Raiders vs Broncos Week 10 | Gruden’s Preview

Raiders vs Broncos Week 10 | Gruden’s Preview

Okay, Thursday night football. It’s the Raiders and the Broncos. Two teams. They appear to be going in different directions, but trust me, when these two teams square off, anything can happen. This is the 132nd time of this great rivalry. I can’t wait to get into this one. This game preview is presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. DraftKings Sports Book delivers the unmatched intensity of the NFL right to your fingertips. From firsttime touchdown scores to anytime touchdown props or the thrill of live in-game betting, every snap is loaded with opportunity. New customers, you can turn five bucks into 300 bucks if your bet wins. It’s paid instantly in bonus bets. The crown is yours. Sign up using promo code gruden. Gr u den. This top of mind is brought to you by Chevrolet. Football season’s in full swing. And whether you’re grinding through the week or gearing up for kickoff, there’s one ride that’s always game ready. The Chevy Silverado. Built for the hustle, ready for the game. Silverado is America’s most dependable full-size truck. Head to chevy.com to learn more and build your own Chevy Silverado. Okay, Thursday Night Football. It’s the Las Vegas Raiders at 2 and six heading into Denver to play the 7-2 Broncos. Both of these teams kind of headed in different directions, but both of these teams have two great coaches. The Raiders have Pete Carroll, and he’ll be coaching his 300th career regular season NFL game. That’s unbelievable. Only 17 men have ever done that before. Congratulations to him. He’s a defensive coach. He’s been on the cutting edge of defensive football his entire life. and he’s going up against Shawn Payeyton who’s going to be coaching his 285th game. Veteran coaches. Payton is an offensive wizard. I don’t know anybody that works harder at football than Shawn Payeyton from an offensive standpoint. And to see he and Pete Carol match wits, it’ll be really cool. They’ve gone up against each other in the past. Shawn is 4- one against Pete Carol in the regular season, but Pete Carol’s 2-0 against Shawn Payeyton in the playoffs. One of those games was that 2010 Beast Mode game. Do you remember when Beast Mode had that run against the Saints? I bet Payton remembers that. I love Beast Mode. I got to coach him for one year. What a hell of a play that was. And then in 2013, Pete Carol Seahawks beat Coach Payton in the playoffs. That was the year Seattle went to the Super Bowl and crushed Denver for the world championship. Both of these coaches world champion coaches on the same field. One’s offense, one’s defense, and it’s the AFC Bronco Raider rivalry. I was a part of this rivalry several times. Woo! That’s why I’m sweating. I get excited about this one. The Raiders under head coach Pete Carroll, it’s his first year putting together his culture, putting together his roster, and it’s a challenge, believe me. And they are having some growing pains. Shawn Payeyton, he’s in his third season and his second season with Bo Knicks, and this defense has really taken off. I had a chance to go watch the Broncos in training camp. Coach Payton invited me to a captain’s dinner. I got to sit at the table, meet his players, watch him in action. What a culture that they have established in Denver. I mean, these players, when you watch them play, they don’t want to let the guy next to him down. They play their asses off. They’re on the same page. Great preparation, a staff that’s had some continuity and togetherness. And I enjoyed seeing these guys work. And it’s no coincidence why they are one of the top teams in football. The Broncos have won six straight games. That’s the longest winning streak since 2015 when the Denver Broncos went on to win the Super Bowl. They’re playing well and they’re getting it done in the fourth quarter. Let me tell you, in four of these wins, they were trailing going into the fourth quarter. In three of the wins, they were trailing by eight points or more. That’s an incredible crunch time performance. They were down 17-3 in the fourth quarter at Philadelphia. The defending world champions won that game. They’re down 19 to nothing, man. Getting booed at home to the New York Giants. They find a way to win that football game. They had to go all the way to London or Amsterdam or some foreign land and they were down to the Jets 11 to 10. It was a fist fight. They figure it out to win that game. And then last week they’re losing 15 to7 down by eight against a very good Houston Texan defense. They rally. They find a way to get another win. Reminds me of when I go golfing. You know, I’m always playing pretty good in the first seven or eight holes. Then I get on the ninth hole and Shawn Payton, my old friend who was my quarterback coach in Philly, he would press me and he’d kick my ass. And then I’d get on the back nine, I’d get ahead again. We get on the 18th hole and Payton would press me again. He’s always had great accomplishments late in games on the golf course against me and on the grid iron, but it’s a credit to Denver, man. They’re averaging 14.3 points a game in the fourth quarter. And they’ve got some great defensive stops when they’ve needed them. And Will Lutz, their kicker, has three game ending field goal kicks. That’s why he’s the most valuable special teams player of the month of October. The Raiders, on the other hand, you know, they got off to a great start. Everybody’s talking about how great New England’s playing, and rightfully so. Well, they beat the Patriots in Foxboro 20-13, and they look pretty damn good. But since that time, they’ve lost six out of seven games, four out of the six losses. They’ve lost by double digits. But they came off a by-week after that horrible outcome in Kansas City. And they improved on offense. They lost 30-29 in overtime. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they had lock it wide open in the end zone for the two-point play, but the ball got batted down. There were a lot of positives in that Raider game. Offensively, they came to life. They had the return of their superstar tight end, Brock Bowers. I don’t think we should call him a tight end. He’s really a wide receiver. No, he’s a slot receiver. Let’s just say he’s a badass. Okay, this guy had 12 catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns. hard to cover on any route that the Raiders diagram. But unfortunately, they made some poor plays. They had a false start on the goal line where they had to settle for a field goal. I think it was first and goal at the one. They missed over 10 tackles against the Jaguars. They had a kickoff return, 54 yards against them. They had a terrible unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the game and they missed an extra point. And those are the kind of plays that kept the Raiders from getting a muchneeded win at home. They’re gonna have to clean things up and play almost a perfect game against the Denver Broncos on the road in Denver. One of the things that jumps at me that Denver’s got to clean up is these penalties. They’re number one in the league. I mean, take a look at this. 658 yards of penalties, man. They’ve had 72 penalties called against them. That’s the most yardage and the second most penalties called against the Broncos. They got to clean that up. I’m sure Shawn Payeyton had some officials on the practice field this week. The turnover margin screams at me also. Both of these teams have got to do a much better job protecting the football on offense. Right now, as good as Denver’s playing, they’ve taken it away seven times, but they’ve turned it over 10 times. That’s minus3. The last team to have a negative turnover ratio and win the Super Bowl was the 2015 Broncos. So, it’s been done before, but minus3 is 18th in the NFL. And I think Shawn Peyton and the Broncos know they’ve got to clean that up. And the Raiders, well, they’ve taken it away eight times, but they’ve given it away 13 times. That’s minus five. That’s 27th in the league. We all know Gino Smith has had some interceptions. 