LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Raiders are back at Allegiant Stadium and are ready to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
It will be a rivalry game that began in the 1970s and was largely started thanks to the Immaculate Reception game. In 1972, the Steelers were trailing 7-6 and were on their fourth down with just 22 seconds in the game. That's when Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw the ball to John Fuqua. However, the ball hit the helmet of Raiders safety Jack Tatum. Steelers' fullback Franco Harris caught it before it hit the ground and scored a touchdown to win the game.
"It's a historic matchup for our franchise, our alumni, anyone who has competed in this game. It's not a division game but it matters a significant amount and it's important," Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels said. "We're excited to have an opportunity to compete against them on Sunday Night Football. You know you're the only one on and a lot of people are watching you. Sunday night should be electric."
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Both teams are 1-1 to start the season. The Raiders have struggled a bit to find their running and passing game. However, players said they're still working on finding ways to execute and communicate better.
"It takes so much in one play for the play to turn out the right way," Davante Adams said. "I can run a perfect route or I can run a terrible route and finally get open late and the linemen blocked a little longer so they made that happen. You need everybody. Football is an imperfect game and the most team sport there is. There's going to be times where not everybody dominates their man but you have to do good enough to make the play work and we didn't do that last week."
"It's about getting guys on the same page, getting us into our rhythm and things will take care of themselves from there," Jimmy Garoppolo said.
McDaniels added it's too early to write the Raiders off just yet.
"I think you've got to ignore the immediacy of the reaction sometimes because I've lived it too many times to know that sometimes when you start really well, that's not a good thing either. It just takes repetitions. I think there's learning the style of the runner and learning the blockers," McDaniels said. "It's not chemistry issues. It's just creating those types of repetitions and habits through practice over and over again so we can be productive when we use them in the game. There's no shortcut to it, just time and effort."
As for the Silver And Black, they're ready to face the Sunday night lights at home.
"It's going to be fun. It's going to be a great atmosphere," Garappolo said. "I can't wait to see the fans. Raider Nation, hopefully, will be rocking on Sunday night."
Kick-off at Allegiant Stadium is scheduled for 5:20 p.m.
