Oakland Raiders vs Denver Broncos: betting odds, preview, matchup, picks

If you had bet on Oakland the past six times they were in Denver, you would have booked six winning bets.

If you had bet on Oakland the past 12 times they were an underdog, you would have booked nine winning bets.

So as the Raiders visit the Broncos as 7-point underdogs, many bettors are putting the first betting trend together with the second betting trend and taking a trip to the sportsbook.

The AFC West division race is shaping up to be another dogfight, making Sunday's game between the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium in Denver very important to both teams.

But Oakland has won four in a row SU here and are 6-1 ATS the past 7 times when its pre-bye week was on road. That situation is in play as well, along with Denver abysmal mark as chalk lately (2-7-1 ATS), according to one football betting odds site.

In Week 1, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos announced their presence as contenders with a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since then, they've fallen to 1-2 both SU and ATS with losses to Atlanta and Houston. To the Broncos' defense, the two losses did come to arguably the two best teams in the league.

But on the other hand, both losses were actually worse than the final score would indicate, as the Broncos fell down big to both teams and made it look better with some touchdowns in garbage time.

The Oakland Raiders are completely decimated by injuries. Already without starting cornerbacks Ron Bartell and Shawntae Spencer and star wideout Jacoby Ford, the Raiders lost Darrius Heyward-Bey due to a head injury last week.

Oakland shocked the football world with a 34-31 upset win over Pittsburgh last week, and will likely need another shootout-type game to stay close with so many holes in the secondary.

One thing seems pretty likely, and that is that there will be lots of offense Sunday. The total has gone OVER in eight of Oakland's last 10 games, four of Denver's last five, and in each of the last five meetings between these two teams.

On the one hand, Peyton Manning could easily shred this defense and lead the Broncos to a runaway victory. On the other, Oakland head coach Dennis Allen was Denver's defensive coordinator last year, and should know enough about the team's defense to exploit its weaknesses.

Considering the Raiders are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games against Denver and 4-1 SU (and 5-0 ATS) in their last five trips to Mile High, Oakland seems like a solid pick with the points.

PICK: Oakland +6.5 (courtesy of PickShark.com)