Broncos Raiders Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Oakland Raiders will host the Denver Broncos in an AFC West showdown between two hated rivals. The Raiders went on the road and beat the Broncos 23-20 back in week 1, but a lot has changed for both teams since that game. Oakland returns from their bye week tied atop the AFC West at 4-3 with Kansas City and San Diego, while the Broncos look to rebound from an ugly 10-45 loss at home against the Detroit Lions. The Raiders have won four straight in the series.

Taking a look at the week 9 NFL lines, Oddsmakers currently have Oakland favored by 8-points over Denver with the total set at 42.5 points.

Denver Broncos:

All the talk in Denver is about starting quarterback Tim Tebow. After leading the Broncos on a miraculous comeback win over Miami in week 7, Tebow was down right awful in the loss to Detroit. He finished 18 of 39 for 172 yards with an interception. Tebow did throw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker, but it came late in the fourth quarter when the Lions were up by 42-point.

It looks as though head coach John Fox will give the fan favorite another shot this week, but another performance like he had last week and he will most likely be back to riding the bench. Tebow has been so bad throwing the ball that opposing defenses are simply loading the box and bringing pressure almost every play. Tebow has been sacked 13 times in two starts, and I expect the Raiders to bring the heat in this one.

If Denver is going to make this a game, they are going to have to get something going on the ground. But with the way defenses are playing them right now, it makes it nearly impossible to have success running the ball, especially against the Raiders. Oakland allowed Denver just 38 yards on the ground back in week 1.

If Tebow is going to have success throwing the ball, it should come this week against a Raiders defense that is giving up 266 passing yards a game.

Oakland Raiders:

The Broncos aren’t the only team trying to get adjusted to playing with a new starting quarterback. Carson Palmer will make his first start of the season with the Raiders this week.

Palmer did play in Oakland’s 0-28 loss against Kansas City before they entered their bye week. The Raiders had initially planned to just play Kyle Boller and wait to put Palmer on the field until he had more time with the offense, but after Boller threw three picks in 14 attempts the Raiders decided they might as well play the veteran. Palmer wasn’t much better, completing just 8 of 21 for 116 yards with three interceptions of his own. It is all going to come down to how much of the offense Palmer grasped over the last couple of weeks.

In an attempt to make things easier for Palmer, Oakland went out and signed veteran wide out T.J. Houshmandzadeh. I like Oakland doing what they can to help Palmer, but I don’t expect much out of Houshmandzadeh the rest of the way. While Palmer is getting a lot of the attention, the big story for the Raiders is the injury to running back Darren McFadden, who is listed as doubtful with a foot injury. Without McFadden the Raiders offense isn’t the same. McFadden had 150 rushing yards in the Raiders 3-point win over Denver in week 1.

Betting Trends:

Denver is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games after allowing more than 30 points in their previous game.

Oakland is 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games following a S.U. loss.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in the NFL.

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