Week 13: Denver at Oakland

At one point, this was rumored to be the game where Oakland rookie QB JaMarcus Russell debuted. The No. 1 overall pick has made absolutely no impact this season, and he’s going to be put on hold a little longer because Oakland finally won a division game last week.

That wouldn’t be a big deal in a lot of NFL cities, but it was in Oakland. The Raiders had lost an astounding 17 straight games in the AFC West before beating Kansas City 20-17 last week. Following that game, coach Lane Kiffin was asked if Daunte Culpepper would start again at QB for him against Denver and he beamed a big smile and said “Yes.” He also noted after speaking: “It’s my first press conference where I didn’t get a JaMarcus question in about two months.”

So the Raiders have a bit of momentum. RB Justin Fargas rushed for 139 yards last week. They only lost 23-20 to Denver last time the two played, in mid-September, so this one should be close.

The Broncos had a devastating loss to Chicago last week, and because of it are now a game behind San Diego in the AFC West. To keep close on the Chargers’ heels, they badly need this one.

They still are smarting over last week, too. The Broncos were ahead 34-20 midway through the fourth quarter against Chicago and managed to lose, 37-34, in overtime. Coach Mike Shanahan said it was one of those games that would haunt him for a long time.

The Broncos’ biggest problem was Devin Hester, and Oakland has no one like that. No one does, really. Hester ran both a Todd Sauerbrun kickoff and punt back for a score. The Broncos stubbornly – and stupidly – kept kicking to Hester after he had already run one back for a TD. Then Sauerbrun got a punt blocked while trying to angle the ball away from Hester later, prompting the punter to say: “I had the trifecta done on me.”

Denver is moving the ball well. QB Jay Cutler just finished the 16th game of his career. In those 16 games, he has 22 TD passes, 15 interceptions and 3,385 yards. Among the all-time great QBs, only Dan Marino started off better. The Broncos really need this one. We’re thinking Cutler will get it for them.

Denver by 7