Denver Favored In First Division Game

NFL News - September 23rd, 2009 - Written by John

Broncos at Raiders -- Kyle Orton has been efficient. Brandon Stokely has been a savior. And the locker room has become completely uneventful. So far, so good for a team that was relegated to the NFL's basement after a rocky off-season that left their star quarterback spurned and traded. Head coach Josh McDaniels has been proving his critics wrong so far this season will have a great chance to take a step forward in their division. The Broncos try improve to 3-0 this week when they travel to Oakland for their first AFC West match-up.

BetUS is favoring Denver by a slim margin, giving Oakland 1 1/2 points at home. Vegas isn't giving much love to these two teams; the 36 point over/under is the lowest of the week.

Despite escaping Kansas City with a win, Oakland still has a lot of questions to answer if it wants to consider a run at the AFC West. JaMarcus Russell has been a calamity at quarterback thus far, only completing seven of his passes against the Chiefs, and has a completion percentage of 35. He has missed dozens of wide-open targets, stalling drives and forcing coach Tom Cable to use the running game more than desired. But the Raiders don't look completely inept. In their only real test so far, they actually executed better than San Diego, but couldn't hold on late. If they can win Sunday, it would give them a leg up as the primary challengers against the Chargers.

Darren McFadden will get the bulk of the carries again this week after punching in the game-winner against Kansas City. He will be a viable Fantasy option after Denver surrendered 141 rushing yards to Cedric Benson in Week Two.

Fans are also curious to see if Denver is legit despite a fast start. Their two wins have come against the Bengals and the Browns, who combined for eight wins last year. Orton has looked good, if not unremarkable. He has thrown for 506 yards with two touchdowns and has yet to turn the ball over. He doesn't boast the rocket arm of his predecessor, Jay Cutler, but he doesn't need to. His rating of 90.9 rating has been a pleasant surprise for a team that relies on winning by making fewer mistakes than it's opponent. Running backs Correll Buckhalter and Knowshon Moreno were able to find their stride last week. Buckhalter racked up an average of 8.4 yards a carry, while Moreno only needed 17 carries to get 75 yards.

A few other notes:

- The Raiders announced that guard Robert Gallery would be out for 4-6 weeks after breaking his leg.

- Denver is 10-6 against Oakland since 2001.

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