11. And that’s got to be corrected against this opportunistic pressure defense of the Broncos. The Broncos are tough at home, man. They always have been. You got to deal with the noise. You got to deal with the altitude. I mean, hell, I’d be yelling at the referee, “What? What the hell?” I’d almost pass out, man. The freaking altitude would get me. You got to deal with good football teams, and Denver always has this going for them. But they have won nine straight games at home. That’s a distinct advantage. That’s the longest streak in the NFL. These fans come ready to roar, man. And they’re good at it. In this series, as I said earlier, this is the 132nd meeting. The Raiders have a 7356 and2 advantage. God, I get excited thinking about this. In two games last year, Denver won both games. Now, I know Pete Carol wasn’t there. I know the Raiders have a number of new players, but defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, some of the coaches, some of the players do return in week five. Denver won that game at Denver 34-8. That was Pat Certan’s 100yard interception return. That was the most memorable play of that day. And then in Las Vegas week 12, the Broncos won again 2919. Bo Knicks threw for over 270 and Courtland Sutton had two touchdowns. One of them a beautiful backline catch in the red zone. Knicks had two pretty good days last year against coach Graham’s defense. I just want to remind everybody the defense has new players and has a new system change with Pete Carol coming to town. But Nicks went 2 and 0. He threw for 479 yards, four touchdowns, no picks. He had the upper hand last year. The stat of the game, I think, is the sack differential. I used to do a lot of this when I was coaching, just to kind of gauge how well we protect the passer, how well we rush the passer against our opponent. The Broncos are far and away number one in the NFL and sack differential. They have 40 sacks from their defense. That’s by far the lead in the NFL, 12 more than anybody else. And they’ve only given up nine sacks. So, they’re a plus 31 differential. That tells you their offensive line is pretty good, and it tells you their defensive line is pretty good, too. On paper, it seems like a really tough matchup for the Raiders offense. When you look at Denver’s defense, fourth in the league in scoring defense, third in total defense, eighth against the run, sixth against the pass, and you look at the Raiders, they’re 29th in scoring, 30th in total, 29th in rushing, and 24th in passing. Those are some real discrepancies. The other thing is Denver’s number one in the NFL on third down. They get off the field, man. And they got the number one red zone defense. The Raiders have the 31st ranked red zone offense. So, statistically, a lot of this really favors the Bronco defense against this new Chip Kelly Raider offense. Quickly, let’s look at the standings in the AFC West. The Denver Broncos lead it right now. They’re 7-2. They’re 0 and1 in the West. And they have a by-week after this. Then they have the Kansas City Chiefs coming to Denver. That’ll be exciting. But the LA Chargers are six and three, right on their heels. They beat Denver earlier. Malisk, I can still hear him screaming after Justin Herbert made that incredible throw to beat him. The Kansas City Chiefs are five and4. We all know the Chiefs have won nine straight AFC Western Championships and Shawn Payeyton and the Broncos are trying to change that. The Raiders are two and six. You know, the Raiders, they’ve lost eight straight AFC West Division games. That’s the longest streak in the NFL. Come on, Raiders. Let’s go, man. Let’s fix that. Okay, the kickers. We already touched on Will Lutz, the ex New Orleans Saint kicker who came with Shawn Payeyton to Denver. He was the special teams player of the month and for the season he’s 11 out of 13 on field goals, 22 for 22 on pats. And for the Raiders, my man Daniel Carlson. He missed an extra point last week that was costly for the season. He’s 12 out of 15 on field goals. He had one blocked on the last play of the game. A possible gamewinner against the Bears. 10 for 11 on Pats. The injury list, the Raiders are pretty clean. They are getting Aiden O’Connell, young quarterback who I think’s pretty damn good, back from an injury he suffered in training camp. He hurt his wrist. I think Kenny Picket is still the backup quarterback to Gino Smith. But Aiden Oonnell’s had some really good games in this league for Denver. Everybody look into Marvin Mims, Pro Bowl punt returner, slot receiver, wide receiver for the Broncos. He missed last week’s game against Houston with a concussion. there’s a chance he could play and this is a young man that I know Shawn Payeyton has high high standards for. He will be a gamecher if he’s on the grass. Pat Certan, defensive player of the year last year. Out of this game, he’ll probably be out for some time with the pec injury. How do you replace the defensive player of the year? We’re going to have to find out. But so far so good. They got a good result last week in Houston, but they need their man back. Keep an eye on Brandon Jones, free safety, number 22, really good player in every situation. He’s sore, beat up. It’s a short week. Not sure his availability. PJ Lockach, a starting safety last year who still adds a lot to special teams. And from a depth standpoint, he missed last week’s game with a neck injury. So, the safety position of the Broncos is something to keep an eye on. And they have another guy named Nate Atkins I really like. He’s a tight end, fullback, Hback. I think he’s going to continue to be out for a little while longer with a knee strain. But we got the Raiders and we got the Broncos. We got a outstanding rivalry game coming up. Let’s get into the matchups. This offense defense matchup is brought to you by Fox One. On Fox one, you can stream your favorite live sports so you never miss that. Did you see that moment? That means Fox NFL Sundays are now on Fox One. It’s NFL Sundays all streaming live the way it was meant to be watched. It’s also the best way to stay locked in on your action. Whether you’re sweating your fantasy matchup, tracking a parlay, or riding the chaos, live as it happens. I hate watching things on delay. I got to see it live. Start your 7-day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox One for complete terms and conditions. Okay. The Broncos offense against the Raiders defense. We have some things to unpack. this Bronco offense. You’ll look down on the sidelines. You’ll see Shawn Payeyton down there calling the plays. I mean, I had a lot of sideline sheets. My sideline sheet got bigger and bigger every year cuz we got more and more ideas, more and more plays. I thought I had the biggest sideline sheet in the league. But when you look at Shawn Peyton down there, this thing is like I don’t know. It’s like one of the Ten Commandments, man. It’s huge. I don’t know how he lifts the thing. But anyways, he’s got a lot of plays and they’re using a lot of different players, different tight ends. Hell, I even saw Mercedes Lewis playing tight end for the freaking Broncos. He’s 41 years old. You got two different running backs and a ton of different receivers. And Bo Knicks, they got every play possible underneath the center or in the shotgun. Tons of different personnel groupings. And on a short week, what’s he going to call against this Raider defense? I can’t wait to see. I know this, the Broncos have to start faster. We can give them all the accolades known to mankind for their crunchtime fourth quarter performances. I mean, that’s unbelievable how they have managed to win some of these games. But I also know Shawn Payeyton is a big believer in scoring first, getting a lead, and controlling the game. And I think the greatness of the Denver Broncos is in their future. Al Davis used to say that all the time. I remember coaching Tampa Bay when I got here. We had a heck of a defense, but for them to truly be a great defense, we needed to do our part on offense. How about getting a lead? How about a two-score lead? And let’s cut Sap and Simeon Rice and Brooks and Barber and Lynch. Let’s cut these guys loose. That’s what is on the horizon when Denver can get a lead. I think the greatness in their defense will unleash themselves to another level if they can start getting some two-score leads by dominating early in the game. And I know that’s a big goal of Shawn Payton’s. One of the things that really surprised me in the second game these two teams played last year is Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham called several allout blitzes in their base defense, in their subdefense. And they did it with some great disguises. I mean, these safeties were back there 12, 15 yards deep. It looked like they were playing a split safety coverage. And out of nowhere, here comes the blitz. And the safeties come running up for their coverage. And they got to the Broncos a few times. I know Bo Knicks lofted one up to Courtland Sutton for a touchdown in the red zone, but they almost had two interceptions. Jack Jones almost had one. Another one hit the safety man right in the chest. So, I do believe you’re going to see Bo Knicks and Shawn Payeyton carefully trying to smell out some of these allout blitzes that gave him a little problem last year. The biggest thing that the Broncos have to do in this game plan is execute their protection plan against Max Crosby of the Raiders. Everybody knows Crosby’s a really good player. No, he’s a great player and he rarely comes off the field. 