Last week in Vegas the stage was set for Monday Night Football that was expected to be exciting, close scoring, hard hitting, flashy, and it did live up to the billing. Opening night for Allegiant Stadium was quite a star-studded spectacle with all the lights and flash Las Vegas can offer. First of all the new stadium is spectacular. The Raider’s black space ship shaped stadium has the local nickname of the Death Star from Star Wars. Just as a comparison, our M&T Bank Stadium cost $220 million dollars versus Allegiant Stadium costing $2 billion dollars, so there is no real comparison between the two but I would never give up the Ravens home we have grown to love. Among the many celebrities in attendance was Terrell Suggs who was the only one I was interested in, I could not tell you any of the others except Ice Cube who performed at halftime. The sound system was clear, the big screens were sharp, and the lighting was bright. Which brings me to a complaint about how the Raiders handled the music, sounds, and lights between plays. It was very obvious while the Ravens were on offense the loud music would play much later than it should, up to the point we were to the line of scrimmage and Lamar was barking calls. The worst was, and I only saw this once, they turned the lights out so the whole place was dark then turned the lights back on again just as the Ravens offense was coming to the line trying to start the play. The lights were so bright that your eyes had to adjust to the intense brightness. This had to be distracting to our players. I talked to a Ravens official who works on the field at our home games and she said that the music running late and the distracting lights are against the rules and the Raiders should be fined for this happening. I could chalk this up the a new system that needs to be worked out but it was quite obvious that this only happened when the Ravens were on offense. All in all, but for the outcome of the game, we had a great time in Vegas. The Bmore Around Town Purple parties and tailgate were fun. The Raider fans were not as bad as Steeler fans. I broke even in the casinos (everyone who goes to Vegas says that) and I enjoyed how we painted the town purple with all the Ravens fans who traveled to see the game. We all knew by the end of the season the Ravens would lose a couple road games, but I just did not want it to be the first game of the season. I could point to so many single plays that turned this game. Lamar’s two fumbles, The PI penalties against our defense late in the game, but the play that stands out as the pivotal moment of the game was with less than a minute to go in regulation we had the ball, on third and 4 to go, the Raiders had no timeouts left and we just needed to make a first down and we win the game. Well we all know what happened. All we hear is that injuries are part of the game, and the next man up stuff, but you can help think if we had just one of our injured running backs play we would get that first down and win the game. So I don’t want to hear any more about working around the injuries, when one of the starters is out it effects how well the team plays.

GO RAVENS!!!

So I have started a Go Fund Me page because the mortgage is due, I took my own advice and bet on the Ravens last week and I lied about how well I did in the casinos.

This week please don’t bet on my picks since they are who we want to win not who we think will win.

Thursday Night 8:15

1-1 Washington over 0-2 Giants
I am happy for our Washington fan friends. Hail to the ……Washingtons?

Sunday 1:00

1-0 Raiders over 1-0 Steelers
With all the hype about Josh Allen and the Bills projected to go to the Super Bowl they couldn’t beat the Steelers for us.

0-1 Bears over 1-0 Bengals
One more reason not to like the Vikings, they didn’t beat the Bengals last week.

1-0 Texans over 0-1 Browns
The only true good thing that happened last week was the Browns losing.

0-1 Jets over 0-1 Patriots
Both AFC teams are 0-1 and that’s a good thing. Rooting against the Patriots.

0-1 Jaguars over 1-0 Broncos
Both AFC teams rooting against the Broncos and along with half the league that has a better record than we do.

0-1 Bills over 1-0 Dolphins
I would like to thank the Dolphins for beating the Patriots last week.

1-0 Eagles over 1-0 49ers
Both NFC teams rooting for our Eagle fan friends.

1-0 Rams over 0-1 Colts
NFC over AFC

1-0 Panthers over 1-0 Saints
Both NFC teams rooting for the home team
The Saints beat the Packers 38 to 3 last week, the shocker of the week. Not sure what that tells us but I can tell you the Packers on the road were not ready for that game.

Sunday 4:00

1-0 Cardinals over 0-1 Vikings
Rooting against the Vikings.

0-1 Falcons over 1-0 Buccaneers
Both NFC teams rooting against Tom Brady

1-0 Seahawks over 0-1 Titans
NFC over AFC Titans did not look like a playoff team to me.

0-1 Cowboys over 1-0 Chargers
The Cowboys played hard against the Bucs last week while the Chargers barely beat Washington. Cowboys get a road win against the Chargers.

Sunday Night 8:00

0-1 RAVENS over 1-0 Chiefs
I would like to acknowledge (not thank) the Chiefs for beating the Browns last week.
The Ravens are back in Baltimore this week to play the only team Lamar has not beaten. We are 0-3 against the Chiefs with Lamar as the starting QB. I am starting to dislike Patrick Mahomes more than I do Tom Brady. But the losing stops this week at home were the fans will be loud (and in the stands) despite the Ravens injury report being longer than the new Biden spending proposal. With a carousel of running backs, wide receivers questionable, and an offensive line in disarray Lamar seems like the only man left standing to carry the offensive load. That being said Lamar fumbled the ball three times losing it twice last week on plays were he was trying to get an extra yard rather than sliding or just going down. Lamar needs to learn that there are plays where taking the chance of turning the ball over is not worth an extra yard or two. Containing Patrick Mahomes is a whole other story. I think we need to use some of the Raider’s tactics and play the stadium music late into the Chiefs offensive plays to amp up the crowd and cause a distraction. If it works it would be well worth the fines. I would be willing to pitch in. We can win this week but we need for the ball to bounce our way. We need to limit our penalties, win the turnover battle, limit the Chiefs to field goals not touchdowns, and run the ball to control the clock. We can do this if the ball can bounce our way just a couple of times.

GO RAVENS!!!

Monday Night 8:00

0-1 Packers over 0-1 Lions
Both teams are in the NFC North were a 0-1 record puts you in both first and last place in the division since no team in the NFC North won last week. The Packers need a win this week to make up for the terrible loss last week.

Enjoy the games knowing that even if you are carrying a heavy load there is a team behind you to help along the way.

And that’s just The View From 151.

GO RAVENS!!!