September was history and Las Vegas Raiders came out with an equal balance of two wins and the same number of losses in this first month of the regular season in the NFL. The bad are in a position to position themselves with positive record against a rival that arrives with the same brand, but whose measurement has been taken for four years.
After two consecutive home games at Allegiant Stadium, The Raiders will go to Colorado to face the Denver Broncosa team in full reconstruction and against which they have never lost since the black and silver team moved to Nevada.
There are now eight consecutive victories over the Broncoswhich represents the longest active winning streak against a single opponent, with eight games in favor of Las Vegas; Furthermore, it is their third best historical record against any team, only behind the 10 consecutive games they won against the Chargers between 1972 and 1977, without forgetting that they dominated the same Broncos in 14 games between 1965 and 1971.
A motivated opponent
After two weeks as visitors, The Broncos return to their home crowd at Empower Field at Mile High with two wins under his belt: They surprised by holding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26-7); In addition, they stopped the New York Jets twice in the red zone to win their last game 10-9.
The defense has been Denver’s main hallmark in this first month of the season: it is the third best against the pass, averaging 146 yards per game, In addition, they have only allowed 55 points in four games, that is, an average of 13.75 per game.
The Raiders’ offensive line will have to take care of the quarterback Gardner Minshew of fronts that sacked Baker Mayfield seven times and limited him to 132 yards per pass, without forgetting that Aaron Rodgers also made his afternoon difficult with five sacks, They limited their rushing offense to gains of just 2.8 yards per attempt and without a single touchdown.
After four weeks, The Raiders rank 24th in total yards (288.8 per game), nineteenth in points (19.5), thirteenth through the air (212.5) and number 31 in carries (76.3). If Las Vegas wants to go 3-2, they need their running game to continue in the right direction, as happened in their last game against the Cleveland Browns, with 154 yards on 27 carries, for an average of 5.7 yards per game. tried. If they gain yards and eat up the clock like this, they will be able to tire out the Broncos defense.
A focus of attention
A key factor that head coach Antonio Pierce can take advantage of will be the pressure placed on rookie quarterback Bo Nixtwelfth chosen in the last NFL Draft who has had to pay for his inexperience in this first month as a professional: although he connected with his first touchdown pass in the NFL against the Jets, his production was quite low, with 12 completions in 25 opportunities and only 60 yards.
Denver has the 27th-ranked offense in yards (266 per game), 27th through the air (159.8), number 20 on land (106.3) and 28th in points scored (15.5); Las Vegas has the 21st defense in yards (344.3), 17th against the pass (206.8), 24th against the run (137.5) and 24th in points allowed (24.3).
The siege of Christian Wilkins and Charles Snowden on Nix will be vital, especially given the uncertainty of when Maxx Crosby would return missing training this week due to an ankle injury that has plagued him since the second game against the Baltimore Ravens.
An intelligent game will be the difference in getting a victory with an extra touch of importance: games against divisional rivals have greater validity in the tiebreaker criteria, so they can mean the difference between a place in the playoffs or the end of a season .
Face to face
Gardner Minshew (Raiders)
Complete passes: 87
Passes attempted: 123
Yardage: 877
Touchdowns: 3
Interceptions: 3
Bo Nix (Broncos)
Complete passes: 83
Passes attempted: 138
Yards:660
Touchdowns: 1
Interceptions: 4
AVV
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