90% of the plays Crosby plays and he always plays on his left or on the right side of the Broncos. So, that means Mike McGllinchi, number 69, and Max Crosby are going to have a hell of a battle. I can’t wait to just watch the two of those guys go after each other. But the one thing I know Shawn Payeyton will do a great job of is he’ll put a receiver over there to bump Crosby before he releases. They’ll send the back over there. They’ll put a guy in motion to whack Crosby. They’re going to do a lot of things to minimize the effect that Crosby can have on the game. You know, I remember JJ Watt in 2014, 2015, MVP of the league. I used to talk a lot about his factor grade when I was doing Monday Night Football. Look at JJ Watt, the factor grade. You see this factor grade of Crosby in the first eight games. Not since JJ Watt have we seen a man with five sacks, 10 TFLs, five batted balls in eight games. That’s the kind of force that Crosby applies to the game. When they need a play, one guy’s going to make it. You can count on 98. So, the big thing is let’s minimize Crosby with a significant plan. They did everything they could to minimize Will Anderson. These great defensive pass rushers, you got to spend a lot of time finding them and executing your protection plan. As always, Shawn Payeyton has great ball distribution. I remember his teams in New Orleans having going up against them twice a year. They threw the ball to the tight ends, the receivers, the backs. The Chiefs and the Broncos are the two teams in the NFL that have five receivers with 20 catches or more in a touchdown. He’ll throw the ball to any one of these guys in any situation. When I watch Bo Knicks, there’s a lot to like. I think his completion percentage is down. He’s had some balls batted down. He’s missed some throws. He hasn’t had the consistent success under pressure. The one thing about Nicks that is exciting is when he’s in the pocket, he can make some of the damnedest throws and completions with his feet going different directions than his body. He can really unload the football from awkward positions. I still think he’s going to play better this year when the rush is congested around him, but they’re throwing a lot of deep passes. A lot of people don’t realize this. 13% of Bo Nicks’s passes are 20 yards or more in the air. That’s in the top three or four of football. Now, he’s got six touchdown passes. That’s tied with Jaylen Herz for second in the NFL. Our friend Baker Mayfield leads the league with seven. But they are connecting on some deep ball throws, but they are lower percentage passes. Last week against Houston, he was two for 10 on the vertical shot game. Had one picked off, had two touchdowns. I don’t know anybody that likes to sit in a room and watch film like this guy. He’s known to get a candle, light the candle, and study film until the candle burns out. I’m not kidding you, man. This guy will sit in there all night. and his deep ball design. It’s not just throwing a go ball to a fast receiver. It’s getting a guy like Courtland Sutton and running a slant and go or a hook and go or an out and up. He develops double moves for his outside receivers. He can get a receiver in motion to get a free release. He’ll put a guy in a tight split and get him up on a safety with bad ball skills. And in 50/50 situations, he tells his quarterback to rip it. But it’s the deep ball design and the commitment to throwing the ball deep that makes this Bronco team very interesting. But I would like to see Knicks get off to a quicker start. He was 0 for six to start the Texan game. I hope he gets three or four completions. Gets on a roll before he starts searching deep. The Broncos have a top 10 running game. A lot of people may not know this, but JK Dobbins came over from the Chargers. He’s closing in on 700 yards. He’s got 695. And the emergence of RJ Harvey is another problem for defenses. I remember when Payton and I were working together with the Philadelphia Eagles. We had Ricky Waters and Charlie Garner. And everywhere he’s been, he’s always had a committee of running backs that can kick your ass. I remember seeing Reggie Bush running out there with Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell and Mallister, and it was like, now you got Sprouls. What the hell you got Chimera? He always had a bevy of backs that could do different things. They’re running the ball extremely well. They’re a top 10 rushing offense. So, I expect these playaction passes to get even better. When you statistically look at the Broncos, QB rating, yards, touchdowns, all that crap. It’s not very good in their play action offense. And I’m not just talking about RPOS’s. Hard play actions, bootlegs. They got to get more out of their playaction game given the fact that they’re running the ball so well. Last thing I’ll say about Denver’s offense, I still think they’re searching for that identity. You know, when Shawn Payeyton has this thing rolling, it’s the interior passing game that has really been hard to stop over the years. Marcus Coloulston in the slot. Damn that Marcus Coloulston. And then they get Shocki or Jimmy Graham. Real great interior receivers. Then they had the option route by the halfback. We’ve already talked about Pierre Thomas and Sprouls and Reggie Bush and Chimera and all these guys. Well, they’re starting to get Harvey number 12, their rookie from Central Florida, wired and ready to go. And it’s exciting. He’s caught a touchdown pass in his last three games. So, look out. Evan Ingram is healthy. He’s had a 100 catch season in the NFL. He’s still been kind of quiet. 26 catches, but last week, even though he didn’t catch it because Bo threw it over his head, he ran a choice takeoff textbook. So, I feel it coming. Can you hear that train coming down the track? Holy Here they come, man. They’re good. I think they can be great, but it’s the interior passing game that’s got to catch up with Courtland Sutton on the outside. The Raider defense. Patrick Graham is still the defensive coordinator. He’s a good one. He came to the Raiders with Josh McDaniels. He’s an excellent coach. Has a lot of New England Patriot background in his history. 34 alignments. You know, when Pete Carroll comes in, he’s known for his front that they played in Seattle. In Seattle, they’re more of a four down, 43 team. And they use a big defensive tackle shaded on the weak side of the center. And on the strong side, they got the three technique. They got the big defensive end that can play a six technique. and they might put a strong safety right on the line of scrimmage in a threatening position on every play. And then to the weak side, they got that five technique on the outside shoulder of the tackle and they’ll have a four technique. They’ll put them head up and then they’ll put this will linebacker on the line of scrimmage. So they always have two guys that are a threat on the weak side and two guys that are a threat on the strong side. And I see the Raiders running this scheme. They run a base 43. They run a nickel defense with a little coverage nickel corner. They’ll use a big nickel with Jeremy Chin. Hell, I’ve even seen number 33 Jamal Adams who’s playing linebacker play out here like a big nickel and then they have a dime package where they’ll use Jeremy Chin as a dime linebacker. So, they have a lot of volume, but what will they do on a short week against the East Denver Broncos? I think the message Pete Carol and Patrick Graham are giving the Raiders is let’s wrap up, man. Let’s wrap these guys up. Too many shoulder tackles. Too many guys going for the kill shot. And they missed at least 12 tackles last week against the Jaguars. They’ve missed too many tackles this season. And that’s not part of Pete Carol’s program. Let’s wrap them up, Raiders. They got to do a great job contesting the pocket. They got to make sure Bo Nicks doesn’t run all over the place. He has got over 200 yards rushing. So, they got to protect the pocket and they got to be ready for some of these designed runs. I mean, hell, last week against the Texans, they ran a direct shotgun snap to Bo Knicks. Two down blocks by the wide receivers. Garrett Bull pulls around and they run the ball for a 15yd gain. They’ll run quarterback draws, quarterback sweeps. So, you got to be ready for Bo Knicks running the ball because he’s dangerous. I wouldn’t be surprised in this game if we see some allout blitzing like we talked about earlier. They had success with that in the second game last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed an allout blitz, forced the young quarterback to audible and then bailed out of there and said, “I got you.” So, the bluff and the blitz is a big part of Patrick Graham’s game plan. I do believe the Raiders have struggled on third down, getting off the field. Right now, they’ve given up 47%. Man, that’s just slightly better than the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys. Somebody other than Max Crosby has to deliver the pressure and they got to hold up in coverage much much better. I don’t care what they call. Three players that pop off the film when I watch the Raiders. Well, obviously it’s Max Crosby, but I can’t tell you how impressed I am with