Daniel asked:
Denver Broncos -3 vs Raiders.
For the only scheduled time this year, there are two
NFL games on Monday night, so if bettors don’t like their result in the Vikings-Packers opener, there’s always the Denver-Oakland nightcap to add to or recoup some of your money.
Denver is a 3-point road favorite on WagerWeb.com with an over/under of 41.
This series has been dominated by Denver on the field, as the Broncos are 8-2 in the past 10 meetings (Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is 20-6 overall against his former team), but one of those losses came in last season’s final meeting between the teams, a 34-20 Oakland home victory. In fact, the sad-sack Raiders are 4-0 against the spread against Denver in the past two seasons.
Both teams feature stellar cornerback combinations (Denver with Champ Bailey and Dre Bly and Oakland with Nnamdi Asomugha and DeAngelo Hall) but question marks at receiver. Denver’s top wideout is Brandon Marshall, but he is suspended for tonight’s game. Oakland’s top receiver is Javon Walker, but he is questionable with a hamstring injury.
So expect both teams to run the ball plenty. Oakland gouged the Denver run defense last year, gaining 200 yards on the ground in last September’s meeting and 175 in December. And the Raiders added big-play rookie running back Darren McFadden in the draft.
The
Broncos‘ defense gave up an average of 142.6 yards rushing per game in 2007, worse than all but two teams in the NFL – one of those being Oakland. The
Raiders ranked 31st in rushing defense, gave up 4.8 yards per carry, the most in the league, and surrendered 24 rushing touchdowns, the most in the NFL since 2000. Ten opposing runners went for more than 100 yards against Oakland in ’07.
ABDUL
