We're getting to the point in the season when games start to have implications larger than determining the outcome of weekly office pools. This is why Monday night's matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders is a crucial one.
Though the season is not even halfway over, when you only play division foes twice, each game is magnified. In addition, the Raiders and the Broncos were expected to be competing for the AFC West title, so the this game could go a long way in determining the winner of the division.
This game may not seem too important on the schedule, since the Raiders are 5-1, two games ahead in the loss column of the 4-3 Broncos. Even a Raiders loss wouldn't put the Broncos on top. But if the Raiders could win this one, they would make a solid claim to the title of premier team in the AFC.
The Raiders have been the only consistently dominant team in the AFC. Other teams may have the same record or have played as well, but the Raiders are the only squad that was expected to be at the top and is.
Oakland wins games the way championship teams win games. The Raiders have a talented quarterback with a deep knowledge of the offense in Rich Gannon. He has plenty of weapons in running back Charlie Garner and a pair of Hall of Fame wide receivers, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.
The offensive line, though banged up at the moment, is one of the top three in the league, and the defense has played well enough to keep the team in games. In the Raiders only loss, to the Miami Dolphins in Week Two, the defense allowed only 18 points.
However, if the Raiders are to lose to the Broncos on Monday night, a lot of these compliments will be for naught. Under coach Jon Gruden, the Raiders have never beaten the Broncos (0-6). The team considers the Broncos their final nemesis left to conquer - like the dragon you have to slay at the end of a level in Super Mario Brothers.
The Raiders are playing the best football in the league right now, but if they can't beat the Broncos on Monday night, it might mean they don't have enough for a Super Bowl run.
And for Broncos' head coach Mike Shanahan, this game means more than just a place in the AFC West standings. Shanahan is a former Raider head coach, but he left on bad terms with owner Al Davis after Davis fired Shanahan in the middle of the season and refused to pay him his full salary. Shanahan has taken that personally and has gone 11-1 against Oakland since taking over the Broncos.
But beating the Raiders won't be as easy for Shanahan as it has been in some years. His team isn't as strong as predicted, and despite a 31-20 win over the New England Patriots last week, there's still no evidence that Denver's previously vaunted running game has returned.
What will help is the comeback of Terrell Davis, who has been cleared to play this week. That will mean Shanahan will have three healthy running backs at his disposal, and he's going to have to use them. Quarterback Brian Griese is not 100 percent because of shoulder soreness, so establishing a dominant running attack is a must for Denver.
Even if you're merely a casual fan, and you couldn't care less about the AFC West standings, watch this game anyway. These teams hate each other, they always have, and you're bound to see at least a few skirmishes. In addition, these teams boast two of the best offensive lines in the game, and each team has a good, young cornerback. The Raiders' Charles Woodson has already proved himself to be one of the best in the league, while the Broncos' Delthea O'Neal is having a breakout season.
Raiders, Broncos, Hank Williams, and Dennis Miller - it doesn't get much better for a Monday night.
The good
It's good for the 1972 Miami Dolphins that the New Orleans Saints defeated the St. Louis Rams last weekend 34-31 on a field goal at the end of the game. The '72 Dolphins remain the only undefeated team in the history of the league, so Larry Csonka and Bob Griese can sleep easy. The game was a wild one, which is beginning to be a pattern for these two teams.The Rams jumped out to an early lead, but sloppy play allowed the Saints to get back in it. Ah, parody reigns again.
The bad
The game between New York Jets and Carolina Panthers was one of the worst games ever played. The Jets won 13-12, but the score was irrelevant. The Jets may want to start snapping the ball directly to running back Curtis Martin, because quarterback Vinny Testeverde was atrocious in this game. He was intercepted three times, which doesn't tell the whole story. He looked like the same quarterback that got run out of Tampa Bay so many years ago.But the most pathetic part is, the Jets still won on the road. In games like this, both teams should get the loss.
The ugly
You want ugly? How about the look on Curt Schilling's face when he watched Byung Hyun Kim give up a two-run home run to the New York Yankees' Tino Martinez with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 4. It's the same look people get after eating seven Taco Bell burritos in five minutes.
