Raiders can’t get ahead of themselves after week one win

The Oakland Raiders are 1-0 after what might be one of the most exciting week one games in recent memory. Now, they are headed home to Oakland where a massive and raucous Raider Nation crowd will be waiting to cheer them on as they play host to the Atlanta Falcons. And to make things better, the Falcons are coming off of a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where they gave up 31 points, something that has to have Derek Carr and company licking their chops.

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But while things appear to be setting up nicely for the Raiders to start the season 2-0, the team cannot afford to get ahead of themselves now. On 95.7 The Game, Raiders play by play man, Greg Pappa noted that he could not remember being on a plane ride home with players this excited since the year the Raiders went to the Super Bowl.

Then, on Tuesday, Amari Cooper bought everyone on the team a new set of Beats by Dre headphones.

It was a nice gesture from Cooper and one that his teammates clearly appreciated. But the timing seems a bit odd. If Cooper was planning on doing this all along, why wait until after week one? Why not give the gifts in the lead up to the season? If, in fact, it was a gift that was motivated by the joy of winning that first game, that may not be the best of ideas.

Sure, the Raiders won in week one, a game they were underdogs in. But the goal for the year isn’t to win in week one, it’s to win the Super Bowl and this team has a long way to go before they can even feel confident about the playoffs. I’m happy to see Cooper stepping up as a leader but hope he isn’t getting ahead of himself and overly celebrating a week one victory.

Things are great in Raider land right now. The first week one win since 2011 has fans, coaches and players alike all but giddy. That’s all fun but if the team doesn’t move on from that win and focus on Atlanta, we will have the exact opposite feeling next week. Just like you need to have a short memory and move on quickly from a bad loss, the same has to be said for a big win. It’s done, it doesn’t matter anymore, all focus must be on beating the Falcons this week.

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