The Las Vegas Raiders are off to their best start since 2021, sitting at 2-0 with two double-digit wins. But according to ESPN and NFL Network analyst Kyle Brandt, almost nobody in national sports media is paying attention.
Brandt aired his frustration on the ESPN show “Big Day,” hosted by his former NFL Network “Good Morning Football” co-host Peter Schrager. He walked onto the set wearing a Raiders letterman jacket covered in patches, including ones marking the franchise’s three Super Bowl titles.
“Las Vegas Raiders, listen up. I want you to listen to the silence. Two games. Two double-digit wins. Can you hear that? That’s who’s talking about the Raiders. That’s who believes in the Raiders.”
Brandt said he was done relitigating the team’s rough recent history to justify the doubt.
“I don’t want to listen to the past. I don’t give a damn that there are 23-year-old adults who have never seen the Raiders win in January. Because there are 9-month-old babies that have never seen the Raiders lose in September.”
He argued the Raiders get overlooked because they lack the prime-time slots that teams like the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Chargers have later this season, even though Las Vegas just handled the Chargers.
“You slap the Chargers around a little bit, and it’s all, ‘What’s wrong with the Chargers?’ How about what’s right with the Raiders? There is more talk about Mike McDaniels’ sideline drip than Klint Kubiak’s record. Nobody wants to hear about the Raiders.”
Brandt, who makes regular appearances on “Get Up,” “First Take” and “NFL Live,” said he’d already been on 26 football shows that day and none of them wanted to discuss what’s working for Las Vegas.
“The autumn wind is a Raider, but the A Block is A Chief, Bronco and Charger.”
Schrager joined in, pointing out that “First Take’s” 78-page prep script didn’t include a single question about the Raiders, while asking for tape on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers instead.
“What am I hot on? I’m hot on the bleepin’ Raiders. But nobody else is, and that’s fine. That’s good. That’s great.”
Brandt tied the team’s play to the late Raiders owner Al Davis’s famous credo: “Just. Win. Baby.” He capped his rant with a prediction that Las Vegas will move to 3-0 when it travels to face the New Orleans Saints.
