ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos have had a tough time against the Las Vegas Raiders recently.
“Whatever has happened in the past is in the past,” wide receiver Courtland Sutton said this week.
The Broncos have lost their past eight meetings against the Raiders, dating back to 2020. Sutton tore his ACL at the start of that season, missing both of the two games against the Raiders, but he’s played in the past six.
“The thing we can focus on is this team we have right now and the team we’re about to go play this year,’ Sutton said. “I think we have a really good team.”
Tackle Garett Bolles, like Sutton, has been in Denver for the entire losing streak.
“I don’t really pay attention to how many times we’ve lost or how many times they’ve beaten us,” Bolles said.
The Broncos had two choices this week: either lean into trying to end the losing streak this week, or ignore the streak. The Broncos, clearly, chose the latter.
But nobody is pretending Sunday’s game won’t be huge.
“Divisional games are divisional games,” Sutton said. “I think that’s understood. I don’t think that’s an unspoken thing. It’s something that someone knows when you get the chance to play against a divisional team. It definitely hits a little different.”
The easiest way to earn a playoff spot is to win your division. Intra-division games give teams a chance to take a win and hand a loss to an important opponent. Plus, the first tiebreaker after head-to-head record is win percentage within division. That’s true in the wild card race as well, if the Broncos wind up tied with a divisional opponent.
“Last year, we finished 3-3 in the division,” head coach Sean Payton said. “I can’t recall a team that has accomplished anything worthwhile finishing .500 in your division.”
But the Raiders are more than a divisional opponent.
“There’s a long story history and certainly, I appreciate that, especially with our fans,” Payton said.
The Broncos–Raiders rivalry isn’t as heated as it once was.
Back in the day, Raiders defensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy had his nose cut by a snowball so he climbed into the stands and punched the Broncos fan who threw it.
The rivalry has provided plenty of important moments, like when the Broncos defeated the Raiders in the 1977 AFC Championship Game, earning their first trip to the Super Bowl.
A lack of big games may be the cause of the rivalry’s descension. The Raiders have the second-fewest wins in the NFL since 2003. They haven’t had much to play for. The Broncos have either been too good to worry about their struggling foe or, more recently, they’ve been in a similar boat.
If the Broncos had beaten the Patriots in Week 16 last season, the regular-season finale against the Raiders would have been for a playoff berth. Instead, it was another meaningless game.
The lack of stakes has pushed the history between the Broncos and Raiders out of the limelight. The teams haven’t played a primetime game since 2019. That’s the longest streak without a primetime matchup since they went from 1980 to 1987 without playing on primetime.
The rivalry has had its moments recently—like when Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib snatched a chain off of Michael Crabtree‘s neck, starting a brawl—but the intensity has died down.
Still, Broncos players expect a different environment this week than on a typical Sunday.
“It’s definitely different playing against them guys,” cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian told DNVR.
McMillian got his first taste of the rivalry in the final week of last season. Before that, he hadn’t seen the field on a Raiders game day.
“Them guys play hard,” McMillian said. No matter who they’ve got on their team, they’re gonna play hard.”
McMillian likes those types of game.
“I feel like it raises everybody’s level of play,” McMillian said. “The competition level goes up. You know they’re gonna give you their best shot so we can’t lay down. We’ve gotta go out there and give them our best shot and compete.”
While’s it’s only Week 5, Sunday’s game will have plenty on the line. Both teams are 2-2, which means the winner of Sunday’s game will probably be sitting in early playoff position Monday morning.
One game can’t bring the rivalry back, but it could provide one small spark.
Injury Report
The Broncos and Raiders released their final injury reports on Thursday, ahead of their game on Sunday.
Broncos
| Player | Pos. | Injury | Wed. | Thu. | Fri. | Status |
| Josh Reynolds | WR | Foot | Full | Full | Full | — |
| JL Skinner | S | Ankle | Limited | Full | Full | — |
| Tyler Badie | RB | Back | DNP | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Tremon Smith | CB | Hand | — | Full | Full | — |
Raiders
| Player | Pos. | Injury | Wed. | Thu. | Fri. | Status |
| Davante Adams | WR | Hamstring | DNP | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Maxx Crosby | DE | Ankle | DNP | DNP | Limited | Questionable |
| Divine Deablo | LB | Oblique | DNP | DNP | Limited | Questionable |
| Kana’i Mauga | LB | Calf | DNP | DNP | Limited | Questionable |
| Michael Mayer | TE | NIR – personal | DNP | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Tyreik McAllister | WR | Shoulder | DNP | DNP | Limited | Questionable |
| Kolton Miller | T | Knee / Shoulder | DNP | Limited | Full | — |
| Thayer Munford | T | Knee / Ankle | DNP | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Dylan Parham | G | Achilles | DNP | DNP | Limited | Questionable |
| Isaiah Pola-Mao | S | NIR – personal | DNP | Full | Full | — |
| Decamerion Richardson | CB | Hamstring | DNP | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Luke Masterson | LB | Knee | Limited | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Trey Taylor | S | Knee | Limited | Limited | Limited | Out |
| Zamir White | RB | Groin | Limited | DNP | DNP | OUT |
| Jakorian Bennett | CB | Concussion | Full | Full | Full | — |
| Cody Whitehair | G | Chest | — | Limited | Full | — |
| Aiden O’Connell | QB | Toe | — | — | Limited | — |
| Brock Bowers | TE | Hip | — | — | Limited | — |
| BOLD – Indicates change in status; NIR- Indicates not injury related; *– Team did not practice / report is an estimation; |
| STATUS DEFINITIONS: Did not participate (DNP); Limited: means less than 100 percent of a player’s normal repetitions; Full—100 percent of player’s normal repetitions; Out: will not play; Doubtful: Unlikely to play; Questionable: Uncertain to play |
Notes
- The Broncos will debut their 1977-inspired throwback uniforms for the first time on Sunday. They’re part of a larger alumni weekend, which will draw past Broncos back to Mile High this weekend. Steve Foley and Riley Odoms will be inducted into the Ring of Fame at halftime. Randy Gradishar will receive his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring.
- Payton mentioned during training camp that the first month of the season will be a feeling-out period for the new kickoff rules. He expected teams to avoid kicking off too often until they know whether the kicking team or return team is benefiting the most. “We got a quarterly report the other day. There’s a tick up in returns. So I think we’re getting to see a little bit more returns. I don’t know that it’s dynamic yet, but yet we won’t—we feel like it’s something we do well, so we want those opportunities whether we’re covering or we’re returning.”
- Payton has a vision for rookie wide receiver Troy Franklin. “He’s doing well. He can run. One thing he does, and we’ve got to find ways to… Obviously he can run, but he’s pretty good [running] after the catch. That’s a pretty consistent statistic over time when you measure receivers. Some guys are really good runners once they catch it, and other guys maybe not so much. His history suggests he’s really good at that.”
- Payton expects more from his rookies in the near future. “We’re not redshirting. We’re not redshirting. I understand the question, but we talk about the roster weekly. There are some of these guys that are going to be playing before you know it. Like, it’s just going to happen. It’s different if a person is on short-term injured reserve or injured reserve, but it happens every week. Is ‘Palcho’ (T Alex Palczewski) redshirting? Well no, he’s playing, playing pretty well. You’re constantly on-going skill and development training, and you have to get the team ready because the rosters are where they are.”