number 45 Devin White. He’s got 80 tackles, man. He’s got a sack and interception. He hasn’t missed one single snap. I think he’s wearing a green dot, too. Here’s a guy that fell out of favor in Tampa. He went to Philadelphia. things didn’t work out. Went to Houston, things didn’t work out. His career is flickering, but he gets into Pete Carol’s program and he has taken off as a leader and a playmaker for the Raiders. The other guy I really like is Chin. Jeremy Chin, number 11. When they play a base defense, he can play free safety. When they play a nickel defense, he’s athletic enough to go be the big nickel and cover on the slot. When they play a dime defense, he can be a linebacker. He played great for Carolina, played really good for Washington. Why don’t you call the Commanders and see if they wish they still had Chin because he is a badass, but they got good players at all three levels. Who’s going to join them in Denver? We’ll find out. Let’s get into the matchups. Okay, this Denver Bronco offensive line, when you look at this thing called Pro Football Focus, PFF, not that they have all the answers, but they’re pretty damn good. They do a lot of detail work. They’ve ranked the Denver Broncos offensive line as the best in football. We already talked about the sack differential. Yeah, the Broncos have got 40 sacks on defense. Everybody’s excited about it. But how about the O line? They’ve only given up nine sacks. That’s the fewest in the NFL. And they’re led by Garrett Bulls, their left tackle. He is a hell of a player. He’s athletic to pull on these tosses. He’s great in one-on-one pass protection. He can cut off the backside. He’s a leader. He’s a down by down. Very efficient player. I don’t think anybody has a sack on them. Very few pressures. They have had issues at left guard. They’re on their third different left guard. Remember this. They had at the beginning of the season Powers. He hurt his bicep. So then they went to per. Now they’re down to number 63, Alex Palesky. I love that name. Pchesky. I want you to give this guy his props. He’s been a right side player, a right tackle, a right tackle. Which side has he been on, Clay? Right. Thanks for listening. But now he is in here playing at left guard. Last week against the Texans, hell, he’s sick. A lot of people don’t think he’s going to play. Not only did he play, he played his ass off. And he comes over there from the right side to the left side. And I think playing next to Garrett Bulls has helped him. They also have a good center, number 60, Luke Watenberg. You got to be sharp to play center for Shawn Payeyton and this offense. They do a lot at the line of scrimmage. They have a lot of different protection calls in their toolbox. Right guard Quinn Miners. Hey, if you want to do yourself a favor, go to the Dallas film and watch RJ Harvey’s 40-yard touchdown run and watch Quinn Miners block on the second level. Holy this guy’s something else, man. I love him. I went to that captain’s dinner in Denver and they introduced him as one of their captains and I can see why. This guy’s buttoned up all ball. And right tackle Mike McGllinchi, top 10 pick of the 49ers, came over in free agency. He’s been very solid as always at right tackle and he’s going to have his hands full against Max Crosby. That’ll be a great matchup in this game. The Raiders Dline, forget about Crosby for just a second. On the other side, it’s number 51, Malcolm Counz. Coun in 2023 had eight sacks. He was off and running, but in 2024, a serious knee injury. He’s now just starting to get back. He does have 20 pressures. You do feel it. You do see it. He’s only got one sack, but here’s a guy that has to make a name for himself on Thursday Night Football against the great Garrett Bulls. So, that’s a fun matchup to watch, too. Inside the Raiders are led by this guy number 96. I was with the Raiders for some time. My son Deuce is on the staff. I still love my Raiders, but I want to get to know this guy. Jonah Lauulu. Jonah Alulu. He wears number 96. Plays his ass off. He’s got four sacks. He’s got range. He can make plays at the hash mark. He can make plays on the numbers. Got good stamina, good range, and he’s got a good inside motor. The other guy I like is 69 Butler. Adam Butler. He’s playing a lot of snaps. 75% of the snaps. Plays a little high sometimes. He got bounced around on a few of those duos last week. But Butler can play. Don’t kid yourself. The Raiders are pretty good up front. They got another guy like Tyrie Wilson wearing number nine. He had a sack last year against the Broncos on a stunt. He was drafted high. I think everybody’s waiting for high rewards. He’s just been solid, but he’s coming on in this scheme, finding his way in this new Pete Carol system. They made a trade earlier in this season with Philadelphia, and they brought in Thomas Booker, number 99. He might start in the game. He might come into the game early, but he’s going to play. Booker, 99, has pass rush ability. He can stop the run and he’s got the size to hold up inside against these double teams. You know, Shawn Peyton is going to run that duos scheme and they need these big bodies inside. The Bronco running game, we’ve touched on it a little bit. Dobbins is having a great year. Almost 700 yards and he is just starting to warm up. I think the more they give it to him, the better he gets. He’s a great short yardage and goal lineback. He can be a closer at the end of the football game and he’s got 10 catches mostly on screens and checkdowns. The guy that’s emerging is RJ Harvey. And I know how hard Shawn Payeyton is on running backs. I guess I was a little hard on back sometimes, too. But you get a great player, a great young talent like Harvey, you just don’t put them out there and let them go. You got to earn it, man. All you young backs out there, you got to master the pass protections. Before you can play, you got to know how to protect our quarterback. You got to know who to block and you got to know how to block, Jake. And when the game starts, you got to show us that you really want to block. And I think he’s starting to do that. Not only do you got to know the protections, you got to know the help system. You got to chip on Max Crosby. And there’s a way we do it. You don’t just run up there and start chipping. You got to have a technique. And you got to be disciplined to do it. The next thing you got to do, you got to know what to do when the blitz comes and you’re the hot receiver. I got a free release, but here comes the blitz. I got to cut my route off. You got to be reliable and do that. And then the next thing is you got to learn how to run all kind of routes if you’re playing for Shawn Peyton. Not just running a check wide, you’re running choice routes. You’re running corner routes. Last week against the Texans, I fell out of my chair. I was so excited for this kid. He ran a choice takeoff, a double move. Touchdown freaking Broncos. The guy’s coming on, man. And that’s what Chimera did. That’s what Pierre did. That’s what they all did under Shawn Payeyton. He’s going to stay after this kid until he’s great. And there’s a big difference between good and great. The linebackers for the Raiders, we’ve hit on Devin White. What a tackling machine he is. Coming out of LSU, former first round pick of the Bucks. I’m happy for him, man. He’s busted his ass to get his game back. Another guy that came over is a Landon Roberts. He was a physical thumper for the Dolphins, the Steelers, and now he is for the Raiders. He’s got 46 tackles. They also use Jamal Adams, the ex safety man of the Jets, who went to the Seahawks with Pete Carroll. They use him as a strong side linebacker. They might kick him out over the slot in some situations. And don’t forget about Adams as a blitzer. I have tape of him blowing up backs. I used to say, “Holy he dropped a house on somebody.” That’s how he used to blitz. But anyways, these three linebackers in space against some of these open formations are going to have to deal with RJ Harvey and these tight ends of the Denver Broncos. Evan Ingram is a guy to keep an eye on. He’s wearing number one. He’s got 26 for 215. You haven’t really felt him dominate a game yet, but he does have receiving ability and when they throw the ball between the hashes, he’s a guy they like to look for. Adam Troutman, we can’t not bring up Adam Troutman. He does a lot of dirty work passing in the running game. They got a top 10 running game. And guess where he went to college? Dayton. He went to Dayton. Played for the Dayton Flyers just like me. I would sing the fight song, but that’s for another day. They signed Mercedes Lewis. What a career he has had. 41 years old. They brought him in to block the C gap. And if you guys listen to this carefully here, the tight end plays tight on the end of line. And the number one thing you got to do is block the C gap and pass protect. And those are two things Mercedes Lewis has always been able to