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The Oakland Raiders trained with the noise of the crowd all week to prepare to face the Los Angeles Chargers, the only team in the National Football League to have no real crowd.
But it's this level of granular thinking that credits and curses all NFL coaches, because you never know when a stadium with 27,000 spectators could attract 81,000.
"I've never been there (at the StubHub Center), so I'm looking forward to it," said head coach Jon Gruden during his traditional flyby Friday. "I know we've already played against the Chargers, and it's been a big rivalry for a long time."
However, it is impossible to say at this stage what kind of rivalry will be revived Sunday. The Chargers and Raiders are 3 to 5 combined, watching Kansas City get away from the pack in the West AFC and still trying to figure out who and what they are in comparison.
They score and award a lot of points and points, which is quite traditional among these two franchises, but the only model of their career at the Hub is the last game of last year, a scrapping for the Raiders, eliminated a few weeks ago. , both record and emotionally.
The Chargers found themselves in a crowded pack at 9-7, but they were eliminated early by a 0-4 debutant.
The Chargers, however, are overwhelmed by expectations that they never seem to meet, winning every two weeks, but having the opportunity to create a sequence based on the confrontation with Oakland and Cleveland. The Raiders, who will be without security Karl Joseph and might not have a guard Kelechi Osemele (it is debatable), are trying to establish a form of play that does not require scoring 45 points per game, as they did it a week ago. in overtime against Cleveland.
The assumption of whoever is supposed to come from the crowd.
This is the strangest part of this game: the idea that two homeless teams meet. The Chargers remain so unenthusiastic about their new digs that most people call them "San Die — Oops, Los Angeles Chargers," and the Raiders continue their glacial relocation in Las Vegas.
The difference, however, is that the chargers are at home without being at home. Their crowds are thin and responsive only when the other team brings its own fanbase, and Raider fans could easily outnumber Charger Sunday fans.
And Raider fans understand the dynamic noise of the crowd: when to make noise and when to stay quiet. Frankly, the team that should train with the noise of the crowd is Los Angeles.
Yet, Gruden is preparing for a hostile environment that has never manifested itself. It's a coach's mark that covers all eventualities even when they have virtually no chance of happening.
It's like bringing snow to Miami to play the Dolphins.
But coaches must train, especially 1 to 3 coaches. The Raiders are about to have no aspiration, and a defeat at home on the road to San Die – oops, sorry – would play very badly with all their fans, in their various homes.
So Gruden practiced the guys with the noise of the crowd, because JIC.
In case.
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