Oakland Raiders pull off historic win over the division rival Denver Broncos in Week 7
The AFC West division is one of the few divisions in the NFL today that plays host to some of the most bitter rivalries in football, but even though every matchup in this division is heated and a battle from start to finish, whenever the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos go head to head there is no love lost and both teams aim to destroy each other.
Coming into Week 7, the Raiders headed to the Mile High City to take on the Broncos on their home field, but even though Kyle Orton and company were favored to win this matchup by a fairly big margin (-8), Tom Cable's squad had no intentions of backing down an inch and were set on getting their third win of the season.
Just a few minutes in the first quarter of this AFC West showdown, the Oakland Raiders had already put up 21 points on their division rivals after quarterback Jason Campbell threw a 43 yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Miller and the Oakland Raiders defense capitalized on mistakes made by the Denver Broncos offense.
In the Denver Broncos first offensive possession, quarterback Kyle Orton threw one pass that resulted in a 30 yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Chris Johnson. As if that weren't bad enough as Denver was now down 14-0, the Broncos next possession basically ended the same way as rookie wide receiver Demaryius Thomas fumbled and turned the football over which ultimately resulted in running back Darren McFadden rushing for a four yard touchdown.
So with 8:58 left on the clock in the first quarter, the Oakland Raiders were up 21-0 against their division rivals on their home field and the rout didn't stop there as kicker Sebastian Janikowski added a field goal to the total before the quarter ended.
Needless to say, heading into the second quarter, the Denver Broncos had a hell of a hill to climb being down 24-0, but even though the consensus was that the Oakland Raiders weren't going to be able to keep up this kind of production all game long on both sides of the football, they did just that as running back Darren McFadden had a career day with 196 total yards (165 rushing, 31 receiving) and four total touchdowns (3 rushing, 1 receiving).
In the end, the Oakland Raiders finished with the most points scored in franchise history with 59 and pulled off the unlikely upset against the Denver Broncos 59-14.
Not only was this a huge win for the Oakland Raiders as it puts them into second place in the
AFC West division behind the first place Kansas City Chiefs, but this might just be the momentum this team needs to contend for the division title and finally make it back into the playoffs.
Denver Broncos, Football, football, Oakland Raiders
Vikings get back on track and set sights on the Packers
NFL Week 8: Dolphins @ Bengals