Early Season Matchup Will Again be Critical for the Raiders

For the second consecutive season, the Las Vegas Raiders' will face the Los Angeles Chargers early in the season. Last season, it was the first season of the game and it was on the road. This season, it is the second game of the season, it is at home, and it is on Monday Night Football.

Las Vegas will have a chance to get Pete Carroll's arrival to the AFC West off to a solid start with the entire country watching. It will be the Raiders' first home game of the season and first home game under Carroll.

Las Vegas has a chance to start the season off with an early win within the AFC West and get the home crowd behind them with a critical home win on primetime. They must take advantage.

Shortly after joining the Raiders' coaching staff, Raiders' Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly spoke about the competition within the division and how it played a part in his decision to join the Silver and Black.

Although the AFC West has been nearly impossible to win for most of the past decade, this may be the season that changes.

"Yeah, the Chiefs and what Jim [Harbaugh] is doing with the Chargers, and obviously Sean Payton is a Super Bowl champ himself over in Denver. And I heard that from some people, do you really want to go in that division? But I think if you're a competitor, you do," Kelly said.

"And if you have a chance to win that division, then that means you beat the best, and the best that's playing in football right now is the Chiefs. They are the reigning Super Bowl champs and they're back in the game again. So, if that's your goal and you want to get there, you're going to have to beat them. So, that's what our focus is on, is to win this division. That means you're in the playoffs and you get a chance to compete for the whole thing.

"So, there's really good coaches in this division, but just like there is across the NFL. You don't get to be a coach in the National Football League if you don't know what you're doing. So, all of the competition every single week in this league is hard, but to be in this division, I think you're going against the best, and that's what you want to do if you're a competitor."

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