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After an overtime loss in Week 9 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Las Vegas Raiders have a quick turnaround as they’ll face the Denver Broncos on “Thursday Night Football” to start Week 10. Moreover, the matchup with the Broncos will see Raiders head coach Pete Carroll face a familiar face in Sean Payton, whom he faced several times in the NFC when the Denver head coach was with the New Orleans Saints. While the playoffs look like an afterthought for the 2-6 Raiders, the Broncos sit atop the AFC West at 7-2. Denver will be the favorite in this contest, but when it comes to divisional games, the records of the two teams really don’t matter, which is what the Silver and Black should be telling itself. Ahead of the game on November 6, Carroll was asked about what makes facing Payton a challenging task. “He’s always been a really well-schooled group that he coaches,” Carroll told reporters on November 3. “They’ve always had a good attitude about running the football, physical, and they were down here running a team, don’t mind working the perimeter, all of that. You think of all the years with Drew Brees, you think of him as a passing guy, but they weren’t. “When you played against him, they always had a real good conscience about running the football. So he’s got a really good mix. We’ve seen him for years utilize his personnel in unique ways that fit their style. There’s nothing about his game that isn’t on point. He’s smart, he’s aggressive, he’s consistent. They take care of the football. They’ve been doing that for a long time. That’s what’s made him consistently successful, I think.” Brock Bowers Talks Raiders Loss to Jaguars If the Raiders want a bounce-back win and upset the Broncos, one player who will need to replicate his Week 9 performance will be Brock Bowers. The Las Vegas tight end recorded 12 receptions for 127 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Although Bowers’s performance was outstanding, he didn’t hold back on how it felt to return to the field in a Raiders defeat. “It’s not a great feeling,” Bowers said postgame (h/t Vegas Sports Today). “You want to come back in here and celebrate with the guys. It sucks. You can’t celebrate anything… I think we’re definitely still working on finding that identity, especially now that we’re getting everyone back to full strength. So I’m just excited to see what the rest of the year holds.” Geno Smith Is Happy to Have His Favorite Target Back With Bowers back for the Raiders, quarterback Geno Smith once again had a reliable option over the middle, to whom he often went in the passing game. Throughout the contest, it looked like the veteran passer kept his focus on Bowers, and the young tight end made sure to reward that confidence with his performance. “He’s one of the best players on our team, one of the best players in the NFL,” Geno Smith said postgame (h/t Raiders.com). “He just makes my job so easy; he does everything so well. He made some phenomenal catches today. “A lot of those catches a lot of guys don’t make. You can just see his impact on the game when he’s out there. He’s such a dynamic player. At one point, they were double-teaming him, triple-teaming him trying to stop him and that just opens the field for the rest of the guys.”
