LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Raiders and all of Raider Nation have had this Sunday marked on their calendars for a long time. The undefeated Kansas City Chiefs (6-0) return to Allegiant Stadium for the first time since winning the Super Bowl to take on the last team to have beaten them.
The Raiders have been diligently preparing all week, but now they have a new quarterback on the roster.
Desmond Ridder was signed off the Arizona Cardinals practice squad after Aidan O'Connell suffered a thumb injury last week against the Rams.
Ridder was selected in the third round of the 2022 draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He will likely be the backup to Gardner Minshewm, but he said he is hoping to help the Raiders offense anyway he can.
"It's a great place," Ridder said. "Great players and great leaders around here. You saw it out here at practice. I'm just excited to go out there and excited to have the opportunity to come out here and play football again."
As for this Sunday against the Chiefs, the back-to-back champs were last beat on Christmas Day at the hands of the Silver and Black, but have since been on a 12-game win streak dating back to last year.
Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce was blunt about what the team's mindset is heading into a huge game at home.
"We're tired of losing the last three weeks," Pierce said.
I'm going to start there. We need to take this taste out of our mouth. We've had our opportunities to win those games and we let them slip away for one reason or another....and now we got a divisional foe we know very well. That's all we've done Is study. Our team has talked about it. We're fired up, we're excited. It has nothing to do with last year's game. That team Is not even here. For us It's just to go out there and compete at a high level.
The Raiders will likely have a key offensive piece back for game day.
On Wednesday, Wide Receiver Jakobi Meyers was back in practice and is a step closer to being fully active.
Kickoff for Raiders vs Chiefs is set for 1:25 p.m.
