NFL Week 14 Betting – Raiders Look to Rebound at Broncos

Oakland Raiders at Denver Broncos (-7.5, 43.5 o/u)

The Brock Osweiler experiment is looking more and more like it should be a longterm solution. This Sunday, the towering QB will look for his third win in as many starts as his Denver Broncos (10-2, 4-1 Home) host the Oakland Raiders (5-7, 3-3 Away) at Mile High (4:05 PM Eastern).

Osweiler is 3-0 since he took over the starting job from an injured Peyton Manning, throwing for four touchdowns and two interceptions. He hasn’t been spectacular – and still needs to work on his chemistry with top WR Demaryius Thomas – but he’s been a much better fit for Gary Kubiak’s offense.

Kubiak isn’t prepared to demote Manning to the back-up role just yet, though.

“Our focus will continue to be day to day,” the coach told the Associated Press. “This league changes every week, so we have to stay focused on ourselves.”

Thanks to a 17-3 win over the San Diego Chargers last week (coupled with a New England loss to the Eagles), the Broncos now sit ahead of the Pats in the AFC standings and trail only the Bengals (whom they’ll at home face in Week 16). The defense starred again against San Diego, forcing three turnovers and holding the Chargers to just 272 total yards.

That dominant Bronco defense may be a bit shorthanded come Sunday, though. Linebacker Danny Trevathan (concussion) and safeties David Bruton Jr. (knee) and Omar Bolden (hamstring) are all questionable. A couple key offensive contributors are questionable: RB CJ Anderson (ankle) and TE Vernon Davis (concussion).

The Oakland Raiders are still in the hunt for a playoff spot in the AFC, but they haven’t helped their own cause of late, losing three of four to fall two games off the pace.

They played the surging Chiefs tough last week, but wound up on the wrong end of a 34-20 result thanks to a dismal second half from QB David Carr. The second-year pivot threw three costly picks in the second half as the Raiders gave up 20 fourth-quarter points.

Head coach Jack Del Rio isn’t worried about Carr, though, who is emerging as the best QB among the 2014 draft crop.

“[David] is super talented. He’s taken all the responsibility that he needs to. I completely believe in the young man, and I’m confident that he’ll learn from that experience and be stronger going forward,” Del Rio said to the AP.

Somewhat concerningly, Carr had one of his worse games of the year against Denver back in Week 5, throwing for 249 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, which was returned for the winning touchdown.

Relevant betting trends: Denver has dominated its division mates of late, going 19-7-1 against the AFC West in recent times. They’re also 14-6 SU in the last 20 against Oakland. The Raiders, meanwhile, have struggled against quality competition, going 1-4 ATS against teams with a winning record.

Pick: Broncos -7.5.

(Photo credit: Jeffrey Beall (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)