Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders, Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, Oakland, CA
Sunday, December 19, 2010, 4:15 pm EST, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Raiders -6.5
Current Line: Raiders -7
Opening Total: 44
Current Total: 43
Money Line: Raiders -320 / Broncos +260
The last meeting between the Denver Broncos (3-10) saw the visiting Oakland Raiders (6-7) set a franchise scoring mark in a 59-14 rout. It would be an understatement to say the Broncos are now out for revenge in the rematch when they visit the Raiders (-7) on Sunday.
Denver’s lowest point of the season may have very well come in the last meeting with Oakland, or it may have come just last week in a demoralizing 43-13 loss at Arizona. The Broncos were crushed as 4-point road favorites due to another poor performance from quarterback Kyle Orton and the inability to stop the Cardinals from moving the ball consistently throughout the game.
Orton completed 19 of 41 passes for 166 yards and threw three interceptions against Arizona one week after connecting on 9 of 28 passes for 117 yards in a 10-6 loss at Kansas City. He is reportedly suffering from bruised ribs and is now expected to be benched in favor of rookie Tim Tebow, who has thrown only one pass all season. Tebow was the team’s future when Josh McDaniels was still the head coach, and there is speculation that he too could follow McDaniels out of Denver. However, he will finally get the opportunity to prove himself as a first-round pick and could very well be the starter for the team’s last three games.
The lone bright spot offensively for the Broncos has been running back Knowshon Moreno, who rushed for 81 yards and scored the team’s only touchdown. Moreno rushed for a season-high 161 yards on 23 carries against the Chiefs in the previous game and figures to get a heavy workload against a Raiders defense that is surrendering 132.8 yards per game on the ground.
Oakland running back Darren McFadden was the star of the last meeting with Denver, as he rushed for a season-high 165 yards, added 31 receiving yards and scored four touchdowns. McFadden is also coming off a monster performance in last week’s 38-31 loss at Jacksonville, totaling 209 yards rushing and receiving and scoring three touchdowns. The team fell to 5-3 in games McFadden has carried the ball at least 16 times.
Despite McFadden’s strong play lately, the Raiders have dropped three of their last four games both straight-up and against the spread following a 5-4 start. But the Broncos have been even worse, losing eight of their last nine games and McDaniels along the way. Oakland has covered seven of the last nine meetings with Denver even though the Broncos have won five of those games. The total has gone OVER in five of the last seven games between the teams.
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