A few games to look forward to
Now that the Las Vegas Raiders schedule has officially been released, we can officially start getting excited about the 2023 season. While every game has its own interesting set of storylines, a few are more intriguing than others from the onset, and below is a look at the five most-intriguing games heading into the campaign.
1) Week 1 at Denver Broncos
We’ll start right at the beginning. This will be a matchup of two AFC West teams who are trying to right the ship from last season. The Broncos struggled in year one with Russell Wilson and brought in a new head coach to fix the quarterback in Sean Payton, while the Raiders kind of did the opposite; adding a new quarterback while keeping Josh McDaniels around.
Plus, it’s always an interesting matchup when McDaniels takes on his former team, especially seeing as he’s not well-liked in Denver. He got the last laugh last year though, going 2-0 versus the Broncos as they’ll be looking for revenge.
This will be a matchup of two division rivals trying to turn things around that could set the tone for the rest of the year.
2) Week 16 at Kansas City Chiefs
All Raider Nation wants for Christmas this year is to beat the Chiefs in Kansas City. The entire fanbase gets to unwrap a present together as the Raiders take on their fiercest rival on Christmas morning. This will also be the only game on television at the time so the Silver and Black will have plenty of eyeballs on them. Who knows what the playoff picture will look like at that point in the season, but this might be a good opportunity for the Raiders to play spoiler.
3) Week 10 vs New York Jets
This game is currently slated for Sunday Night Football as Aaron Rodgers heads to Las Vegas for the first time as a Jet. This will also be the first matchup where Rodgers and Davante Adams will share the field as opponents. New York will be looking to end the longest active playoff drought in the NFL this season, adding to the intrigue of this early November matchup.
Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images
4) Week 14 vs Los Angeles Chargers
Another primetime matchup as this one will be on Thursday Night Football. The Raiders and the Chargers have a history of late-season contests with postseason implications on the line and this one should be no different. Los Angeles will be looking to get a chance to rebound from last year’s major collapse in the Wild Card round while Las Vegas will be jockeying for positioning within the division.
5) Week 3 vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Every time this classic rivalry game occurs it’s a big deal, and it will be the home opener for the Silver and Black, say no more! Last year, this ended up being the swing game that kind of started the Raiders’ offseason as they fell to the Steelers 13-10 on Christmas Eve. Shortly after, Las Vegas decided to bench and move on from Derek Carr so it’s somewhat fitting that the new era in Allegiant Stadium begins with the same team that ended the old one.