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Any Given Sunday: Raiders Over Broncos

Oakland's defense smothered Denver's offense on Sunday. Can the Broncos' offense get its act together -- and if not, is the defense good enough to win a Super Bowl anyway?

If you're an optimist, the Raiders' 15-12 upset of the Broncos set new standards for defensive dominance. Excluding quarterback kneels, the two defenses gave up a combined 65 yards on 40 rushing attempts. Never before in NFL history had both teams averaged under 1.65 yards per attempt on the ground. (Hat tip to Scott Kacsmar for that nugget.) Denver, ranked No. 1 in defensive DVOA, allowed minus-12 net yards to the Raiders in the first half, the lowest total by our reckoning since at least 1986.