Two teams playing the waiting game so far through two weeks of the 2022 season meet up on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium in the Broncos at Raiders betting matchup. Las Vegas (0-3) is still looking for their first win under the Josh McDaniels era while Denver (2-1) is getting restless waiting for their offense to move to the next level with new QB Russell Wilson.
Despite being winless on the year the Raiders are -2.5 favorites for Sunday’s meeting. Part of that is from being at home, but also all three Las Vegas losses have been by six points or less. Even though there are new faces on both sides, the Raiders also swept last season’s head to head series and have taken 6 of the last 7 against Denver.
Denver Defense Playing Elite
It’s easy to have the narrative surrounding the Broncos be how Wilson is struggling and Nathaniel Hackett has made many blunders in his first year as a head coach. While those may be true, you also can’t overlook just how great the Denver defense has been, championship caliber even although it is just three games.
The Denver defense is giving up just 12.0 ppg through the first three weeks, and they almost single-handedly got the win last Sunday 11-10 last week against the 49ers. The Broncos picked up a 16-9 victory in week two when the defense didn’t give up a TD and they probably did enough to win the season opener that ended up being a 17-16 loss in Seattle.
While Denver has looked great on defense, they also get their biggest test yet in the week 4 Broncos at Raiders betting matchup because the Las Vegas offense is head and shoulders better than the Seahawks, Texans, or San Francisco. The Raiders rank 26th vs. the pass (267.0) so Wilson needs his breakout passing game with Denver.
Time For Las Vegas to Get One
The Raiders and Texans are the last two winless teams in the NFL but those are two very different caliber of teams. Las Vegas fell 24-19 at the Chargers in week one, got beat on a 59-yard fumble recovery in OT (29-23) to the Cardinals in week two, and had a late 2-point conversion fail in last Sunday’s 24-22 defeat to the Titans.
The Raiders have put up the #7 passing offense in the NFL through three weeks (266.7 ypg) which will have a challenge against a Denver defense giving up just 170 yards/game through the air. Once again though you have to think Derek Carr is a bigger threat to the Broncos secondary than Geno Smith, Davis Mills, and Jimmy Garoppolo have been so far.
The Raiders are winless through three games but Davante Adams still has a TD in every game with the team and Mack Hollins has broken out for 13 catches and 224 yards the last two weeks.
Free Week 4 Broncos at Raiders Betting Pick
It feels like the Raiders are due for a breakthrough win here but at the same time Wilson could get his signature Denver game against the 4th worst passing defense in the NFL. Denver has a great two-headed monster at RB and a defense that is playing with confidence due to their strong start – regardless of who the competition has been.
Free Pick: Broncos +2.5
