Oakland Raiders: Five Games To Circle On Team’s 2016 Schedule

Week 17 @ Denver Broncos

Rivalry games are always fun to watch. And the Raiders put up two strong efforts against the eventual Super Bowl champion Broncos, narrowly losing the first meeting 16-10, and winning the second 15-12. Neither game was pretty, but the Raiders showed that they could hold their own.

This Broncos team will look quite a bit different in 2016 though. Having lost both quarterbacks – Peyton Manning to retirement and Brock Osweiler to the Texans – as of now, the likely starter for Denver is going to be Mark Sanchez. But with weapons like Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, and C.J. Anderson at his disposal, even Sanchez might be okay in that Denver offense.

The Raiders are closing out the season with three of four games on the road. Their final game of the year – against these Broncos – is in their home stadium. In fact, those three away games in the final four of the season, will be against division rivals Kansas City, San Diego, and the Week Seventeen matchup with the Broncos.

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Fatigue will most definitely be a part of this game, as it is with most teams at that time of the year. But the Raiders will have the added effect of playing three of four on the road – and three divisional games in the last four. Division games usually tend to take more out of a team than a matchup with somebody outside the division, usually because of their importance.

This game with the Broncos could end up being very key for the Raiders if they find themselves in a dogfight for the division crown. But more than that, with a brutal stretch to close the season, it’s important to see how the team will be able to deal with that adversity.

If the Raiders hope to contend in 2016, they will need to be able to overcome adversity and win games in hostile territory – two things they’ll have in spades with the last stretch of the schedule they’ve been given.