The Denver Broncos (3-0) easily beat the Oakland Raiders (1-2) today on the road.  The Broncos defense did a great job of shutting down the Raiders’ offense, but it wasn’t that difficult of a challenge.  I thought the Raiders might have themselves a better game offensively, but they were terrible again only getting 137 total yards of offense.

The Broncos knew that the Raiders offense was weak, but their defense on the other hand has been playing very well.  That didn’t deter the Broncos though, as they played mistake-free football and dominated this game throughout.  Quarterback Kyle Orton did not put up any crazy numbers, but he had no interceptions on 13/23 passes (57%) and one touchdown.  They really attacked the Raiders on the ground though, as Correll Buckhalter had 108 yards on 14 carries (7.7 avg) and Knowshown Moreno went for 90 yards on 21 carries (4.3 avg).

The Broncos defense was able to cause a lot of havoc on the struggling Raiders’ offense.  Raiders’ quarterback JaMarcus Russell only managed 61 yards through the air and threw two interceptions, both in the first quarter.  The boos came early and often for Russell who has been struggling all season so far.  The Broncos also held the talented Darren McFadden to only 45 yards on the ground.  The Raiders were never really in this one, and the Broncos proved they were the much better football team today.

 The Denver Broncos (2-0) are heading to the Oakland Coliseum this week to take on the Oakland Raiders (1-1).  The Broncos defense has been great so far this season but the offense has been a different story.  The Raiders are in similar circumstances as the Broncos, as their offense is even worse than the Broncos but they also have a revamped, strong defense.

Broncos’ quarterback Kyle Orton will look to get the offense going, but he has not showed much as the passing game has been pretty weak.  The Broncos should be 1-1, but a tipped pass into the hands of Brandon Stokley got the Broncos a last second win in week one.  The Raiders defense has looked very strong and almost upset the highly powered San Diego Chargers.

Raiders’ quarterback JaMarcus Russel has struggled a lot early in the season, but he also shown flashes of great play.  He needs to do a better job with his decision making and not hold on to the ball for so long.  He has gotten decent protection, and the sacks that have occurred are usually Russel’s fault.  One of his protector’s, right guard Robert Gallery, is out at least four weeks after he broke his leg last week.

The Raiders do have a lot of talent on offense, but it hasn’t really clicked yet.  If Russel can get the offense going, the Raiders will win this game for sure.  The Broncos have one of the best defenses in the league though, so that probably wont happen, but the Raiders defense is going to make some plays.  I think both defenses are going to force some turnovers and score some points for their teams and I see the Raiders pulling out a late victory for the upset.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Broncos 20, Raiders 24

The Denver Broncos are only allowing 253.5 yards of offense this season (70.0 rushing, 183.5 passing) and 6.5 points per game.  A big reason for the improvement of the defense was the addition on inside linebacker Andra Davis in the off-season.  He has 19 tackles to lead the Broncos so far this season and he has a sack and three tackles for a loss.  OLB/DE Elvis Dumervil has been like the Tasmanian Devil so far this season.  He has 9 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 forced fumble and he has defensed 2 passes this year so far.  If both of these guys keep playing at this level the Broncos could have a solid defense all season long.

The Broncos passed to get the lead in this game and then they grinded it out on the ground to finish off the Browns.  Kyle Orton was so-so in this game completing 19 of 37 passes for 263 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 interceptions.  Correll Buckhalter led the way for the Broncos in the running game with 76 yards on 9 carries (8.4 ypc) with a 45-yard TD run.  He also caught 1 pass for 30 yards yesterday.  Rookie Knowshon Moreno had his first good NFL game carrying the ball 17 times for 75 yards (4.5 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 22 yards (11.0 avg).  Brandon Stokley led the way in the passing game for the Broncos with 5 catches for 70 yards (14.0 avg) as Orton got the ball to a lot of different receivers.  The Broncos finished up with 449 total yards on offense (186 rushing, 263 passing) in this game.

The defense was on fire for the Broncos in this game.  LB Andra Davis stuck it to his old team leading the Broncos with 10 tackles (2 for a loss).  DE Elvis Dumervil had by far the best game of his career as he finished with 7 tackles and 4 sacks!  Veteran safety Brian Dawkins pitched in with 6 tackles and a fumble recovery in this game.  The Browns finished up with 200 total yards on offense (54 rushing, 146 passing) in this game.  The Broncos are 2-0 sitting atop the AFC West by themselves.

This should be a interesting football game as the Broncos beat the Browns in Cleveland last season 34-30.  Don’t expect another shootout like that one as a long has changed with these two teams.  Look for the Browns to run the ball a lot more this week.  Jamal Lewis looked great last week but the Browns didn’t use him much in the 2nd half of the game last week when they were trying to catch up.  The Broncos only allowed 86 yards rushing last week on 27 carries (3.2 ypc) but I think Jamal Lewis is a lot better than Cedric Benson.  The Broncos will likely be blitzing when they get off the team bus against the Browns trying to force Brady Quinn into make some mistakes with the football.  The Browns must find a way to get the ball to Braylon Edwards more this week or they will have problems moving the ball thru the air.

