Raiders’ 2017 regular-season schedule released

By Michael Gehlken Las Vegas Review-Journal

7 years ago

Fans watch as a flag is presented during the national anthem before an NFL football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Carolina Panthers from a general view of Oakland Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016. (Tony Avelar/AP)

A general view of the StubHub Center prior to an NFL football news conference to introduce Anthony Lynn as the Los Angeles Chargers new head coach in Carson, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. (Kelvin Kuo/AP)

A general overall upper deck or upper level stadium view of Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee with the tarp on the field before a week 17 NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 in Nashville, Tenn. The Raiders will open the season at Nashville on Sept. 10. (Matt Patterson via AP)

The last time the Chargers hosted the Raiders in December, more than 50,000 visitor fans packed a stadium in silver and black, their vocal presence so palpable the “home” offense spent nearly all afternoon in the silent count.

That is guaranteed not to happen this year.

The Chargers’ StubHub Center seats up to 30,000.

The Raiders’ schedule was announced Thursday, featuring five games on national TV. They will open the 2017 campaign Sept. 10 at Tennessee, hold their home opener Sept. 17 against the Jets, face the Patriots in Mexico City on Nov. 19 and travel for two holiday games, first the Eagles on Christmas Day and then the Chargers on New Year’s Eve.

It wasn’t much of a road game the last time against the Chargers.

Oakland claimed a playoff berth in San Diego on Dec. 18, as the Chargers spiraled toward a 5-11 finish. The latter hopes and expects to be in better standing this December. If that’s the case, most Chargers fans likely won’t sell their tickets to Raiders fans this time. If not the case, the Raiders may win back the home game they lost when playing the Patriots south of the border.

That Patriots game is one of the five scheduled to be nationally broadcast.

The others are a Sept. 24 Sunday night game at Washington, Oct. 14 Thursday night game versus the Chiefs, Nov. 5 Sunday night game in Miami and a Dec. 25 Monday night game in Philadelphia.

The Raiders’ bye comes Week 10 after consecutive East Coast games, first the Bills and then the Dolphins.

They hoped those games would fall consecutively, so they could stay in Florida for the two trips.

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Michael Gehlken can be reached at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.