In a matchup of two teams who have failed to live up to their preseason hype thus far, the Denver Broncos welcome the Las Vegas Raiders to Empower Field for an AFC West showdown on Sunday.
Denver are 3-6, sitting third in the division following a 17-10 loss last weekend versus the Tennessee Titans, while the Raiders are a game behind them, having dropped three successive contests.
Match preview
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There was plenty of optimism in Broncos Country heading into the 2022 regular season, and for a good reason, with the club adding a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and an offensive guru in Nathaniel Hackett, projected by many to be the next great head coach in this league.
With the number of weapons on paper in the Mile-High City, the last thing we expected was to see them have such a hard time putting up points.
Denver is currently averaging a mere 14.6 points per game, the lowest in the NFL, with 16, 11 and 21 points scored respectively in their three victories.
Part of their problem can be attributed to their offensive line, who have been poor regarding blocking for their running backs.
The Broncos sit 25th in the league for rushing yards, and they have not protected their quarterback all season, allowing 30 sacks and a 29.5% pressure rating.
If Denver can ever get going offensively, we could be talking about them as a contending team rather than one playing for next season.
That is because they are among the sharpest defensive units right now, allowing a league-low 16 points per game, while sitting second in yards allowed per game (290.4).
Those numbers are similar to what they managed in their 2015 Super Bowl-winning season when Peyton Manning was behind centre, and Gary Kubiak was the head coach.
The Broncos have allowed a passer rating of 74.9, which is third in the league, conceding fewer than 200 yards passing in their defeat to the Raiders (32-23) at the start of October.
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The emotions we saw from Las Vegas quarterback Derek Carr following a 25-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts sums up the kind of year it's been so far for the Raiders.
Carr was often at a loss for words in his post-game press conference last Sunday, as you might expect given that this team was pegged as a playoff contender.
When breaking down their campaign to date, a word that might come to mind is breakdown, something Josh McDaniels has seen his team suffer plenty of times in their nine games played.
They come into this encounter on the back of three straight defeats, all of which were against teams with a losing record.
Last week, McDaniels was out-coached by an interim boss in Jeff Saturday, who had never coached anything higher than high school football before replacing Frank Reich in Indianapolis.
Despite their record (2-7), this is a team with a productive running back and one of the top receivers in the league. However, they have not contained opposing offences, allowing 226 points, the fourth most in the AFC.
From a defence in Denver who are among the best in the league, we have the Raiders that are one of the worst, sitting dead last in the NFL regarding quarterback sacks (10) and pressure rating (21.9%).
Those struggles have made them far too easy for opponents to throw against, with Las Vegas allowing a 107.0 passer rating this year and a completion percentage of 70.9.
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Team News
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Since putting up 340 yards through the air against his former team, the Seattle Seahawks, in his season debut, Broncos QB Russell Wilson has thrown for under 300 yards in every game, with his only TD pass against the Titans going to Jalen Virgil.
Wilson has not gotten many contributions from his supporting cast offensively, with Melvin Gordon averaging 3.5 yards per carry, tied for the lowest of his career, and Courtland Sutton has a low 4.6 reception average per game.
Justin Simmons is dealing with a sore knee, Cameron Fleming has a problem in his quad, Kareem Jackson has an unknown issue and Jerry Jeudy missed practice on Wednesday because of an ankle injury.
Davante Adams caught nine passes from his college teammate in the Raiders' loss to Indy for 126 yards and a touchdown, and he sits sixth in the league for receiving yards (784), Josh Jacobs is fourth in rushing yards (821), while Derek Carr has an 89.9 passer rating this year.
In their previous meeting this season against the Broncos, Jacobs ran for 144 yards and a pair of scores, Maxx Crosby had two sacks, Nate Hobbs had one and Denzel Perryman led them in tackles with four.
Rock Ya-Sin is out for personal reasons, Sam Webb has a problem with his knee, Luke Masterson was limited at practice on Wednesday with some sore ribs and Ameer Abdullah could miss this game because of an illness.
Head To Head
Sunday will be the second meeting between these two clubs in 2022, with the Raiders getting a solid performance from Jacobs in the last outing, when he ran for a pair of scores, while Amik Robertson ran back a fumble 68 yards for a touchdown.
That was the fifth-straight win for the Raiders versus Denver, with the closest of those games coming last season as Carr hit Darren Waller and Bryan Edwards for touchdowns in a 32-31 triumph.
Denver's last victory over their AFC West opponents happened when the Raiders were still in Oakland in 2019, as Brandon McManus kicked three field goals, while the man traded to Seattle for Wilson, Drew Lock, connected for a one-yard TD pass to Andrew Beck.
We say: Denver Broncos 17-16 Las Vegas Raiders
The Broncos seem to have more going for them at the moment when compared to Las Vegas, particularly on the defensive side, while the Raiders cannot seem to stop even the worst offensive units in football, which we believe will give the Broncos the edge this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
