Mile High Report
How the Denver Broncos can complete the season sweep of the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
The Denver Broncos have yet to beat the Raiders in Vegas, then again, up until Week 5 the Broncos had yet to beat the Las Vegas Raiders at all since 2019.
Denver finally snapped their eight-game losing streak against Vegas in emphatic fashion earlier this year when they whooped them by 16 points, including that iconic pick-6 by Pat Surtain II that totally changed the momentum of that game and sent the Raiders on a six-game losing streak.
Here’s how the Broncos can keep their playoff push going, keep Bo Nix’s momentum pumping, and how they can take out the Raiders on the road.
While most attention was on the 307 passing yards and four touchdowns by Nix (rightfully so), the Denver rushing attack might be going a bit overlooked as a reason they took down Atlanta on Sunday.
After that immaculate opening drive, the Broncos went three-and-out and it was still a four-point game and far from over. But then Javonte Williams (and almost the entire offense) powered their way into the endzone on a 14-yard run, and that run might have well put the nail in the coffin in just halfway through the 2nd quarter. It was a statement that lead to 105 rushing yards on the day for the team.
The Raiders sit at around the middle of the pack in terms of rushing defense, giving up 125 a game. And over their last five games since losing to Denver, they’ve given up over 100 yards three times, and nearly 200 against the Steelers. An easy way to take Vegas out of the game is to establish the run early. And with the offensive line looking as good as ever and that three-headed attack in the running back room (four if you include Mims) should be able to put up at least 100 yards.
The only bit of hope that the Raiders have had this year comes off of the back of rookie tight end Brock Bowers. And, even though he’s a Raider, deserves a lot of credit for the numbers he’s put up this year.
Following his 126-yard game against the Dolphins, he set the record for most receiving yards by a tight end through the first 10 games of his career. He’s averaging 10 catches and over 70 yards per game. He’s the team’s leading receiver be far. And he put up 97 yards and a touchdown on eight catches against Denver.
If the Broncos can shut him down, then essentially the rest of the Vegas passing game crumbles with him. I’m sure Vance Joseph has something for the Raiders. He might even have to consider Pat Surtain shadow Bowers.
It feels like the Broncos have traveled back to the Von Miller/ Demarcus Ware era given how many sacks...
