ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Raiders. Week.
Need I say more? Typically, these two words are all that is needed in a week in which the Denver Broncos square off against their arch nemesis.
But this Sunday’s Week 4 matchup between AFC West rivals is more than just a matchup between division foes spanning over half a century—it’s about as meaningful of a game as they get, early in the season or not.
Through the first three weeks of the NFL season, the Broncos (2-1) seem to be sitting in fine position. Tied with the Oakland Raiders (2-1) and six other teams one game back of the AFC leading Kansas City Chiefs (3-0), Denver has put themselves in a spot to compete for the division and AFC through roughly the first fifth of the season.
After Sunday’s Week 4 game, however, the Broncos could be trending in drastically different directions heading into their Week 5 bye, depending on the outcome. Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph didn’t shy away from the magnitude of the team’s final game before their week off, saying it was “critical” to come out of the game with a win.
A win over the Raiders, and in a week’s time, the Broncos’ players could be scattered across the country—perhaps relaxing on a beach enjoying a frosty beverage or at home visiting family—on their bye week, tied atop the AFC, not to mention the AFC West, with Week 3’s loss to the Buffalo Bills seemingly nothing more than a bump in the road far in the rearview mirror.
With a loss on Sunday, on the other hand, the 69 players—including practice squad and injured players—and coaches could be scattered across America riding a two-game losing streak, sitting two games behind the Chiefs and essentially a game and a half behind the Raiders, since they would not have the head-to-head tiebreaker, with their 2-0 start a distant memory.
“We break our season up into four quarters. So this is the fourth game of the first quarter. So to be 3-1 in the first quarter is huge for us,” Joseph said as he emphasized how important Sunday’s game was. “We’ve talked about that, getting off to a great start, which leads to the future being bright for us. It’s a huge game for us.”
On top of this, since Sunday’s game is both a home game and a division game for the Broncos it carries the most weight in the standings that a single game can have, so much so that Joseph called it “a two-for-one” with how much importance it carries.
The Broncos dominated the AFC West during the Peyton Manning era—wining the division every year—but the struggles last year within the division (2-4) were paramount in the team missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
Not only are the Broncos coming off a loss within the AFC on Sunday to the Bills, the Raiders are coming off a non-conference road game—the best possible loss—while the Chiefs have blown out the competition to start the season.
Oh, and by the way, it’s against the Raiders. Oh, and by the way, the game will come just a few days after the passing of legendary Denver Broncos head coach Red Miller, a man who many believe to be the architect of the rivalry as we know it today.
This is big time.
“It’s always been a great rivalry,” Joseph said “With that being said both teams are 2-1, it’s a divisional game. Both teams lost last week. It’s going to be a fun game Sunday.”
Dating back to Oct. 2, 1960, the two division foes have played in 115 head-to-head contests, with the Raiders coming out on top 62-51-2. However, thanks to recent play, the Broncos have got the last laugh.
Since the start of 2011—the magical Tim Tebow year followed by the start of the Manning era in 2012—the Broncos have dominated the series, going 9-3.
Up until last season’s Week 9 matchup, in which both teams were 6-2 entering the game, the rivalry hadn’t seen many meaningful games.
The same cannot be said about Sunday when the former-Los-Angeles-current-Oakland-and-future-Las-Vegas Raiders enter the Mile High City on Sunday afternoon.
In the win-loss category, Sunday is one of 16, but this game is much more than one-sixteenth of the schedule. It doesn’t get much better than this.
