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Countdown to Paydirt: Oakland Raiders at Denver Broncos on MNF

9/18/2013

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Originally published on Silver & Black Report on Sept. 18, 2013

The Oakland Raiders (1-1) will head to Sports Authority Field at Mile High to take on the Denver Broncos (2-0) on Monday Night Football (5:25 p.m. PST on ESPN) in their first primetime game of the season.

The Raiders head to Denver after winning their home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars to pull even at 1-1 on the season, while the Broncos are coming off two dominating victories against the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants.

Oakland will look to continue to build on a strong week rushing the ball as running back Darren McFadden was able to get going last week, finishing with 129 rushing yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor also added 50 yards of his own.

Only problem with that theory is that the Broncos have allowed just 40.5 yards per game, good enough for best in the league in this young season. Pryor will have to keep an eye on the Broncos' linebackers and make the right decision when running the read-option offense to find some running room for himself and McFadden.

Should Oakland find the ability to rush the ball, it would help the offense sustain long, time-consuming drives. The greater the amount of time the Raiders hold on to the ball, the better. Keeping the ball out of Denver quarterback Peyton Manning's hands as much as possible would be defensively beneficial.

The more than likely future NFL Hall-of-Fame inductee Manning is playing some of his best football of his career this season at the age of 37. Manning has gotten off to a hot start and has averaged 384.5 yards per game on 67.1 percent throwing with nine touchdowns and no interception through the first two weeks.

The Raiders secondary had a much improved week last week against a rather inept Jacksonville offense, but they will be certainly put to a test this week. The Broncos feature three solid wide receivers with Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, and Manning's newest weapon, Wes Welker.

There's no question Oakland's secondary will have their hands full, especially with starting strong safety Tyvon Branch out with an ankle injury. Oakland's pass defense is currently ranked sixth in the NFL, giving up just 180.5 yards per game, but they haven't faced a passing attack like Denver yet.

Though he is probably the most difficult to surprise in the NFL, the Raiders will look to apply pressure on Manning in an attempt to force a mistake or come away with the sack. The Raiders have surprised with the pass rush, racking up nine sacks in the first two games after having just 25 sacks all last season. One way they have been able to do this is with blitzes coming out of the secondary. Raiders defensive backs have five of the nine sacks, the most sacks in the league by defensive backs. Cornerback Tracy Porter has 1.5, as does safety Usama Young, who will see an increase in playing time with Branch out.

The Raiders will likely look to attack the left side of the Broncos offensive line where they are without Pro Bowl starting left tackle Ryan Clady to Lisfranc. Clady is a three-time Pro Bowl tackle that has started all 85 games of his career since being drafted 12th-overall.

The two teams hold plenty of connections as Raiders head coach Dennis Allen worked as the Broncos defensive coordinator the year before filling the Raiders coaching vacancy. Current Raiders cornerback Tracy Porter (2012) and defensive end Jason Hunter (2010-2012) both previously played for the Broncos. On the other sideline, current Broncos head coach John Fox was the Raiders defensive coordinator from 1994-1995 and Broncos quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp was Raiders offensive coordinator just last season under Allen before being let go at the end of the year.

Milestones to lookout for: 

  • LS Jon Condo - With three more consecutive games played, Condo will reach 100-consecutive games played. Condo has not missed a game since the streak began, in Week 1
    of the 2007 season.
  • WR Jacoby Ford - Needs 181 kickoff return yards to pass Doug Gabriel for 8th place and 224 yards to pass George Atkinson for seventh on the Raiders’ all-time KOR yards list.
  • K Sebastian Janikowski - Has now converted on 131 consecutive PAT attempts. Also, needs just 93 points to reach 1,500 for his career.
  • RB Rashad Jennings - Needs 22 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for his career. He currently stands at 978
  • RB Darren McFadden
    • Needs 129 rushing yards to move into eighth place on the Raiders’ all-tme rushing
    list.
    • Needs two rushing TDs to tie No. 10 Michael Bush (21, 2008-11) on the franchise’s
    career list, four to tie No. 9 Marv Hubbard (22, 1969-75) and six to tie No. 8 Charlie
    Smith (24, 1968-74). McFadden enters the game with 19.
    • Needs 5 receiving yards to eclipse 1,500 yards for his career.
  • WR Denarius Moore - Needs 98 receiving yards to reach 1,500 for his career
  • QB Terrelle Pryor -Currently leads all quarterbacks with 162 rushing yards. Pryor could eclipse the Raiders’ single-season mark of rushing yards by a quarterback with just 368 more yards. Rich Gannon set the mark in 2000 with 529.
  • DB Charles Woodson
    • Needs six interceptions to tie Ed Reed for first on the interceptions list among all
    active players with 61.
    • Needs one interception return for a touchdown to tie Rod Woodson for first on the all-time list with 12.
    • Needs one defensive touchdown to tie Rod Woodson and Darren Sharper for the
    most defensive touchdowns in NFL history with 13.
The Raiders lead the all-time series 59-44-2. 


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