Raiders vs Broncos preview: Will Denver get run over by Las Vegas again?

The only question now is: How bad will it get?

Nathaniel Hackett and the Denver Broncos will look to avoid losing to a team that just lost to a team coached by a guy who had zero experience.

That’s a very real possibility on Sunday when the Broncos (3-6) host the Las Vegas Raiders (2-7). That’s especially true when you look at the first meeting between these two rivals in Week 4, a Raiders 32-23 win over Denver.

DraftKings Sportsbook has the Broncos as the -2.5-point favorite. The line makes sense given that Las Vegas is on a three-game losing streak and just lost to the Jeff Saturday-coached Indianapolis Colts. However, those betting on Denver can’t have a lot of confidence.

As for the total, that number sits at 41.5. This season, the under is 8-1 in Broncos games. The lone time the over hit was Week 4 when these two teams played. However, it’s unlikely to do so again on Sunday.

Offensive Rankings

Loss Vegas: Seventeenth in overall offense (335.1 yards per game), 24th in rushing (106.6), 12th in passing (228.6), tied for 14th in scoring offense (22.6 points per game).

Denver: Twenty-second in overall offense (327.1 yards per game), 25th in rushing (103.6), 15th in passing (223.6), 32nd in scoring offense (14.6 points per game).

Defensive Rankings

Loss Vegas: Twenty-eighth in overall defense (376.1 yards per game), 21st in rushing defense (126.1), 26th in passing defense (250.0), 28th in scoring defense (25.1 points per game).

Denver: Second in overall defense (290.4 yards per game), 13th in rushing defense (116.0), first in passing defense (174.4), first in scoring defense (16.6 points per game).

Here are the MHR staff’s keys to Sunday’s game.

Secretly change play callers

Since Hackett refuses to acknowledge the elephant in the room, that his play calling sucks, the Broncos need to secretly bring in a guy who can actually call plays. And given that accountability is apparently so important to Hackett, and every week he says it starts with him, it’s so weird he doesn’t hold himself accountable (sarcasm font). I don’t even care who Denver brings in, just so long as Hackett is not the guy on the other end of Russell Wilson’s helmet speaker on Sunday. — Ian St. Clair

Remove Hackett permanently

The keys to the game need to be removed from Hackett permanently, otherwise nothing else matters. The only other thing to do is hope the offensive line can step up to allow Wilson to actually play like the guy he was in Seattle rather than a kid pretending to be Aaron Rodgers on Halloween. — Nick Burch

Meteorite to hit near Dove Valley

Then the radiation mutates the offensive staff into people who are able to call a basic offensive game plan. Side effects of this giant meteorite’s radioactive emissions would also heal and prevent simple muscle strains. Salvation can only come from the heavens at this point. — Mike DeCicco

Stop the run?

If this team had any semblance of a competent NFL offense, I’d say the key to the game is to stop the run. The Raiders killed the Broncos earlier this year for 212 yards at a whopping 5.6 yards per carry. They have to stop the run to beat the Raiders. But sadly, the defense will likely do a much better job and this joke of a team will still lose the game against a head coach who could be argued is a worse head coach than Hackett (not that I personally would make that argument). — sadaraine

Lose

I am not rooting for the Broncos to lose to the Raiders. Never. However, a second loss to the Raiders, after Las Vegas couldn’t beat Saturday and the Colts should mark the end of the Hackett experiment. — Adam Malnati

What are your keys to Sunday’s game?