Raiders Will Have to Match the Detroit Lions' Energy

The Las Vegas Raiders will be visiting one of the most hostile environments they will face all season in Detroit. They must match the energy at Ford Field.

The Las Vegas Raiders head to Michigan to face the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. The Lions are off to their best start since 2011, and it will be the first Monday night game at Ford Field since 2018.

The Raiders' offense will have to be prepared for one of the loudest stadiums in the league. The noise can be a game changer, potentially allowing Aidan Hutchinson and Brian Branch to be even more effective. 

"Playing in a dome is definitely different," Offensive Coordinator Mick Lombardi said. "I mean, we play in one every Sunday, but ours is a little bit different. I haven't been there in a while, but it's definitely something we are going to have to get used to.

"The good thing for us is we're very used to using the silent count, so we're used to being against noise, whether it's home or away. So, the silent count is something that we've been practicing for a long time, and we use it on a regular basis.

"I would say definitely playing in a dome is different with kind of getting off the football, and we got to do a good job on the cadence and making sure we're good to go and not letting them get a good jump on the football. Because a lot of good dome teams with good defensive lines can have a good advantage of that.

"But our efforts in the silent counts are going to pay off I think a little bit."

The Las Vegas Raiders must bring the energy Monday night at Ford Field.  / © Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

It will be important for Las Vegas to do its best to get off to a fast start against the Lions, which they have been unable to do so far this season. 

"Yeah, versus any good team," Lombardi said. "Last year, we went to Kansas City and played them on Monday Night Football, and we got off to a fast start, and I think that was really important for us, not just in terms of us versus them but for our confidence as well.

"We want to get off to a fast start for us. We want to get off to a fast start and make sure we get confidence in ourselves, and we feel like: ‘Hey, we can actually get this done and we can really do this.’ We have that belief in practice Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and we're ready to go."

The Silver and Black's offense ranks near the bottom of the league in first-half points per game, averaging under nine. Detroit's offense ranks eighth in the league in first-half points, averaging roughly 14 points per game. 

"And then we got to go out there and we got to make sure that if any little hiccup comes up in a drive, we don't let it falter us and don't let it affect us, because we want to make sure that we get the most positive plays we can," Lombardi said.

"But we want to do that for us, whether it counteracts what they're doing defensively or what they're doing as a unit. But we got to do that for ourselves first. And it only helps to do it against your opponent on the road." 

Las Vegas' offense will have to be prepared to keep up with a talented Lions offense early in the game to give themselves a chance to come away with a victory. 

The worst-case scenario on Monday is another slow start by the Raiders' offense. Lombardi and Coach Josh McDaniels will have to think outside the box and fully open their playbook to ensure that does not happen.

The Silver and Black will stay on the road to take on the Detroit Lions on Monday night, Oct. 30, at 8:15 p.m. EDT/5:15 p.m. PDT.

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