Raiders’ Future In Las Vegas Looking Bright After Week 1 Win Over Panthers

“It’s a historic win for me. It’s a historic win for all our players and our entire organization.”

Those were the words from Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden following his team’s impressive 34-30 road win over the Carolina Panthers to open the 2020 season on Sunday.

It was not your typical win for the Raiders. Set to host the New Orleans Saints at their new Allegiant
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Stadium next week, it represented the team’s first win as one of the faces of Las Vegas sports. It was also their first game as the re-branded Raiders.

More than anything we saw on the field from maligned quarteback Derek Carr and Co., starting off their era in Las Vegas with a bang proves that this team has a bright future in the desert metropolis.

It had not necessarily gone swimmingly ahead of Sunday’s opener against Carolina. And in reality, none of this had to do with the Raiders themselves.

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In exactly one week, the Raiders will open Allegiant without any fans in attendance. A typical game day that woud have normally included tens of thousands of rowdy Silver and Black supporters enjoying the new venue will give in to a new reality — one that includes the backdrop of a pandemic that pretty much rained on the parade of the Raiders’ opening season in Vegas.

Through it all, players and coaches had to relocate. They did so amid the travel restrictions and uncertainy of the pandemic. Through it all, Mr. Gruden proved to be the perfect leader to help his team through this transition.

It’s why he was so proud following Sunday’s win over Carolina.

“We’d love to be going back to our stadium and debuting on Monday night with everyone, but it means a lot. We’re all emotional about it,” Gruden told reporters. “Hopefully, our fans back home saw something they liked.”

On the field, it was not a perfect performance from these Raiders. Like a lot of other teams during Sunday’s Week 1 action, injuries plagued Las Vegas in a big way.

Starting right tackle Trent Brown went down with a calf injury. Rookie first-round pick, wide receiver Henry Ruggs, went down with a knee injury in the first half after making waves early on. While he did return in the second half, the Alabama product did not record another catch.

While there’s seemingly good news on this front, linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski left with a pectoral injury in his debut with the Raiders and did not return. That’s the ugly of it for Las Vegas following Sunday’s narrow win over the Panthers.

Here’s the good.

Running back Josh Jacobs looks like a legitimate NFL Offensive Player of the Year candidate. Coming off a tremendous rookie season, Jacobs put up 139 total yards and three touchdowns on 29 touches. He was downright awesome throughout the game.

Las Vegas is likely going to use Jacobs in a similar manner to what we saw from reigning NFL rushing champion Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans last season. In turn, this will have a major impact on Derek Carr as he attempts to prove to the Raiders’ brass that he can be the long-term solution under center in Vegas.

For his part, Carr was about as solid as we’ve seen in some time. The numbers were not spectacular (22-of-30 passing, 239 yards, one touchdown). But they didn’t have to be with what we saw from Jacobs in Carolina.

With Las Vegas down 30-27 after giving up two consecutive Panthers touchdowns to open the fourth quarter, Carr led the team on a nine-play, 75-yard game-winning drive that was capped off by a six-yard touchdown run from Jacobs. That drive saw Carr complete 4-of-5 passes for 46 yards while drawing a big pass interference penalty to keep things going.

More than anything, it was a workmanlike performance from Carr — one that did not include that mistake we’ve seen in the recent past. Carr was also excited to see how well the team’s offensive line played in front of the quarterback.

“Anytime I don’t get touched and we run the rock well, everyone should be praising the offensive linemen and giving them free food,” Carr told reporters after the game. “I know, if my wife is listening, they’re going to need some cinnamon rolls this week.”

Despite the injury to Brown, Carr was hit exactly zero times on 30 drop backs. That’s a testament to Raiders offensive line coach, the respected Tom Cable.

Defensively, Las Vegas shockingly held stud running back Christian McCaffrey 96 yards on 23 attempts. Sure he scored two touchdowns on the ground. But being able to contain the game’s most electric running back loomed large here.

The only real issue on that side of the ball was a young cornerback group led by second-year player Trayvon Mullen and rookie Damon Arnette. Carolina’s two starting receivers in that of Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore caught a combined 10 passes for 169 yards. Though, that did come on 17 targets. At the very least, this young duo held up well.

Las Vegas is a huge underdog against the well-oiled New Orleans Saints at home next week. The team has an unfavorable early-season schedule. There’s going to be some hiccups a long the way. That is known.

But for at least one day, this new iteration of the Raiders made the city of Las Vegas and their old city in Northern California proud. It was one heck of a way to start the era of Las Vegas Raiders football.