Allegiant Stadium became real home-field advantage for Raiders Sunday

All season the fans at Allegiant Stadium has been waiting to come alive and play a key role in a Raiders win. But too many times, quarterback Derek Carr said, the Raiders didn’t do their part.

“Bring the energy how we should” is how he explains it. “We don’t need to feed off the fan’s energy. Let’s let the fans feed off our energy. Let’s give them something to be excited about.”

Given that this is the first season fans have been allowed to attend home games in Las Vegas, the Raiders’ failure to consistently deliver the juice has been a big disappointment. But that all changed on Sunday when all the pertinent elements finally came together and Allegiant Stadium stepped up to provide a legitimate edge for the Raiders.

“This was the most home-field advantage feeling I’ve felt all season,” Carr said. “It was really cool.”

The result was a 17-13 Raiders win over the Denver Broncos that kept their playoff hopes alive and gave them complete control of their postseason fate. Wins in their final two regular-season games against the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers will officially punch their playoff ticket.

After Sunday’s win, the Raiders went out of their way to give a big tip of the hat to their supporters.

“The fans were into it today, you can tell,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “It’s super exciting. … the fans were amazing today. They were going crazy the whole time.”

The season finale against the Chargers will be played at Allegiant Stadium on Jan 9. If Sunday was any indication, the fans at Allegiant Stadium will play key role in the outcome.

That is provided the Raiders continue to do their part, of course. That is what happened against the Broncos. The Raiders rebounded from a disastrous finish to the first half by imposing their will on the Broncos in the second half to breathe life into the building.

The fans took over from there. They noisily made life difficult for the Broncos’ offense in key situations and roared their approval after big plays by the Raiders.

“It was exciting for us to do a good enough job to get them back in, the crowd, and make them be a part of the game on the plus side for us,” said Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia. “We were excited to finally get a win at home and for our crowd to be behind us. It was exciting to hear Raider Nation. They were loud. They were really loud at the end.”

Creating the right atmosphere at Allegiant Stadium has been an ongoing process for the Raiders. Remember, their first season in Las Vegas was sabotaged by COVID-19, which meant playing games in a sterile atmosphere minus fans.

“It was just like scrimmages,” Carr said. “It wasn’t like a home-field advantage kind of thing, or anything like that.”

That weirdness likely played a role in the Raiders stumbling to a 2-6 record during their maiden season at Allegiant Stadium.

There have been challenges this year as well. The full-vaccination requirement to attend games at Allegiant Stadium has resulted in some Raiders fans sitting out as spectators. That development, coupled with the reality of Las Vegas as a destination city, has meant opposing fans have gobbled up tickets on the secondary market and made their presence felt at Allegiant Stadium.

The Rams deal with the same thing in Los Angeles, as thousands of transplants, along with out-of-towners eager to spend a weekend in Southern California, flock to SoFi Stadium to root for their favorite teams. It is tenfold for the Chargers, who are still trying to find their niche in the Los Angeles sports market and play in front of crowds made up primarily of fans from the opposing team.

The Rams have shown that the best way to deal with the situation is to play so well you silence opposing fans and provide positive energy for your fans.

The Raiders have been inconsistent this year in handling their business at home. The result is a 4-4 record and far too many Sundays when the other teams’ fans become far too much of a factor.

That changed for the better on Sunday.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.