Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders Preview
Both Oakland and Denver will be looking to have rebound in this one. The Raiders are coming off of a shot to the mouth against Kansas City dropping them to 4-3 on the season, while Tim Tebow and the Broncos took a shellacking at the hands of the Detroit Lions a week ago falling to a dismal 2-5.
When: Sunday, 4:05 PM EST
Where: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
TV: CBS
LINE: -8 (Oakland), O/U 42.5
One thing that is for certain in this game — it will be decided on the ground. Both of these teams sport top ten rushing attacks, while at the same time having to compensate for bottom ten passing games.
If either of the two teams are going to fix the latter, you would have to bet on it being the Oakland Raiders. But it hasn’t happened yet, even after newly acquired quarterback, Carson Palmer hit the field, and ended up tossing three interceptions.
And nothing against Tebow, but last week is the reason so many people have been doubting him all along. It just doesn’t look like he is going to be able to throw the ball very effectively in the NFL. The Broncos are one of just seven teams not averaging 200 passing yards a game.
However, the majority of those yards were accumulated when dearly departed Kyle Orton was at the helm.
So what does all this mean for this week’s game? [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Well, the Broncos are going to try and pound the ball, as they should. That being said, they have been pretty good at that part of the game this season.
The downside to that plan, is that Oakland’s defense is actually decent at stopping the run. especially when you can just load up eight or nine in the box to do so.
The Raiders are ranked middle of the pack in rushing defense at 16th, but when you factor in the fact that Denver just can’t effectively throw the ball. You can bet that they’ll look like a top ten run defense in this one.
Nevertheless, even as good as the Broncos rushing game has performed, Oakland does it even better. The question is, will Darren McFadden be healthy. Yes, Michael Bush is a very capable backup, but he isn’t McFadden.
McFadden has been the key ingredient of the number two running game in the NFL this season. If he’s out, that is going to be a major blow to Oakland’s plans. You saw what they did when he went down in the first quarter of last week’s game. They accomplished absolutely nothing.
Matt’s Prediction: Oakland 24 , Denver 13 —
If McFadden plays, this one probably won’t be very close. Tebow just doesn’t seem capable of running a professional offense at a high level. If he doesn’t, it may be a hard fought game to the end. However, I still see Oakland pulling it out even in that scenario. I also expect Palmer to be able to help Oakland’s passing game to new heights, and maybe after last week’s adjustment game, we’ll see that.
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