It’s apparent that the Browns have not fixed their run defense as the Vikings rolled up 225 yards rushing (6.1 ypc) last week.  With that in mind look for the Broncos to run the ball more often than they did last week.  Look for Correll Buckhalter and rookie Knowshon Moreno to split the carries this week.  The Browns did get 4 sacks last week and they will likely be bringing a lot of heat against Kyle Orton when the Broncos pass and he must protect the football. 

PREDICTION:  BRONCOS 21, BROWNS 17

With Brandon Marshall acting his shoe size not his age the Broncos need to get creative on offense.  That could mean using the TE a lot on the short stuff which is what Kyle Orton did a lot in Chicago last season.  Daniel Graham caught 3 passes for 40 yards last Sunday and Tony Scheffler caught 1 ball for 29 yards.  Both of these guys have nice upsides so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the Broncos throw their way quite often this season.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good and this game proved that.  Kyle Orton completed 17 of 28 passes for 243 yards with a TD pass.  Orton did not look good in this game at all as even his last pass should have been intercepted.  After all, Orton was trying to force the ball to Brandon Marshall who had three Bengals around him when magic happened.  Bengals’ CB Leon Hall tipped the ball into the air and Brandon Stokley was in the right place at the right time as he caught the ball and ran in for a TD with 11 seconds left in the game.  The 87-yarder was the only catch of the game for Brandon Stokley.  The Broncos didn’t get much help in the running game as Correll Buckhalter led the team with 46 yards on 8 carries (5.8 ypc).  The Broncos finished up with 302 total yards on offfense (75 rushing, 227 passing) in this game. 

The defense really deserves a lot of credit for this win as they held the Bengals scoreless until Cedric Benson scored with only 38 seconds in the game.  Safety Brian Dawkins (11 tackles), linebacker D.J. Williams (10 tackles) and LB Andra Davis (9 tackles, sack) led the way for the Broncos on D.  The Bengals finished up with 307 total yards in this game (86 rushing, 221 passing).

This should be a interesting battle tomorrow afternoon.  The last time Kyle Orton played in a game he left with a dislocated finger on his throwing hand which is not a good thing for a QB.  The Broncos could decide to keep the ball on the ground tomorrow but I’m not so sure that’s the way to go.  With rookie Knowshon Moreno hurting the Broncos would have to lean on Correll Buckhalter.  No disrespect meant here but Buckhalter is a average running back at best and if the Bengals focus on him he will be stopped.  The Broncos really need Orton to be healthy enough so that the offense can have some balance to it.  Eddie Royal and Brandon Stokley would be the top 2 WRs right now but maybe Brandon Marshall is finally behaving himself.  If he is he could have a big game tomorrow.

Carson Palmer didn’t play much in the pre-season but he has declared himself healthy for tomorrow and that’s bad news for the Broncos.  The Broncos do have a nice set of CBs in Champ Bailey, Andre’ Goodman and rookie Alphonso Smith but they will have their hands full with Chad Ocho Cinco, Laveranues Coles and Chris Henry.  The Bengals won’t forget to run the ball with Cedric Benson against the very soft run defense that the Broncos still have.

PREDICTION:  CINCINNATI BENGALS 27, DENVER BRONCOS 17

News has surfaced that the Denver Broncos and their unhappy star wide-receiver Brandon Marshall have begun to negotiate a new contract.  Marshall, who has been wanting a better contract the whole off-season, was dismissed from the team for acting like a fool during their training camp.  He no longer wanted to be a Bronco and wanted them to deal him to another team.  Now there is talk that they are resolving their relationship and are going to give Marshall the contract he was looking for to begin with.

Both Marshall and the Broncos have handled this situation terribly and I don’t know why they just didn’t give Marshall the contract he was looking for long ago, especially now that it looks like that is exactly what the Broncos are doing now.  Hopefully, for the Broncos sake, they can sign Marshall as he is one of the top receivers in the game but they better make sure he really wants to be there and that he wont be a distraction and a detriment to the team.

The Broncos won this game despite not playing many starters at all.  Rookie Tom Brandstater started this game and he completed 16 of 30 passes for 187 yards with 1 interception.  Ingle Martin finished up this game by completing 3 of 5 passes for 19 yards.  Darius Walker was very busy in this game as he carried the ball 21 times for 68 yards (3.2 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 17 yards.  Brandon Lloyd led the way through the air with 58 yards on 3 catches (19.3 avg).  Kenny McKinley was also very busy with 7 catches for 48 yards (6.9 avg).  The Broncos finished up with 314 total yards on offense (115 rushing, 199 passing).

CB D.J. Johnson led the way for the Broncos’ D in this game with six tackles.  Safety David Bruton was also busy in this game with 4 tackles, a fumble recovery and a interception.  The Cardinals finished up with only 244 total yards in this game (68 rushing, 176 passing).  The Broncos finish the pre-season with a 1-3 record.