NFL Football Betting: Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders
This is one of the more heated rivalries in the National Football League. It has been largely dormant in recent years, however, as the Raiders have been a doormat while the Broncos have been one of the top teams in the NFL. Denver has won seven straight against the silver and black which has taken some of the edge off of the intensity. Looking at the standings, it seems to be business as usual for the Broncos who are a perfect 4-0 on the season (3-1 against the spread) while the Raiders are 2-2. Beneath the surface, however, there are some rumblings that times may be a-changing.
Peyton Manning is in his final season as a NFL quarterback and it’s evident that he’s lost velocity on his balls. He’s such a smart quarterback, however, that he knows this and head coach Gary Kubiak has done a nice job compensating for this with his offensive schemes. The Broncos have become a more run oriented team and no longer is all of the pressure on Manning to win games. But they’re not the Denver Broncos of recent years that were capable of blowing teams off the field with their offensive. They scored 31 points against Kansas City in Week 2 but haven’t put up more than 24 in their other three games.
The mood is different in Oakland now due in large part to quarterback Derek Carr. Carr is proving to be a capable NFL quarterback and has shown leadership skills that are off the charts. He’s got the swagger you like to see in a NFL quarterback and it’s starting to rub off on his teammates. The Raiders have a talented young receiver corps led by rookie of the year candidate Amari Cooper. The defense is also improving and doing so week by week–both statistically and with the ‘eye test’.
Denver has bigger fish to fry–trying to get Manning back to the Super Bowl in his final year. Oakland could make an already solid season into a definite turnaround campaign with a few tangible successes such as beating their top rivals. The schedule sets up well for this to happen–they’ll have a bye week before their next game at San Diego.
BET OAKLAND RAIDERS +4 OVER DENVER BRONCOS
