Denver Broncos: Ranking 2018 Games for Difficulty
The Return of Chucky.
It works in Denver’s favor, having the first meeting with the Oakland Raiders at home.
There are several bylines at play in this rivalry, the return of Oakland coach Jon Gruden chief among those. Marquette King’s first opportunity against the team that rejected him is significant.
Most important, as the second game of the season and first division matchup, it sets the tone for division play for the season in Denver. The Raiders have doomed entire seasons in Denver with demoralizing victories over the Broncos. You can connect the dots directly from Denver’s 59-14 loss to Oakland in 2010 to the firing of Josh McDaniels, the Broncos head coach.
Things may be downplayed recently, the Chargers and Chiefs are getting a lot of press in the AFC West but the Raiders games remain as important as any on the schedule for Denver.
Oakland’s season will live-or-die by the health of quarterback Derek Carr. When healthy, Carr is a multi-talented threat and one of the few quarterbacks with the ability to neutralize Denver’s vaunted pass rush. The “when healthy” being the key to that sentence.
Oakland leads the series 63-52-1 though the Broncos are 27-31-1 at home against the Raiders. It’s worth noting that from 1963-1977, Denver lost or tied 15 consecutive games, skewing the all-time stats.
Oakland’s 2017 offense was tied with Denver at 17th, defensively they were top-10 but that will certainly take a hit if Khalil Mack is indeed traded.