The Las Vegas Raiders lost Sunday to the New England Patriots - 36 to 20.
It was only the team's first loss of the season, but with an economy in a slump and a pandemic that seems to have no end, some fans were hoping for non-stop wins to help boost their spirits.
Melissa Ferris and Monecia Threats host a Vegas-based podcast, GirlChatSports. They say the magic will come from the Raiders.
“The magic is coming," Threats said, "It will come next season when we all open up and we’re all over all of this, I think that’s when we’ll be able to turn on that Silver and Black.”
Ferris noted that unlike the Golden Knights, which was an undeveloped franchise, the Raiders come with a history.
“The Raiders, unfortunately, they’ve had a past – through Oakland, through Los Angeles. Some people were maybe were hoping they could do what the Golden Knights had done but we also seen their past and what they’ve done in the last few seasons,” she said.
She does believe the Raiders have improved over last year, but it's unlikely they'll make it to the Super Bowl.
Threats, who is a Raiders fan, also doesn't think they'll make it to the big game, but she's happy with some aspects of the team so far.
“This offense is looking pretty decent of what Derrick Carr has been doing. Our defense still needs some work. I think it’s going to be some periods of adjustments,” she said.
As for Ferris, she's a diehard Seahawks fan and always will be, but she has love for the Raiders as a second team.
Threats says a lot of transplants to Las Vegas see the Raiders that way, but for those who don't follow football, the team and the stadium will be a draw.
“I think for next season, looking forward to seeing what that stadium brings, seeing what that energy is, those who have moved here, those that are not familiar with the football team but want to see the stadium, want to go to a Raiders game will probably grab on and attach themselves to having a team now,” she said.
The original Vegas Born professional team made it to the modified NHL playoffs but not to the Stanley Cup finals. The Golden Knights lost to the Dallas Stars.
Ferris chalks up the loss to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
“The pandemic has effected sports across the board whether it be from having to take a break, a forced break, where you’re not able to go to the gyms, you’re not able to train, you’re not able to be in the arenas or the ice rink,” she said.
She said players had to workout in their garages and take team meetings over Zoom.
Threats disagreed. She believes the Knights struggled for a more personal reason.
“I think it is more personal. I think [Marc Andre] Fleury had a lot of personal things that went on with his season," she said, "It kind of took him out mentally. I think that mental thing could have transpired throughout the team.”
Fleury's father passed away late last year, and then later, his longtime agent sent a tweet with a cartoon of Fleury being stabbed by a sword with coach Peter DeBoer's name on it. The agent deleted the tweet, but Threats notes that no one knows how other teammates reacted to that drama.
Despite this year's troubles, neither Ferris nor Threats believes Knights' fans will abandon the team.
“No, not at all, because look how far we’ve gone. We still make it to a playoff type of situation regardless if it’s the Stanley Cup playoffs or not. We advance,” she said.
The Las Vegas team that is still in it to win it are the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces. The team is in the playoffs and just forced a Game 5 with Connecticut.
Threats does not believe the team is "taken seriously" in the city, but if the team brings home a championship, that could change.
“I think that if they do bring a championship home I think it will rally some people in this city to kind of say, ‘Hey, these girls are the real deal. Maybe we can go to Mandalay Bay and check them out,'” she said.
Ferris believes the one good thing to come from the coronavirus pandemic is that the WNBA has been noticed more.
“The silver lining of the pandemic for the WNBA is that they’ve had exposure. They’ve been on ESPN a lot. They’ve been on ESPN 2 a lot," she said, "They’ve been on major networks more so during the pandemic than they were throughout the whole season, which gave them more exposure.”
Plus, Las Vegas Aces' star A'ja Wilson getting the league MVP has brought even more eyeballs to the team.
Rebel fans got some good news this week. The Mountain West Conference announced it would be start games in October. They were postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
UNLV football has struggled for several years, but Ferris and Threats agree that this year the Rebels could acutally get more wins that losses.
They have a new coach, Marcus Arroyo, who was brought on in December.
“Coach Arroyo has a good pedigree. He comes from a solid Oregon team. He’s also a top recruiter. I think that is one of his strong suits,” Threats said.
In addition, he has a reputation for developing players and emphasising academic achievement as well as athletic prowess, she said.
But perhaps the greatest recruiting tool the school now has is Allegiant Stadium. The Rebels will play there this fall and playing at an NFL stadium - especially one that is state of the art - has to be appealing to high school recruits.
“If you watch previous tapes or games of UNLV, you’re like, ‘where are all the fans?’ No one is coming to the games, but at Allegiant people are guaranteed to be coming there. If nothing else to see the new stadium,” Ferris said.
The Las Vegas Aces hope to beat Connecticut tonight at 4:30 p.m Pacific Time.
The Raiders play the Bills Sunday at Allegiant Stadium at 4:25 Eastern Time
The Mountain West Conference football is slated to start the week of October 24.
Melissa Ferris at KNPR Studios/Courtesy: Chris Smith/Desert Companion
Monecia Threats at KNPR Studios/Courtesy: Chris Smith/Desert Companion
Melissa Ferris, co-host, GirlChatSports; Monecia Threats, co-host, GirlChatSports
