Yet another one-score victory for the Denver Broncos, but this time in a game that was never in doubt against the Las Vegas Raiders. Playing like the first-place team they are, the Broncos, with their fan base in tow, dominated against the last-place team they are in the Raiders, 24-17.

For Denver, it was their 11th game decided by one score or less and their fifth straight, contributing to the 11-2 record. But the final outcome was not indicative of their dominance in the game, as the Broncos looked to be a team that did not have their foot on the throttle against the 2-11 Raiders. The Broncos held the ball for almost twice as long as the Raiders, 39:03 versus 20:57.

The Raiders’ field goal with no time left in the game, in fact, served as a negative for those who bet on the Broncos to win. Taking place in the betting capital of the world, Las Vegas, those who bet on Denver to win had their winnings taken away on the last-second field goal by the Raiders. Starting with a 7.5 spread and the final score a 7.0 point difference.

The Broncos were favored by most Sportsbooks, and the final 7-point margin meant that bettors who picked the Broncos to cover the spread (win by 8 points or more) lost their wagers. Conversely, those who bet on the Raiders (plus the 7.5 points) won. So even with a meaningless last-second field goal, caused by a Broncos penalty, it was still crucial to many in Broncos Country for the fifth consecutive week. One bettor reported losing a quarter of a million dollars.

While it was a bad break for those in the wide world of sports betting, the Broncos still walked away with another pedestrian win and kept pace as the highest-winning team in the NFL overall. But with four games remaining, the toughest part of the schedule remains to be played.

“I think when you’re not in the two-minute trying to come back and win, it felt a little nicer,” Head Coach Sean Payton told the Denver Sports Report. “It was a dumb penalty by us with the delay. We’re going to run the clock out, and that wasn’t really smart. So, I’m sure I’ll watch the tape. There’ll be things that we’ll be frustrated watching. I say this, there’s been a lot of winning, but there’s still a lot of things that when you watch the tape, that you really need to clean up.”

There has been a lot of winning for the Broncos in their climb to 11-2, but note that 8 of their 11 wins have come against teams with losing records. And their next two games will be against first-place teams: the Green Bay Packers, leaders of the NFC North, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, leaders of the AFC South. The Broncos will return home Sunday with a 10-game winning streak in place.

“It’s amazing. 10’s a long streak, and you win 11 games; that’s really tough to do at this point of the season,” said Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. “11-2, there aren’t many things that you want to be negative about because you want to be appreciative of this opportunity and be appreciative of the wins, no matter how they come. But at the same time, we’re always looking to get better. We know that we’re not just going to continue to win games because we’ve won them in the past. We have to keep getting better. A streak like that, it’s hard to do, and I say it all the time, even though we’re now better than we were last year, we didn’t want to stop at 11.”

A key factor for the Broncos to continue their success will be their running game. After losing JK Dobbins for the remainder of the season, the Broncos have looked to rookie running back RK Harvey to step up and fill the role. Against the Raiders, he did just that. Rushing for 75 yards on 17 carries, with one touchdown. His counterpart, rookie Ashton Jeanty, had 15 carries for 30 yards and no touchdowns for the Raiders.

“I work hard every day. I put in the work, watch a lot of film,” said Harvey after the game. “Eventually, it’s going to pay off. The amount of touches that I’m getting, every game is just going to continue to get better and better for me.” In all, the Broncos finished with 152 yards rushing and the Raiders 40 yards total.

Bo Nix connected on passes to 11 different receivers in the game for 212 yards and added a rushing touchdown for 8 yards in the win. The third touchdown in the game was added by a punt return of 48 yards by Marvin Mims, Jr. for the score.

With four games remaining, the Broncos still hold the number one seed in the AFC and the best overall record in the NFL, at 11-2. In the AFC, the New England Patriots  also have an 11-2 record but do not hold the tiebreaker against Denver. The Patriots will face the 9-4 Buffalo Bills,  while the Broncos face the 9-3-1- Green Bay Packers on Sunday. In the AFC West, the Broncos are two games ahead of the L.A. Chargers at 9-4 and will face them in the final regular-season game on January 4th.

See the Denver Sports Report, Broncos - Raiders game photo gallery at www.SportsReportNet.com. Game time on Sunday is 2:25 PM MT.

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