As the time nears for our Broncos to take the field against my most hated team...I will be anxiously awaiting and watching for a few things to happen Monday night and I'll reveal them after the jump...

First and foremost, I want to see the type of crowd we all saw last year against the NY Jets and against the Texans...watching from TV my opinion is that those were the two games where we actually had a distinctive home field advantage and I look forward to seeing that Monday and I see this will be no problem because...

1. It's the Raiders

2. It's opening night

3. It's Monday night

4. Orange jerseys

5. Orange-out in the crowd

6. Orange towel hand out

7. I don't have a 7th reason so I will just insert John Elway here.

Second, I expect VonDoom to cause pressure in the passing game so I'm not going to be looking too hard at that...I will be watching how well VonDoom, Bunkley and Ayers are able to handle the challenge of containing the edges and winning the battle at the line of scrimmage in the running game, thus allowing our LB core to run downhill and minimize the gains by Oakland RBs.

Third, I am going to be watching how well Cassius Vaughn holds up on his side of the field on early passing downs where we may not generate immense pressure onto Campbell. I think Oakland will be looking to exploit that side of the field in the passing game and I believe it is crucial that Vaughn gives up no huge plays. I think he will be up to the task and should have a decent amount of opportunities to jump routes because Campbell will try to avoid Bailey in the slot.

Fourth, I will be watching for Eric Decker to emerge as a prime red zone target of Orton's. We caught a glimpse of this in preseason and i expect it to continue in Week 1.

Fifth, and most importantly is TURNOVERS...as usual, turnovers are the great equalizer and allows inferior teams to compete 4 quarters with a better team. I believe the Broncos have had a great offseason and have positioned themselves to be the better team on the field, if they can execute their gameplan while breaking even or better yet, winning the turnover battle, our Denver Broncos should be able to take care of business on home field.

knoepke84's Light's Out Lock of the Week- Broncos 24, Raiders 13

Notable stats

Orton- 17-25, 245 yds, 1TD

Moreno- 19 car, 90 yds, 4 rec, 44 yds, 1TD

J. Thomas- 4 rec, 62 yds

Decker- 5 rec, 71 yds, 1TD

Vaughn- 7 tackles, 1INT

Miller- 8 tackles, 1.5 sacks

Dumervil- 5 tackles, 1 sack

Mays- 13 tackles, 1 Forced Fumble