LAS VEGAS — Flawed, sure. But a fraud?

A fraud would’ve attempted more than one screen pass.

A fraud would’ve gotten cute.

A fraud would’ve had RJ Harvey, a former high school quarterback, drop back and try to beat you with his arm instead of his legs.

“There’s things we see … he’s got really good contact balance.” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Harvey, who rushed for 75 of Denver’s 152 yards up the collective backsides of the Silver and Blecch at Allegiant Stadium. “He’s growing up quick.”

So are they. Good teams can flip a switch. Great teams know how to change circuit boards on the fly.

After the Broncos (11-2) whupped the Raiduhs 24-17 on Sunday, a game that wasn’t nearly as close as its final score, tight end Adam Trautman had a confession.

Broncos analysis: Sean Payton, Bo Nix deliver ugly-by-design, 24-17 win vs. Raiders

“Last time (we played), they just … I mean, it’s tough, but they just came out with something we’d never seen before,” the Denver receiver said of a 10-7 Broncos win against Las Vegas back on Nov. 6, a yawner that left the locals raging.

“Literally, I’ve never seen it on (an) NFL field, to be honest.”

This time, though?

“The scheme was great,” offered Trautman, who caught two balls from Bo Nix and helped to pound open holes all afternoon. “We had everything that they could possibly do to us covered.”

They plod, yes. But a fraud?

A fraud doesn’t rack up 27 first downs.

A fraud doesn’t convert seven of 12 third-down tries.

A fraud doesn’t posses the ball for 39 minutes and change on the road.

“It did not feel like some of the other (wins) recently,” Payton quipped. “My headset was off earlier.”

Give Sunshine Sean his flowers for this one. It’s hard for the smartest guy when he’s got to downshift to checkers mode with a call sheet made for chess.

But against these Raiders, the smartest thing to do was to pound the rock; double-team Broncos-killer Maxx Crosby; and bootleg Bo Nix out of trouble.

Check. Check. Check. In a season of curious game plans, this one was air-tight almost to the end. Almost.

“Our job, always, is to put guys in the best positions (to succeed),” Payton continued. “We didn’t the last time around (at Washington), we had a lot of penalties, we made a lot of mistakes and so … we kind of went a different route this time around.”

Awed, perhaps. But a fraud?

A fraud doesn’t sack any home team four times in their building.

A fraud doesn’t limit their hosts to 40 rush yards.

A fraud doesn’t get a Vegas offense off the field six times on nine third-down attempts.

“We know that we’re not just going to continue to win games (just) because we’ve won them in the past,” noted Nix, who had one of his most efficient days as a Bronco, completing 31 of 38 pass attempts.  “We’ve got to continue to get better. And it’s just a streak like (we’re on), it’s hard to do. And I say it all the time — even though we’re now better than we were last year, we don’t want to stop at 11 (wins).”

If Payton keeps calling games like this one, they won’t.

Harvey finished the day with twice as many rushing yards (75) as Ashton Jeanty (30), the rookie tailback most of Broncos Country would’ve loved to see in orange and blue, his collegiate colors at Boise State.

In fact, Harvey’s yardage against Vegas almost tripled what Najee Harris (28) got against these guys. The Colts’ Jonathan Taylor went for 66 rushing yards on Crosby & Company in October. Travis Etienne Jr. piled up 84 in this building not too long after that.

Pete Carroll’s Raiders (2-11) are bad at almost everything, yet Vegas’ rush defense, going into Sunday, had looked surprisingly competent. The Silver and Black ranked 15th out of 32 NFL teams before Week 14 in terms of opponent rush yards allowed (110.8 per game) and were third in yards given up per carry (3.8).

Payton and the Broncos finished with 152 via the ground on 31 totes — good for 4.9 yards per attempt.

That’ll play on the road.

That’ll absolutely play in January.

Speaking of January, this one was especially good for the postseason resume. Because the Broncos went 2-0 versus the Raiduhs and the Patriots went 0-1, Denver currently owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with New England for the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed based on common opponents.

Given how loopy this postseason could get, you’ll take anything that helps secure more games in your backyard. Nobody — not even the Chiefs, no matter what their fans say on the socials — is looking forward to visiting Empower a month from now.

And better tests are coming. Real tests. The Broncos’ closing quarter of the 2025 season is one of their toughest, on paper, of the entire fight card. Green Bay (9-3-1) went into Week 14 with the NFL’s No. 6 rush defense (98.3 yards per game); Jacksonville was ranked No. 1 (82.9); Kansas City’s ranked ninth (100.9); the Chargers ranked 12th (106.9).

At least Fraud Bowl I (Packers-Broncos on Dec. 14) and Fraud Bowl II (Jaguars-Broncos on Dec. 21) will be played a Mile High.

“I don’t care what (the Raiders’) record is, that defense is very talented, and their defensive coordinator (Patrick Graham) is very, very good,” Trautman said. “His scheme is very, very good. So we had a lot of respect going into that, and we talked about it in our offensive meetings that we don’t care what their record is, their defense (is legit). And they have probably the most disruptive player in the entire NFL (in) Maxx. But, yeah, we were ready for it, ready for all the different things they threw at us.”

A fraud isn’t.

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