Raiders Facing Both Harbaugh Brothers to Open the Season Could be Problematic

The Las Vegas Raiders enter next season with excitement internally and from their fans, who are looking to put last season behind them.

Last season was a tale of two halves for the Silver and Black. The season's first eight games were bad enough that the Raiders fired their general manager, head coach and offensive coordinator. They then benched their then-starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, shortly after that.

All those positions have been replaced with a competent leadership group this season. The Raiders have also addressed what arguably was their biggest issue last season: the makeup of their roster. The Raiders have retooled many places in and around their team that needed change.

With training camp and offseason workout programs ramping up, the National Football League recently released each team’s schedule for next season. While each team already knew its opponents, it didn’t know when it would face them. That has now changed, and it was revealed that the Raiders will open the season on the road against a divisional opponent for the second season in a row, making an already crucial first game of the season that much more critical.

This time, their opponent will be the Los Angeles Chargers.

Making their Week 1 matchup even more unique, the Raiders' second game of the season is also on the road against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. This means the Raiders will start the season with two road games against brothers Jim and John Harbaugh.

While both the Chargers and the Ravens present opposing teams with different sets of problems on the field, playing both teams in consecutive weeks to open the season could potentially present another set of problems for the Raiders and their new coaching staff. The issues caused by playing the brothers and their respective teams in consecutive weeks could be a big deal or no big deal at all.

The Raiders will likely say it isn’t a big deal. Considering the Ravens and Chargers are two very different teams, that is somewhat of a fair assessment. However, it certainly is advantageous to the Harbaugh brothers, both well-respected coaches in their own rights, to play the same opponent in consecutive weeks.

The Raiders coaching staff will have to be mindful not to be too predictable in their game planning for the season's first two games.

The good news is that the consecutive games against the brothers are the season's first two games. The Raiders have all offseason to devise two completely different game plans for both teams, possibly negating any advantages the Harbaugh brothers may gain from their teams playing the Raiders in consecutive weeks.

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