Five things in sports to watch this week

After all the Antonio Brown drama, the Raiders have to wait until the last possible time — Monday night's second doubleheader game against Denver — to start their season. The game is in Oakland, which is hosting the Raiders for the final season before their move to Las Vegas. There could be a very weird vibe for this one.

The Twins called up pretty much everyone in their minor league system for September, and a lot of them have been thrust into a playoff race while more prominent teammates are sidelined. This is still a big week for the Twins, with the Nationals in town starting Tuesday before three games in Cleveland. If they can make it through this without much of a dent in their division lead, they can exhale.

The WNBA went to a single-elimination format for the first two rounds of its playoffs a few years ago, and for the second consecutive season the Lynx are in a win-or-go-home game. This time around they'll face Seattle, a team the Lynx lost three out of four games to during the regular season.

This says as much (or more) about the opponents other Big Ten teams have faced, but the Gophers football team has faced relatively tough competition and survived to start the year 2-0. Things should ease up a little vs. Georgia Southern on Saturday, giving Minnesota an excellent chance to enter conference play undefeated.

Practically nobody was talking about the Vikings' kicking game after Sunday's win, which is a very good thing after the volatile preseason/past several years. But savvy fans will remember that it was Week 2 at Green Bay last season that spelled doom for Daniel Carlson and ultimately cost the Vikings a playoff spot. Guess what? The Vikings make a return to Lambeau for Week 2 on Sunday.