do. They do have a young safety, Isaiah Polau, number 20. He is a flashy player. He has the interception last week in the goal line. Trevor Lawrence sprints out to his left and threw it right to him. I mean, I counted on him making that play, but he also showed great range batting down a flee flicker pass to Brian Thomas. I like this guy’s wow plays, but I think he’s got to improve his tackling, man. He’s been inconsistent tackling. He missed a couple big ones last week, and we can’t do that against these Denver Broncos. We got to be a more sure tackler. the other safety. Well, it depends on the situation. It could be Chin number 11 in their base defense. That’s this Chin guy. He’s one of the more versatile complete football players in the league. But when they move him down in here to nickel or when they move Chin to a dime linebacker position, this young safety Tristan McCullum, number 27, comes into the game. I don’t know much about him, but I do know Shawn Payeyton, he will try to get a receiver in a tight split up on a young safety just to find out about him. And finally, the matchups on the outside. You got to start with Courtland Sutton. What a receiver he is. He just got the big contract this year. Welld deserved. They love to throw him 50/50 balls, especially in red zone situations. He’s a great double move guy. I mean, he can come out here, act like he’s running a hook route and take off. He can stop and start for a big guy. He’s unique. He has versatility. They can put him in the slot much like they did with Marcus Coloulston. He can run lookie routes and choice routes. There’s a lot of route inventory with Courtland Sutton. The other receiver is Troy Franklin. This cat is emerging. Do you know this? Troy Franklin wears number 11. Secondyear player. He’s got more targets than Courtland Sutton. He’s got 37 catches, 385 yards, and he can roll. Now, the corners for the Raiders at left corner, who will be on the right of this Denver Bronco offense, is Eric Stokes. He wears number 22. He’s had a solid year. He signed a one-year contract, and he’s been solid. Doesn’t get a lot of work. He’s only been targeted 17 or 18 times. He’s got a pretty solid QBR against him and he’s been a pretty good wrapup tackler. But the other corner, I’m an owl. Who Who’s it going to be? I don’t know. You know, they had Blue Kelly, young corner, ex Seattle Seahawk starting. They benched him last week against Jacksonville. Kelly, he had some flickers where he was pretty solid, but he gave up some big completions. So, they went with their rookie, Darien Porter. This kid comes out of Iowa State and when you look at Porter, you go, “Holy cow, that’s a big good-looking corner. He struggled last week. I think he missed two tackles. They targeted him seven times, six catches.” I am leerary and concerned about this matchup if I’m the Raiders. Who’s it going to be at right corner for the Raiders? Is it going to be 36 Kelly or is it going to be 26 Porter? They need more production. and in the slot. I don’t know if Mims, number 19, is gonna play. If Mims plays, you got to keep your eyes on him. They love to get him involved in jet sweeps. They love to get him down the field against these young safeties and cut splits. But if Mims doesn’t play, it’ll be the rookie Pat Bryant from Illinois. And this kid Bryant, he’s got nine catches. They don’t throw him a lot of passes, but when you watch this guy, he wears number 13. He comes in motion. We call it a search block, meaning he’s got to go search out the strong safety. He’ll come in motion. He’ll come right between the tackle, tight end gap, and go in and block some of the beasts. He is a tough dude, man. I like this Pat Bryant. But anyways, who’s the nickel corner of the Raiders? Ask me, Clay. Who? I don’t know. I don’t know. Could be Darn Holmes. He wears number 30. I saw him in there earlier. I also saw last week some guy named Greedy Vance. Hell, I’m greedy. Greedy Vance came in there and played. And then when they go big nickel, it could be Jeremy Chin. When they go monster nickel, it could be Jamal Adams. I’ve seen a lot of guys based on the situation. I don’t think the Raiders are really comfortable with their corner on their right, and I don’t think they really have an established nickel yet. And I think that’s a work in progress. But I do believe on a short week against all these formations and all the different plays that Shawn Payeyton likes to run, I think the Raiders have their biggest challenge yet. Okay, this Raider offense against this Denver Bronco defense, it looks like a real mismatch on paper, but they don’t play the games on paper. The Raider offense is led by Chip Kelly, a well-known coach, a well-known offensive coach who’s been on the cutting edge of uptempo shotgun operations. Did a great job at Oregon, helped Ohio State win the national title, former head coach of the Eagles, the 49ers. That Chip Kelly, hey, I even saw Tom Brady up in the press box helping out the Raiders. Good God. It has been a struggle for him this season. 29th in scoring, 30th in total offense, 29th in rushing. They’ve given the ball away 13 times. Let’s start right there. And on a short week, they just traded Jacobe Meyers, a really good receiver, to the Jacksonville Jaguars. So, I don’t know how that settles in the locker room emotionally with everybody, but that was a trade I think Jacobe Meyers was hoping for. He had asked for a trade. They accommodated him. And who’s going to replace him? Well, they brought in Tyler Lockett, former great receiver with the Seahawks. Remember Lockett when he played in Seattle? He’s the number two receiver of all time in that franchise’s history. 660 catches, 8,600 yards. He scored 61 touchdowns. He’s 33 years old. He was with the Tennessee Titans. They let him go. Pete Carol brought him into Las Vegas. Perhaps that’s why they let Jacobe Myers go to Jacksonville. They also have a couple young receivers we’ll get into in a second, but they are going to play this game without Jacobe Myers, who is a guy that’s been a go-to receiver for him. The turnovers, they got to stop. Gino Smith has 11 interceptions this year. They’re not all his fault. One of them was tipped and intercepted against the Colts in the red zone. A couple of them are bad decisions and a couple of them are forces. You can’t get away with being late down the middle. got to take great care of the football, especially against this Denver Bronco defense. There’s a lot of quick passes in this Raider offense. Last week, 33 of the 38 passes that I watched were under 10 yards. So, they’re not cranking it down the field. I remember one day we played a game, Rich Ganon was my quarterback. We won the game and Al Davis was waiting for me. He said, “Butch, are you ever going to throw the ball over the 15yd wall?” I started thinking about it. I go, we got to start pushing the ball over the wall. But anyways, I’m anxious to see how the Raiders offensive line and their young running back handle the noise and the pass rush of these Denver Broncos. I mean, Ashton Jenny’s a young kid. He’s a hell of a talent, but some of the best plays he’s going to have to make in this game are picking up blitzes. He had two great pickups against Jacksonville last week. I love seeing a young running back deliver these pickups early in the year. The Patriots brought four strong and Ashton didn’t pull the trigger. It resulted in a sack. But this past week against Jacksonville, here comes that same fourman overload blitz. Ashton Genty peels across the formation. Kaboom. So, I have seen him really improve as a pass protector, but the help system, the blitz pickups against this Denver crowd is going to be huge. How are we going to handle the noise? because it gets extremely loud. And the two best things that Nick Bonito and Jonathan Cooper do for Denver, these great edge rushers, the best thing they do is they get off the ball, man, with lightning like speed. So, if you’re a little late coming out of your stance because you’re trying to see the ball snap, these guys, I’ve seen them blur the screen and get some sacks uncontested with their fast get offs. The Raiders are going to be using their backup left tackle, Stone Foresight, number 70. He’s played solid. Yes, he’s given up a couple sacks, but Colt Miller, their starter, is still out with that ankle injury. So, we got to keep an eye on Stone Foresight against Nick Bonito, number 15. They have a rookie running back. Will he be able to identify and will they be able to communicate all these different blitzes? Hoffanga, their free safety’s coming. McMillan, the nickel corner’s coming. Both linebackers come frequently, so you got to really be on it with your communication and your recognition. And it’s hard to do sometimes in this noise. The Brock Bowers factor is in effect. I mean, did you see what Brock Bowers did last week? I mean, a guy had three touchdowns. He had 125 yards receiving and 12 catches. He caught one-handed