best record in 2019 at 14-2.
The Raiders had just a 2-6 home record last year. They’ll have to greatly improve on that record if they hope to make the playoffs this season.
The Raiders haven’t been a playoff team since the 2016-17 season when they lost in the Wild Card game to the Houston Texans.
Last season, Derek Carr threw for over 4,000 yards with 27 touchdowns. His favorite receiver throughout the season was tight end Darren Waller. Waller had 107 catches for 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns.
He led the team in all three of those categories for receiving. Running back Josh Jacobs led the way on the ground with 1,065 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Monday night’s game is scheduled to kick off at 5:15 p.m.