Monday Night Football open thread: Carolina vs. Tampa Bay

Greetings, Raider fans! Tonight is Monday night, and as is tradition we have a terrible football game to watch. The dreadful Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the hapless Carolina Panthers, who not only have been playing poorly of late but are also missing several of their top offensive players including reigning league MVP Cam Newton.

This game is of interest to Raider fans because the Raiders play both of these teams later this season. The Raiders will travel to Tampa in three weeks and will host Carolina in Week 12. That game was supposed to be a serious test for Oakland, but will the Panthers get their act together in time for their trip out West?

I will be paying close attention in this game to how Tampa's offensive line holds up against a pretty good defensive front, and also how Jameis Winston performs against a depleted Carolina secondary. I'm also interested to see how rookie cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III handles Carolina's massive receivers and if he can make Derek Anderson resemble the Derek Anderson we all know.

Enjoy tonight's game, which you can catch on ESPN at 5:15 Pacific time.