back shoulder fades. One time he ran a choice route and caught it blindfolded. Man, the guy’s a freak. He catches a choice route and he runs for a touchdown. Hell, he looked like Cooper Cup or something, but he’s a big tight end. Great versatility. The Bowers effect. The Raiders are averaging 21 points when he plays, 8 and a half points when he does it. They’re averaging 330 yards passing a game when he plays, 206 when he does it. But the Brock Bowers effect is obvious. What I love about Bowers is he’s really not a tight end because I watched all of his routes. I mean, last week he played X receiver on the backside of trips. He played the slot receiver. He played the Z position on the strong side. They put him in motion. Hell, they hand him the ball on jet sweeps. And when I look at the routes that he was featured on last week, these are the routes that we threw Hunter Refro on choice routes. They get into a 3x one formation. We call it bunch. So what they do a few times last week is they put him at the normal tight end position in bunch and they put Tucker right down the field screaming on a special seam. They have their outside receiver run an 18 to 20 yard bench route and they let Brock Bower skip off the line of scrimmage, push up the field and run a choice. He can sit down versus zone five or six yards deep. He can break out if the leverage is inside. If he gets an optimum look, he can cross face like he did on the 29 yard catch and run for a touchdown. But not many tight ends run the choice with the foot fire, with the quickness and the decisiveness that Brock Bowers has. But it’s a pure progression play. They look for Bowowers all the way. If the corner collapses on Bowowers, they throw the bench route. If they cover both of the receivers on the strong side, they’ll have Michael Mayer on the backside. Stuckco. He runs a stick return and he’s ready to go if needed. But they’re really flooding the strong side out for Bowowers on a choice route. And when they get into their 2 by two formations, they’ll put Bowowers as the slot receiver on the outside. And they’ll get into a tight split. They’ll have Tyler Lockett. Last week it was Jacobe Meyers. Here’s the bench route again at 18 to 20 yards deep. And Bowowers basically runs the same route. He’ll skip off under control. let the coverage sink onto the deep bench route and he’ll sit down versus zone. He can break out and against optimum looks, he can break across face. It’s a beautiful thing when you see Bowers running these choice routes. If they don’t have anybody on the choice concept, they come back to Michael Mayer on a six to eight yardd pivot and they’ll put another receiver like Tucker in behind him with Ashton Genty on a check wide. But it’s pure progression. Bowers all the way. bench is number two and they’ll go backside to the pivot or the basic or the check wide and it’s a right to left read. Gino Smith is coming off his best outing as a Raider. He threw for four touchdown passes, 29 for 39. He did have the one interception, but how is he going to be able to perform under intense pressure? Because that’s what Denver does. They put a lot of heat on your quarterback with a fourman rush or with some of these blitzes. And Gino’s QBR, just like everybody else, sinks when he’s under pressure in the pocket. He’s gonna have to deliver. He’s thrown four interceptions this year under pressure. And when you look at interceptions, the number one reason for him is how did quarterbacks respond when they’re under the fire. Man, the run game of the Raiders, it’s been up and down. Rookie Ashton Genty is the feature back. He’s really the only guy the Raiders hand the ball to. He’s got 487 yards, which is 16th in the league, but he’s only averaging 3.9 yards per carry. The problem with the Raider running game is the stuffs. Almost 30% of their runs go for zero or negative. That makes me feel stuffed up, man. I don’t like that. They got to give them some cleaner looks. They run a lot of wide zones. They run a lot of plays from the pistol. One of the things to look for tonight in the pistol is you see the quarterback in the shotgun with the running back behind him. And I think to a degree, especially against all these blitzes, the pistol is hard to pick up blitzes because you’re deep and because the quarterback is in your way to dig out some of these A gap blitzers. So, I think a little bit more of the running game tonight, you’re going to see the quarterback under center to eliminate some of the pass protection problems that the pistol presents. But they got to get more from Genty. I have heard Pete Carol at his press conference saying we need to run the ball more and we need to get more playaction passes. And I’m not talking about from the pistol. Those are slow developing runs, slower developing playaction passes. I think the coach wants to see the center underneath and hand the ball to the running back. Kind of like the beast mode did against the Saints that one year. The Raiders have really struggled in the red zone. That’s an area I don’t know what you can do on a short week. But obviously Brock Bowers being back, that should help the red zone tremendously. They have had some tip passes and some unfortunate things happen in the red zone, but they’re going to have to convert some of these opportunities into touchdowns if they want to win this game. The Denver Broncos on defense, I think they’re well aware that Jacobe Meyers just got traded. And they do have Lockett who has a lot of history in the league, but what does he know about this playbook? He’s only been there for a couple weeks. Let’s gang up on Brock Bowers. Let’s treat him like a wide receiver and let’s try to limit the damage. But I would expect Kofanga. I would expect their veteran safety Brandon Jones, their veteran nickel corner McMillan to have their eyes on number 89 at all times. And they did draft this Zad Baron out of Texas. He’s wearing number 23. He had a great interception last week, man, against Ferguson, the tight end for Dallas. He’s running down the middle and cover two man. He flips his head, finds the ball in the blind spot. Most guys bat it down. He intercepts it. This guy’s got a lot of talent. He can play dime linebacker. He can be a big nickel. I bet Baron, 23, has a big role in this game against Bowers, but they got to look for him. I think the Broncos know the ball is coming out quick. As we said, most of Gino’s tosses were 10 yards or less. Allen. Zack Allen, number 99. Boom. He batted down two or three last week against Houston. I’ll be shocked if they don’t bat some balls down. Looking for the three-step quick throws from the Raiders. You know, last week the Raiders win that game against Jacksonville if Hamilton doesn’t do what? Bat that ball down. And Indianapolis gets a huge red zone interception. A defender up front batted that ball is picked and tipped. So, I think that’s something that you’ll see Denver doing trying to get those arms up. Denver plays a 34 defense in their base. Not a lot of people talk about DJ Jones, their nose tackle. He wears number 93. He doesn’t get the sacks. But I tell you one thing, when you play 21 personnel or you want to go out there with a lot of big people, they bring in DJ Jones. He lines up kind of offset on the center favoring his snapping hand sometimes. He’s a pain in the ass, man. This DJ Jones guy, he’s a hell of a player. Then they put Bonito and Cooper outside as outside linebackers. That’s what Denver’s had going for them for a long time. Von Miller, Chub, Demarcus Wear, now they got Bonito and Cooper. But when they’re in a base three, four operation, they can still apply heat and they’re very good at stopping a run. Denver just doesn’t pressure quarterbacks. You know, they got all these stats now. Well, he leads the league in pressure. Well, he had seven pressures. Well, he had four pressures. Well, how many sacks? How many times you get the quarterback on the ground? Denver has 40 sacks. That’s 12 more than anybody in the NFL. And by the way, they lead the league in pressure. 