Week 1 went to Las Vegas, 27-13. I had the whole day planned around a win. Here is where my head is at.
I'll be honest with you. I had Sunday mapped out since the day the schedule dropped. Food ordered early, phone on the charger, the good spot on the couch claimed before anybody else in the house woke up. The first Sunday of the season is a holiday where I live, and you don't work on a holiday.
Then the game happened. 27-13, Raiders. By the time it was over the food was cold and the group chat had gone from all caps to nothing at all. You know the kind of quiet I mean. Nobody wants to be the first one to type, so everybody just sits there holding their phone.
What a Week 1 loss feels like
It feels like getting dressed up and having the party cancelled at the door. You spend a whole summer building a picture of the season in your head, and the very first Sunday hands you a different one. Fourteen points is not a bad bounce. It's a real loss, and I'm not going to dress it up as anything else.
I did the thing I always do. I said I was going to bed, and then I sat on the edge of the bed scrolling for an hour, looking for somebody to tell me it was fine. Nobody did. So I'll do it myself, here, for you.
I said I was going to bed. I was not going to bed.
What I want next week
San Francisco, on the road again. I'm not asking for a blowout. I want to see a team that looks like it's mad about this one. Give us a reason to be loud from the couch. If we lose a close one playing hard, I can live with that on a Monday morning. What I can't live with is flat.
So here's my plan. Same seat. Same hat. Different result. One game is one game, and there are sixteen more of them. I'll see you Sunday.