Ala Hann Sport picks

The Broncos (2-0) have surprised just about every observer with a quick start to the season, while the Raiders (1-1) are trying to ride the moment they built up from a last-second win against Kansas City last week.

Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders

Sunday, September 27 at 4:15 p.m. ET

NFL Week 3 odds: Denver -2.5

The Broncos suffered through an incredibly disastrous offseason, from the Jay Cutler trade, to the Brandon Marshall fiasco, to new head coach Josh McDaniels winding up on the hot seat before he’d even coached a game. We’re betting management was surprised to see a 2-0 start. Of course, the Broncos haven’t exactly run a gauntlet of tough teams—they barely scraped by the Bengals in Week 1 (thanks to a fluky tipped pass) and whipped Cleveland 27-6 in Week 2.

Rookie running back Knowshon Moreno is coming along nicely after recovering from a knee injury. He ran for 75 yards on 17 carries last week and could be used even more heavily on Sunday. Denever needs a great running game to relieve pressure from Kyle Orton. The quarterback was solid last week, throwing for 263 yards with a touchdown and zero turnovers.

Denver has allowed just 13 points this season and, luckily for this defense, it gets a crack at another porous offense. The Broncos are at least beating up on teams they should after recording four sacks and three takeaways against Cleveland. It’s a good NFL bet they can do similar things against Oakland.

That’s bad news for JaMarcus Russell, who struggled badly last week before leading Oakland on a game-winning drive. His 7-24 effort dropped his completion percentage to 35.2 per cent through two games. If the Raiders are going to do any damage on offense it will be with the running game. Darren McFadden and Michael Bushed played very well in Week 1 but last week things fell apart (combined 70 yards on 21 carries).

The Raiders bent but didn’t break against the Chiefs last week. They were torn up on the ground (173 yards) but forced two interceptions, which probably saved the day. Richard Seymour was quiet after a strong debut for the Silver and Black, and he’ll have a tough go against Denver’s fine young tackles.

As shocking as it is, the Broncos should improve to 3-0. Denver hasn’t done much to impress, but it is proving capable of beating bad team—and believe us, Oakland is a bad team. Considering how unreliable Russell is, you should bet horses before you bet on the Raiders. Take Denver.