Why Week 2 Has Massive Implications for the Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders play in one of the most challenging divisions in the National Football League. Last season, the AFC West had three teams earn playoff bids, with the Raiders being the only AFC West team to not make it to the postseason.

The Raiders hired John Spytek and Pete Carroll as their general manager and head coach, respectively. Las Vegas proceeded to then make several notable changes to their roster this offseason as well that should make them a much more difficult to beat this upcoming season.

Still, the Raiders must prepare for another grueling slate of divisional games this season, starting with their first home game of the season and their first home game under Carroll. With the Raiders playing on the road against a talented New England Patriots team in Week 1, Week 2 is a big deal.

There is no telling what to expect from the Patriots in Week 1, as they are one of the few teams to make a similar type of changes as the Raiders have this season. It would be understandable if a Raiders team still working out the kinks of all their new pieces lost that game.

However, with the second game of the season being against a divisonal opponent, in Carroll's first home game as the Raiders' head coach and the game being played on Monday Night Football, places massive implications on their Week 2 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.

At the NFL League Meetings earlier this offseason, Carroll explained his outlook on the challenges of playing in the AFC West.

"Well, I'm going to go about it in a very competitive manner. I've gone against these guys for a long time, and I'm not going to assume that I've got them figured out. We've got to study and work our tails off to figure out what's coming up now, how they've grown and evolved and all that. But to be battling against Andy [Reid] and Sean [Payton] and Jimmy Harbaugh, that's what it should be, and what will happen for us to survive the challenges of that division, we're going to be ready for whatever comes. And that's the way it should be," Carroll said.

"If you expect it to be easy, and you've got an advantage, I don't see it that way. The harder it is, the better it is for us to get good. And the sooner it's hard, the sooner we get better. And so, the challenge is enormous. Those guys are great, I have great respect for them. I happened to be sitting next to Jim on one side and I've got Andy on the other side in these meetings yesterday, and we were having a blast."

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