Hey, did you hear about this? There is an NFL game tonight IN LAS VEGAS! No, seriously. The Raiders had a new stadium built and moved there and tonight is their first-ever game in that stadium. Craziness.
It was like 20 minutes ago that the NFL was coming down hard on NFL players organizing fantasy football events in the gambling capital of the world and now they’re playing a game there.
In fact, the NFL is so proud of breaking into the Vegas market, they had scheduled this year’s draft there. It didn’t happen though, because of the pandemic. But they’re planning and trying it again in 2022.
That same pandemic also canceled what was originally to be the Raiders’ first game in Las Vegas. Their preseason matchup with the Cardinals on August 27 was when they were supposed to break in Allegiant Stadium, but the entire preseason slate was wiped away.
With no preseason games to acclimate them to their new digs, the Raiders instead had a couple of team scrimmages in which they went through all the game-day motions, so they could work out the bugs and for the players to get the stars out of their eyes.
This time they make the short bus trip from their Henderson facility to their Las Vegas stadium it will be for real. And it will be in Primetime on Monday Night Football.
The game will be on ABC and ESPN and you can bet they’ll be showing shots of the strip for a couple of hours ahead, right up until it’s time to light the new, giant Al Davis ‘torch’ situated on the North end of the stadium with a visual of the Vegas strip in the background.
Then at half time, The Killers will be playing atop Caesar’s Palace. It’ll be all the Vegas you can handle, bro.
And, oh yeah, in the middle of it all, a game will break out. The New Orleans Saints are in town for this week two matchup. Both teams won their season-opening games, putting up 34 points on their opponents; the Raiders beating the Panthers and the Saints beating the Buccaneers.
Drew Brees will be without his All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas, but he is still Drew Brees with a Pro Bowl offensive line in front of him and Alvin Kamara behind him. The defense will be without defensive end Marcus Davenport but still has Cameron Jordan, Demario Davis, and Marshon Lattimore.
The Raiders offense will be led by Derek Carr who has a talented offensive line and running back of his own, but with a shaky defense that gave up 30 points to the Panthers in the opener.
What there won’t be are fans. The pandemic assured that. And it will be the case all season. So, while the NFL can celebrate their first game in the City of Sin, it won’t be until next year that the fans get to celebrate it in person.
This game is still historic as the first-ever in Vegas for the NFL and the Raiders franchise in their inaugural season there. The game kicks off at 5:15 Pacific time on ABC and ESPN with Monday Night Countdown beginning at 3 p.m. Pacific Time on ESPN.
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