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The Las Vegas Raiders are finally in the win column after a 32-23 win over the Denver Broncos. With the team heading to Kansas City next week to face the Chiefs, they absolutely needed to get a win or could’ve risked going 0-5. The Raiders now have some momentum and have to be feeling much better about the team going forward.
Unfortunately, there’s a real problem facing the team. Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium haven’t always provided a great home-field advantage. That was evident on Sunday as Broncos fans flooded the stadium.
It’s safe to say that RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California, never hosted so many Broncos fans before. In the end, the abundance of rival fans didn’t stop the Raiders from winning but it’s frustrating for the players who were with the team in Oakland. Defensive end Maxx Crosby was not happy to see so many Broncos fans.
“There was a lot of orange. I didn’t like that. That gave me a little extra motivation,” Crosby said after the game.
Ruining the Las Vegas vacations for a lot of Broncos fans was a big motivating factor for some players but not Josh Jacobs, who was the best player in the game with 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He thinks the whole narrative of opposing fans taking over Allegiant Stadium is overblown.
“I tell people this all the time: when you in an all-black stadium, any other color, it don’t matter what color is, it’s gonna look like it pop out,” Jacobs said. “I’m not too much worried about it. I know what our fans do.”
Will Raiders Ever Have Huge Home-Field Advantage in Las Vegas?
The fact that opposing fans are showing up to Raiders games in Las Vegas likely is overblown. As Jacobs pointed out, it’s easy for a bright orange jersey to stand out amongst a sea of silver and black. However, it’s undeniable that there are a lot more opposing fans showing up to Las Vegas than they ever did in Oakland. It’s a destination city and that will never change. So how do the Raiders get their massive home-field advantage back?
It’s simple: keep winning. Nobody is going to want to spend all the money it would take to fly to Las Vegas and go to a game just to watch their team get stomped. Right now, every team that comes to Las Vegas has to feel like they have a chance to win. The Raiders need to take that hope away by building a juggernaut. That’s easier said than done but the team will have to deal with seeing a lot of opposing jerseys until it happens.
Crosby Is Happy for Josh McDaniels
Heading into Week 4, head coach Josh McDaniels was on a six-game losing streak as a head coach going back to his time with the Broncos. He had to be feeling the pressure facing an 0-4 start to the season. Crosby was happy for his coach finally getting the monkey of his back.
“I’m fired up for him,” Crosby said of McDaniels after the game. “There’s a lot of pressure on us. Scheme-wise and everything, we’re just trying to make it work. From the outside, people don’t really see that. There’s a lot going on — new philosophies and the coaches are trying to do it right. When it’s not going our way, the pressure and all that starts adding up. I thought Josh did an incredible job bringing the team together this week.”
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