44% pressure. Every time you pass, man, they get pressure with a four-man rush. They get pressure with a fiveman rush. A lot of people out there, I know, they feel the pressure. You know what I mean? The Broncos are applying the pressure. There’s a big freaking difference, man. And they got the guys that do it. They have limited big plays. You know, there’s only been nine runs against Denver’s defense of 10 yards or more. That’s the fewest in the NFL. They’ve only given up 20 pass plays of 20 yards or more. That’s in the top six. So, you’re not getting these freebies, blown coverages, poor tackling, lack of effort that you see on some of these other films. They’re consistently after your ass. And I love it. They’re the number one defense on third down, three for 17. I got a chance to go to Denver and watch these coaches. I mean, these guys, they love it. And it’s not just Vance Joseph. Vance Joseph is a great coach, man. He was a head coach of the Broncos. I mean, how about that? He comes back as the defensive coordinator. He was a badass at Cincinnati. But I see these guys looking at the third down reel of the offense. And the reason the Texans are three for 17, they got this guy Jim Leonard on their staff. remember him? Defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. He’s a badass. Addison Lynch, he used to work for me at the Raiders. He’s coaching the corners. They got this Todd Davis, former Bronco linebacker. He’s a quality control guy. And then this guy Kane, Coach Kane, he’s the Dline coach. He’s got this big smile on his face because he knows he has the guys, man. He comes up with these rush plans. Unbelievable. And Joe Vit, he’s the old coach, man. I used to work with Vit. This freaking Joe Vit, he’s like pulling switches, coming up ideas. They got this Schmedding guy, Jeff Schmedding, coaching linebackers, former coordinator in college. They work their ass off to get the one-on- ones that they want, the stunts that they want, which receiver do we want to take out, who are we covering with who, and what coverages are we playing, and they meet late into the night, and they love it. And I love that about them. That’s why you’re number one on third down. And that’s why you got the number one red zone defense. But when you watch Denver practice, you got Shawn Payeyton, head coach. He’s calling the plays. Now, I thought I talked a little trash. So does Payton. He talks a lot of trash. He tries to get after his defense. And the defense in turn, they want to get after their head coach. So the competition is at a very high level. And Shawn Payeyton shows his defense during training camp all the plays that are problem plays, cutting edge plays. So, the preparation in Denver is very extensive. I’ve seen it live and I got a lot of respect for it. But great red zone, great third down, and they just got the return of one of the great linebackers in the NFL. Dre Green Law, the ex San Francisco 49er. He played 27 snaps last week against Houston and I can vividly remember almost 24 of them. He had eight tackles, a sack. You watch the goal line stuff. He’s in there sniffing around on every one of those tackles. Hell of a player. And he’s going to replace Justin Sternad who played his ass off. I mean, Sternad had 35 tackles, three and a half sacks, and a pick. They’re loaded at linebacker. Alex Singleton, 80 tackles, sixth in the league. They have players on every level, and they’re well coached, and they’re in prime time on a short week. This is a great test for the Raiders and a great opportunity for them to measure theirelves against arguably the top defense in football. Let’s look at the matchups up front for the Raiders. We talked about left tackle Stone Foresight. He’ll have his hands full filling in for Coltton Miller. He’s blocking Nick Bonito number 15. You know, Nick Bonito leads the NFL in pressure with 22%. He’s got eight sacks. This guy is a fireball coming off. He’s got the speed, he’s got the spin, and he can convert speed to power. He plays a lot of snaps, and I love him. On the other side, it’s DJ Glaze at right tackle. University of Maryland, he’s going to be going up against Cooper, number zero. Cooper’s got seven sacks. He’s got an 18% pressure rate. He’s one of the top seven or eight pass rushers coming off the edge in the league as well. So they got matchup issues I think at both tackle positions. Another reason for quick passes, screens, draws. When you watch Denver, what happens when Bonito and Cooper get tired? Well, you would think there’d be a significant drop off, but when you can bring in a guy like Tilman, number 92. Did you see Tilman? He’s got a sack and a half. Did you see the interception a couple weeks ago against Dallas? It’s a hell of a catch. Then he gets up and he looks like Floyd Little returning the ball. I mean, what an athlete this kid, number 92, Tilman. And then on the other side, Jonah Ellis, number 52. He’s a pain in the ass. I’ve seen him play linebacker, tackle, number 52, Ellis. So, they got four guys that can really raise hell off the edge. Inside for the Raiders, it’ll be Dylan Parm at left guard, Meredith at center, and Jackson Powers Johnson at right guard. Meredith and Parm have played every game this season. Powers Johnson, he missed some time with an injury, but he’s back. This guy here at right guard’s interesting. Jackson Powers Johnson kind of came to the Raiders, I think, to be a center. They moved him to guard. No question his strength, his toughness, his tenacity, but he does get overextended at times. He’s had a couple of Simon errors in the passing game. I worry about him a little bit in the noise against all these multiple looks. But these three guys have got to know where number 99 is, Zack Allen. And I’m not comparing anybody to JJ Watt, but this cat, he wears the same number, number 99. He plays 80% of the snaps. He rarely comes off the field. He leads the defensive line in tackles with 25. He leads the NFL in hitting a quarterback. He’s got five sacks. Allen’s factor grade was awesome last week against the Texans. Batten down two passes, tackle for loss, sacked, three hits on the quarterback. He has incredible stamina, strength, and he has versatility to play over the center, either guard. He’s a power rusher. He’s a pain in the ass. He’s a great player. We talked about DJ Jones in the base. Write these three letters down at home. JFM, John Franklin Meyers, man, number 98. He’s got four sacks. They love him in passing situations. He plays 49% of the time, but he’s got 21 pressures. And when you put him next to Allen, they have two guys that are really a force with the TT stunts. They can slant, they can move, they can stem the front. There’s all kind of things they can do. Then there’s this guy I found, number 96. I’m gonna do my best on his pronunciation. Enma Uazarque. Number 96. I’m like, who the hell is he? I can barely say his name. Number 96. He’s got two sacks himself, got over 15 tackles. I’m like, geez. As soon as Zack Allen gets a drink, they bring in number 96 and he gets after your ass. They’re deep. They’re versatile. and they have a lot of different alignments and blitzes to help him get one-on- ones. We’ve talked about Ashton Genty, the feature back. The one thing about Ashton Jenny is he wears number two. He stands straight up like this, like Jir Gibbs. They have this straight up style. Probably because he’s in the pistol and he can’t see diddly squat. All you can see is Gino Smith’s butt, but he stands like this. He’s straight up. But he is a hell of a back. He’s made 46 guys miss. The guy really does a hell of a job. He doesn’t carry the ball as much as I’d like to see him get it because they’ve been behind in some games. But again, 20 catches, 133 yards. He’s got a few touchdown receptions. He can play on every down. He’s proven to be a blitz pickup guy. I like Raheem Oster, the backup running back, number 31. Kickoff returner, speed. I’d like to see him get in the mix a little bit as well, but they have two good running backs. The Broncos have a great linebacking core. They’re led by Alex Singleton, number 49. They’re going to get into this double A look. He’ll walk right up into the line of scrimmage and he’ll be listening to the center’s calls. He’ll be listening to the quarterback. I’m not surprised if he starts taking notes during a game. He’s listening to your calls. Then he goes over to the sideline. He gets with his coaches and he says, “Hey, they said Lou. Where’d the center go? Left? Hey, the quarterback said bang R. Did they slide out to the right?” And then they make all their adjustments. This guy’s like a walking football IQ. He walks up in there. He’s probably listening to you guys right now, Jake Singleton. Then he makes all the freaking tackles. 