Denver (6-2) at Oakland (6-2)
When: Sunday, November 6th 2016
Where: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA
Time: 8:30 ET | TV: NBC
The surprising Oakland Raiders look to take control of the AFC West when they host the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football. The Raiders are off to their best start since 2001 with a 6-2 record including 5-0 on the road. They will get to play their next four games at home where they have suffered losses to Atlanta and Kansas City. Derek Carr threw for 513 yards and four touchdowns in a 30-24 win at Tampa Bay last week becoming only the third player in history to pass for that many yards without an interception. Carr leads the AFC with 17 touchdown passes versus only three interceptions and has a great wide receiver tandem in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. Cooper had 12 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown last week to boost his team-leading total to 52 while Crabtree has an NFL high-tying six touchdown catches. Defense has been a nightmare for the Raiders, who are ranked 31st in the league, surrendering a total of 410.4 total yards a game. They can’t seem to stop the pass or the run, ranking 27th and 28th respectively in those categories. Khalil Mack, who has five of Oakland’s 11 sacks, recorded five in the win at Denver last season.
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Oakland’s win over Denver last season snapped the Broncos eight game winning streak against their AFC West rivals. Denver’s defense is carrying this team with Von Miller leading the way with an NFL second-best 8.5 sacks as part of Denver’s league-leading 26 (tied with Buffalo). Star cornerback Aqib Talib will miss his second straight game with an ailing back. Denver has quality depth at the position as Bradley Roby stepped in for Talib and earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors after returning an interception for a touchdown in a 27-19 win at San Diego last week. The win was the second in a row for Denver who had lost their previous two and scored only 29 points in those two defeats. They scored 27 points in each of the last two victories, but QB Trevor Siemian only has one touchdown in that span. The defense is helping Denver’s offense by setting them up in good scoring positions. Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas are Siemian’s top two weapons with a total of 86 catches between them. Denver will travel to New Orleans next week before hitting their bye.
Everyone is in love with Oakland right now, but their defense is horrendous and Denver should be able to slow down Carr and company. Look for Siemian to have his best game of the season and for Denver to cruise over the Raiders.
Pick: Broncos +1
