Week 1 losses live in their own weird little world. It's one of the few weeks in an NFL season where it feels like why a team loss matters more than the loss itself. No team really dug themselves into too deep of a hole just by going 0-1, which then makes everyone spend way more time worrying about the smaller details.
The Raiders are as good an example of that this week as anyone – losing a division game on the road to a better team isn't the type of game that usually defines seasons, and the fact that fans are way more upset about how the Raiders lost than being 0-1 speaks to the patience that they're showing. The good news is that's great, and you're doing great, and it'll pay off in the longterm. The bad news is that some people on the internet think, actually, it's time to panic.
RELATED: 3 storylines for the Raiders' Week 2 matchup against the Ravens
The Athletic took a look this week at every 0-1 team across the NFL and gauged just how big of a deal the loss was, and the Raiders turn on the ride didn't go so well. Turns out a historically-bad decision that may have cost them the game has consequences.
The Athletic thinks that the Raiders' Week 1 loss to Chargers should worry fans
Result: Lost 22-10 to Los Angeles Chargers.
Reaction: Worry.
"The Raiders closed out last season with an encouraging stretch, and that level of play convinced Mark Davis to remove the interim tag from Antonio Pierce’s title. But Pierce’s first game as official head coach of the Raiders was dismal, disjointed and perplexing ... There’s still time for this unit to improve over the course of the season, but this loss falls in the disheartening category."
I guess they're not wrong. The loss was all of those things, and while I'm not nearly organized enough to put categories into different loss piles, if I was, this one would go int he disheartening drawer. It wasn't the start that anyone expected – which is less of a cliche this time around because it actually was such a weird game – and if that's enough for you to worry about the Raiders, don't let me get in the way. Fortunately they'll have their first chance at a get-right game this season with a road game against the Ravens. I wonder what The Athletic's 0-2 roundup will say.