Keagan Smith takes you through his preview, prediction, and pick for Sunday’s game between the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders in NFL Week 14.

Week 14 of the NFL regular season has arrived, bringing a loaded slate of games on Sunday. In the afternoon window, the Denver Broncos ride an impressive nine-game winning streak into Allegiant Stadium for a date against a division rival. They’ll face the Las Vegas Raiders, who are likely fighting for draft position near the bottom of the standings. Will Denver keep the streak alive, or will Vegas stun the contenders in this clash?

Read on for a Broncos vs. Raiders prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for this Week 14 AFC West showdown.

Broncos vs. Raiders prediction, preview

Denver Broncos

While entering the season with playoff expectation wasn’t unrealistic, this Broncos squad continues to string together wins and is beginning to look like a potential team of destiny for a deep postseason run. At 10-2 with nine consecutive victories, they’re showing plenty of confidence with momentum on their side. Denver has a very solid offense that averages 23.7 points (13th) and 340.8 yards per game (12th). While not world-beaters on that end, Bo Nix gets the job done with both his arm and his legs, and RJ Harvey is emerging as a potential standout with starting running back duties. The Broncos do favor the pass with weapons like Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin on the outside, and behind an offensive line keeping Nix upright at a better rate than any other team, it’s not surprising to see that game plan continue. The defense is what truly makes Denver elite though, allowing just 18.2 points (fourth) and 286.4 yards per game (fifth). The unit is deadly in all phases of the game with top-10 rankings against both the run and the pass, and the Broncos also sit second in the league in sack percentage (10.85%). While they don’t force many turnovers with just 0.8 takeaways per game, this team does everything else right and asserts its will no matter what playmakers line up across the line of scrimmage.

Las Vegas Raiders

There are far fewer encouraging signs to report about the Raiders, who have just two wins on the campaign and have now lost six straight contests. Starting with the offense, the lone bright spots are Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty, who deserve far better than the unit’s performance overall with Geno Smith under center and one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines. Las Vegas falls bottom-three in points (14.9) and yards per game (259.5) as well as yards per play (4.5), symptoms of a stagnant offense with its fair share of weak links. The Raiders are last in rushing yards per game (75.4) despite a generational talent at halfback and 26th in passing yards per game (184.1), and Smith still remains tied for the league lead with 14 interceptions. Defensively, things look just slightly better. That unit allows 25.7 points per game (26th) and 323.3 yards per game (15th), but there’s not much else going right beyond a decent run-stopping group that’s faded in recent weeks and 1.2 takeaways per game, which sits middle of the pack. Bright spots are simply few and far between, so until something changes on the offensive line and under center, wins are going to be hard to come by.

Broncos vs. Raiders pick, best bet

On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Broncos are -7.5 road favorites with -440 odds to win on the Moneyline. The Raiders are listed at +340 to win outright with a game total of 40.5 points. As far as betting splits go, 96% of straight bets favor Denver while 78% are on the Broncos to cover. On the total, 54% of the wagers favor the over.

The first meeting between these teams was a weird one which resulted in a 10-7 win for Bo Nix and Co. at home. Expecting a repeat of that one isn’t a great bet since it felt like more of a fluke even at the time, a notion which has only grown stronger after seeing the Broncos continue winning since then. While Las Vegas may experience a similar struggle on offense and fail to score many points once more against this elite defense (especially with multiple offensive linemen banged up against one of the league’s best pass rushes), the Broncos’ offense will likely have a much easier time finding its stride in this contest. Raiders safety Jeremy Chinn and EDGE Maxx Crosby are both questionable, meaning two of that team’s top pieces could both wind up sidelined. Even if both battle through injuries, that still helps to weaken a pair of key pieces who are probably Las Vegas’ best defensive players. While the first time these squads played was a snoozefest, we’ve seen Nix catch fire at times and he sees the benefit of facing a unit ranked 25th in defensive EPA/pass without much talent in the secondary.

The Broncos are just 5-6-1 against the spread this season and 2-2-1 as the away team, so I hesitate a tad to take them to cover. However, I love targeting their defense to have a field day against this weak Raiders team, so under 15.5 on the Las Vegas team total earns top billing this week as Denver’s pass rush likely gives a terrible offensive line fits and causes Smith to see ghosts in the secondary.

Best bet: LV Raiders under 15.5 points (-120)