The question on everyone’s mind: Can the Denver Broncos beat the Las Vegas Raiders?
For Drew Lock and Denver leave Sin City with victorious, they’ll do so as the underdog. Fascinating stat for those who bet on the Broncos, even for those who don’t, they’re 5-3 against the spread the season.
By now we know about Denver (3-5) heading into this game. But what about the Raiders (5-3)?
On Friday’s Broncos Country Tonight on KOA, Ryan Edwards and Benjamin Allbright went “behind enemy lines” to get the state of Las Vegas at this point in the NFL season. They got insight on what’s led Derek Carr to this point in his career and what’s working with Jon Gruden’s squad with Vincent Bonsignore from the Las Vegas Review Journal and Raider Nation Radio.
Given some of the angst with Lock after 11 games, Ryan brought up an interesting point. It hasn’t exactly been a smooth path for Carr to get to this point, but if Lock is able to become what Lock is, Broncos Country would take it.
“He has had up and downs,” Bonsignore told the guys. “I think the downs more often than not were the result of the dysfunction around him. If you go back in the history of Derek Carr, there’s been dysfunction from the beginning to about three years ago. Different head coaches, different offensive coordinators. There was flux on the offensive line. Sometimes there wasn’t a defense. Sometimes there was no running game. There was never a moment in time, except for a fleeting moment in 2016, where he had a functioning offense around him across the board. And I think it hurt him. As a result, they didn’t get the wins. His play wasn’t all that bad in spite of it all.
“But now Year Three in Jon Gruden’s system, a completely revamped team around him, and all of sudden he’s playing really well.”
Bonsignore goes on to talk about his and Carr’s Los Angeles Lakers fandom and mentioned Kobe Bryant. Bonsignore didn’t compare Carr to Bryant but how important a surrounding cast is even for one of the best to ever play the game.
What stands out from Bonsignore’s answer to Ryan is patience and stability.
Bonus listen
Our Jeff Essary joined the guys to discuss Vic Fangio sending pressure, facing Raiders tight end Darren Waller, and what’s left in Lock’s development.