80 tackles, sixth in the league. He’s a badass. He’s a blitzer. He’s a coverage guy. He’s really good. And the return of Green Law fires me up. I got a picture with Green Law at the uh Bronco practice because I love this guy’s playing style. He’s a badass, man. He was suspended after the Giants game because he yelled at the referee. I was yelling at the referee right here in my house, but I didn’t get suspended. But anyways, Green Law, he has a contagious alpha presence to the middle of this defense. And his sidekick, this Justin Sternad kid, we’ve already talked about what a player he has been in Green Law’s absence. So, they’re loaded at linebacker, experienced veterans, tacklers every down, sideline to sideline players. The matchups on the outside will be interesting. Jacobe Meyers got traded to Jacksonville. So, I’m expecting Tyler Lockett, perhaps Dante Thornton, rookie draft choice out of Tennessee. Maybe that’s why they made the trade. Thornton, he was inactive last week against Jacksonville for a reason. It just hasn’t been good enough yet. Come on, Dante. Five catches for 94 yards. You got to do more than just run vertical nine routes. But the corner over here that replaces Pat Certan. Remember, Denver can’t change their entire structure of their defense because Certan is out. It’s this kid number 31, Chris Abrams Drain. Now, this guy’s a fifthround pick, secondyear player out of Missouri. get to know him. Chris Abrams drain. He’s not a big guy. He’s 5’11, 178. Probably why he slipped in the draft. But when you watch him, and I’m listening and I’m watching him carefully. What a great technician he is. And I know he’s got a outstanding football IQ. He’s one of those guys. I’m telling you, he can read route combination. As soon as number two goes flat, he knows what number one is doing. He can read the bunch stack departures and anticipate the route. That guy loves football. He needs football. He is football. I love this guy. Drain. But I would be surprised if the Raiders don’t go after him because on the other side, it’s Riley Moss. You can say whatever you want about Riley Moss. He’s had eight pass interference penalties. He’s given up a couple long passes. Well, He’s been targeted 62 times. Not because he’s not a good player. Because who was the other corner? Jake Certan. Certan. And you want to throw at Certan? No, you don’t. So, you want to try to have a chance. So, Moss sees a lot of action, but he is solid. When you look at Riley Moss’s QBR, it’s pretty impressive given all the times he’s been attacked. What you love about Moss is he’s a snap and clear guy. If it’s a bad snap, next snap. If it’s a great snap, next snap. He’s an every down competitor, man. And he’s going to be coming for you all the time. I love him for that. And the Raiders got to get Trey Tucker, I think, to be a big part of this game plan. With Jacobe Meyers leaving town, I would call Trey Tucker into my office and say, “Hey, let’s freaking go, Trey. This guy can roll. He’s the Ohio Sprint champion. Played at Cincinnati. He is the Raiders deep ball threat. Four deep catches for 148 yards and two touchdowns. They can run them jet sweeps. He can stretch you that way and he can throw it right over your head because he’s got the gas to go get it. I love Tucker. I think he’s dangerous. And I don’t know what they’re doing with Jack B. Their second round pick out of TCU. Is he an Hback, a slot? I don’t know what he is. Seven catches, 70 yards. Hasn’t done much. But Tucker, 32 grabs, 430 yards, and four scores. Tucker and Brock Bowowers are the two top targets in this Raider offense. Brock Bowowers really isn’t a tight end. He’s going to be the slot receiver. He’s going to run choice routes, middle reads. He’s going to run in motion. They’re going to put him in the slot. And his production is insane. Over 1,500 yards receiving in 22 games. That’s unbelievable. But when he gets into the slot, keep an eye on McMillan, number 29. He is a smaller, quick, nasty football player. He’s got 27 tackles, two sacks coming off the corner. And when you look at the yardage accumulated in the slot against Denver, not very much. This guy’s a hell of a reason why. The other guy is Zade Baron. This guy’s on the rise. We talked about the pick last week, but I think Baron and McMillan against Bowers is what to look for when the Raiders are on offense. Where’s Bowowers? Well, you’re going to see these two cats with them. Very, very fun to watch. The other two safeties for Denver are well worth discussion. Brandon Jones, number 22. He’s a little beat up right now, but he plays in the post for the most part. and Huanga. Telan Noah Hufanga, the former 49er. I got to spend some time with him. You know, you won’t meet a better guy than that guy. He’s a hell of a guy. Smile. Come up. Hey, coach. How you doing? But when he puts the helmet on, he is very mean. He is a hell of a player. He’s a enforcer. 61 tackles, eight PBU. He almost had two picks last week against Houston. He listens to this music called Fiji. I’m going to listen to Fiji during the game. I love this guy. I think the alpha presence that the 49ers had with Hufanga and Green Law being injected into this defense is a real cool sidebar. When you watch Denver’s defense and someone says you got 40 sacks, 12 more than everybody else, you got to really out of curiosity ask yourself what the hell’s going on. Well, in these 40 sacks, I just kind of came up with some things for you to look for. They have incredible get off on the outside. I mean, these ends, they can get off the ball with great speed. And in the noise, some of these tackles, like you’ll see a Tennessee Titan tackle late off the ball. They don’t even touch the guy. So, keep an eye on the get off the ball snap. These guys are off to the races, especially in the noise. They’ve got great speed rushers. It starts right there. Cooper and Bonito are outstanding speed edge rushers. They can get after you with an arsenal of different moves. So they have edge rushers with good change ups. They have power rushers inside. They got JFN, Jonathan Franklin Meyers, and Zack Allen. They can really pulverize you with power rushes inside. And they got versatile rushers, guys that can play on the right side, the left side. They can go inside or outside. That’s important. They have a lot of depth. I mean, they’re going to bring in Roach 97, Tilman 92, 52 is Ellis, and we got this guy 96, Jake. What’s his name? Aerique. I mean, they bring these guys in and there’s no let down whatsoever. They play with great effort. And that’s a credit to their coaches. That’s a credit to them. And that’s a credit, I think, to Shawn Payeyton because there’s a certain level of intensity they bring to the table. They’re disciplined. They’re rushing Jaylen Herz of the Philadelphia Eagles a lot differently than they’re going to rush Gino Smith. They control the pocket. They kept Jaylen Herz in there. They didn’t let him take off and start scrambling like some of these units do. The other thing they do in the secondary is they play a lot of muddy coverages. Manto man, Palms coverage, sky coverages, disguised coverages. So the quarterback, if he does get protection, what’s the coverage? He’s not quite sure. And when they do play man coverage, they play tight coverage. They challenge the out of you. These receivers, man, guys aren’t running wide open. They do a hell of a job. They have stunts. The tackle will go inside and the other tackle will loop outside. Two guys will slant, the nose will loop around. They have all kind of stunts. And then they have the sugar looks where the linebackers will line up near the line of scrimmage and they’ll fall out of there. But it’s the talent, the depth, the effort, the versatility, and the volume of what they have. The thing I want you to know, Denver is the double A capital of the world. Four down linemen, two tackles and two ends. They put two linebackers in the A gaps. And you don’t know if they’re blitzing or bluffing. You don’t know if one’s coming or both are coming. And then they put Brandon Jones on the weak side. They put the Nickelback McMillan on the strong side. You don’t know if they’re bringing four to a side. You don’t know if they’re bluffing all of them. Double A capital of the world. Then they got the load fronts. They put three down linemen on one side of the center. They isolate Bonito and they put two linebackers in the A and the B gap. We call that a load front. And then they put the two linebackers in there. We call that low double trouble because they could blitz the free safety, they could blitz McMillan, they could bluff them, they could do anything. And then down here, and then over here, they have the jam fronts where they cover the center, they cover both guards. You have Bonito and Cooper on the edge, and they could bring all five, they could drop the outside guys, bring the inside guys. It’s a lot of stuff to prepare for. And over here, they’ll cover the center with a linebacker, and they’ll create what we call backer jam. So again, the tackles, the guards, and the center all have people directly in front of them. And then last week against Houston, I call it the A and B sugar shack. They got a standard nickel alignment. They put Green Law on the line of scrimmage in the B gap. They put Singleton on the line of scrimmage in the A gap. Who blocks these guys? Which way’s the center going? Who’s the back looking at? If everybody’s eyes are in here, you create one-on- ones on the outside. It’s a lot of stuff is what I’m trying to say. But when you talk about 40 sacks, let’s get into the reason why. Great players, great scheme, a lot of effort, man. I can’t wait to see it. This is a hard game to pick, man. What a great rivalry this is. I love the Raiders and I’ll always love the Raiders. My son’s with the Raider. But anyways, I’m going to take the Denver Broncos. I think this team has a chance to get to the Super Bowl and win it. Third year of Shawn Payeyton’s regime. Broncos 27, Raiders 17.

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