The Raiders Are Ready for Primetime

Garrett Podell of CBS Sports ranked all the season's best MNF matchups. He ranked the Raiders' Week 2 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers as the 10th-best Monday Night Football game. It will be the second season that the Chargers and Raiders face off within the season's first two weeks.

"This one will be fun. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh and new Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll renew their decades-long rivalry. The two went at it in the Pac-10 with Harbaugh at Stanford and Carroll at USC in the 2000s, and they also went toe-to-toe in the NFC West with Harbaugh coaching the [San Francisco] 49ers and Carroll coaching the [Seattle] Seahawks in the 2010s. Now, their squads go head-to-head in the 2020s out in the AFC West," Podell said.

"Both head coaches drafted running backs with their first-round picks, with Carroll taking Boise State All-American Ashton Jeanty sixth overall and Harbaugh taking North Carolina All-ACC rusher Omarion Hampton 22nd overall. Both also have strong-armed quarterbacks in Justin Herbert and Geno Smith. Get your petty popcorn ready."

Podell ranked the Raiders' Week 11 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys as the season's eighth-best MNF game.

"In 2023, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and new Raiders starting quarterback Geno Smith lit up the scoreboard in prime time. Prescott's Cowboys defeated Smith's Seattle Seahawks 41-35 on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 13 that season with both Prescott (299 yards passing and three touchdowns on 29 of 41 passing) and Smith (334 yards passing, three touchdowns and one interception on 23 of 41 passing) throwing the ball all over the yard. Perhaps the prime-time sequel to that night could be just as entertaining," Podell said.

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