The Las Vegas Raiders will open their 2020 slate on the road against the Carolina Panthers, and it was announced that there will be no fans in attendance.
The Las Vegas Raiders already knew they were not going to be playing in front of fans at home this season, but on Monday, they found out they would not be playing in front of fans in Week 1 as well. The Carolina Panthers announced that they will not have any fans in attendance for the Week 1 matchup against the Silver and Black, which could end up playing to the Raiders favor.
Carolina has a brand new look in 2020, as veterans like Luke Kuechly and Cam Newton are gone, and they have a new head coach in place in Matt Rhule. Teddy Bridgewater has become a full-time starter at quarterback for the first time since blowing up his knee in a non-contact drill a few years back, and will be expected to help this team hang in what should be a very tough NFC South division.
Tough matchups early for the Raiders
The Raiders new-look defense, led by Cory Littleton, Maxx Crosby and company, will have a tough test early on in the 2020 NFL season, as they take on two of the top running backs in the game. In Week 1, they will have to deal with do-everything back Christian McCaffrey, who not only rushed for 1,000 yards last season, but also racked up over 1,000 receiving yards.
In Week 2, the team will play host to the New Orleans Saints and star Alvin Kamara, who, like McCaffrey, can get the job done on the ground, and through the air. That game will open up their brand new $2 billion stadium, and though crowd noise will be pumped it, you could only imagine how electric that game would have been if fans were allowed to attend it.
Incredibly, the Raiders 2020 season will kick off in less than two weeks, and after everything that happened with COVID-19, that is a miracle in itself. The Raiders will be hoping to get off to a fast start in 2020, and early season tests against backs like McCaffrey and Kamara will show just how good this new-look defense is.