The Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos open the season with a late start Monday night game, with a 10:15pm Eastern time kickoff.
Denver’s defense was its weak point last season, and they gave up 98 points to the Raiders alone, in losses by scores of 59-14 and 39-23, on their way to a 4-12 season. But the upside of their record last year was a high draft pick.
With the return of a healthy Elvis Dumervil, and the addition of number 2 overall draft pick Von Miller, the Broncos are expecting to improve greatly on that outcome.
“The veterans on the team talk about how they killed us last year,” Miller said. “But this is a new year, we’ve got a new coach, new players and hopefully it’ll be different this year.”
Dumervil led the league with 17 sacks in 2009 before missing all of last season with a torn muscle. And the addition of Miller should be another major improvement as the Broncos seek to apply more pressure on their opponents passing game. Miller recorded 27 ½ sacks over his last two years in college and drew comparisons to the great Derrick Thomas.
“Obviously we thought a lot of Von Miller to draft him in that spot and getting Elvis back is huge, both in the locker room as well as on the field,” head coach John Fox said. “So, they’re a pretty good little tandem.”
For the Raiders, rookie head coach Hue Jackson hopes to improve upon the Raiders 8-8 record from last year
“I expect to win here,” Jackson said. “And 8-8 doesn’t cut it for me. I’m not interested in being 8-8. I’m interested in being great.”
