Dissecting Most Crucial Matchups in Denver Broncos' Week 10 Contest with Oakland

The loss to New England was painful, but the Denver Broncos are coming out if it with a new fire as they take on the Oakland Raiders in Week 10. Now that they lost the head-to-head matchup, the Broncos have to keep piling on more wins. It does not matter what teams they face; they have to keep winning in order to get ahead of New England and take the top seed when the playoffs roll around.

This week's matchup is a winless Oakland squad, so that shouldn't be too hard. The divisional games are always tougher than they should be, but Denver has the firepower to win running away—and now the motivation to go along with it. What could have easily been a trap game is now a contest that should have them focused and ready to get back to their dominating ways.

If not, some serious questions have to be asked about John Fox and the players themselves.

As with any game, individual matchups are very important to the outcome. This is even more important when Peyton Manning is behind center, because he lives off of finding and exploiting those matchups. Here are some of the key things to look for this Sunday.

First, you have Julius Thomas going up against Charles Woodson. The way that the Raiders decide to cover Julius Thomas, ultimately, may not be by putting one man on him. If they have to, though, they're probably going to need to do it with a safety. Even if they're in zone, a lot of Thomas' seam routes are going to run him right out into those top safeties, so they're the ones he's going to have to beat.

This is very intriguing because Woodson is historically one of the best cover guys to play in the NFL. He's going to the Hall of Fame when he hangs them up. He's smart and athletic. This is the matchup we're all hoping for because it would be great to see those two forces collide.

That being said, Charles Woodson today is not Charles Woodson from 10 years ago. He's now 38 years old, and it shows. It's why he's at safety at all. Players age very quickly in the NFL. Woodson is playing quite well considering that, but it will still be a test for him to slow down Thomas, who is young, fast, strong and built to crush guys who can't play at his level.

On the other hand, Thomas has been in something of a slump lately. He set a huge pace in the first five games, scoring nine times, but he's only scored once—last week at New England—since then. Is this the week he gets back on track, or is Woodson going to shut him down?

Next, you have to look at Von Miller coming off of the edge, hunting rookie quarterback Derek Carr. The conventional wisdom with rookies is that you simply blitz as much as you can. You get in their face. You fluster them. You either want to pile on the sacks or you want to make them panic and make poor decisions, leading to interceptions.

With that in mind, Denver will absolutely bring the pressure, especially early. Carr has shown flashes of being quite capable, but Denver will take its chances early on. If Carr proves that he can beat the blitz and get out of the pressure, maybe they'll have to rethink the strategy a little bit. But they'll make him prove that first.

A lot of it is going to come down to Carr's ability to read that pressure.

Miller does not play with his hand in the dirt all of the time—DeMarcus Ware and Derek Wolfe have been the defensive ends—and so he could be coming from almost anywhere. Sometimes it's a looping stunt up the middle, sometimes it's a bull rush on the outside and sometimes it's a spin move. He's fast and aggressive, and he's going to be the main guy that Denver unleashes to get pressure.

If that takes Carr by surprise, he's sunk. To have any hope, he's going to have to get up to the line, read the pressure, adjust the play and make the offense work around Miller. It's possible, but it's hard. However, Miller is nearly unblockable at times, so Oakland's best chance is not to try to stand him up at the line, but to have Carr avoid him and run plays away from him.

This matchup will be especially important at the beginning of the game. If Miller is getting a lot of pressure and forcing mistakes, the game could be over by halftime. If Carr can beat Miller, the Raiders could hang around.

After all, they've hung around in a lot of their losses, including last week's loss against Seattle.

Finally, you've got to look at the matchup between wide receiver Andre Holmes and cornerback Chris Harris. While James Jones may be the receiver with the most catches (39), Holmes is the most explosive of the two. With just 25 catches, he's only around 40 yards behind Jones; he has fives plays for over 20 yards to Jones' four, and he has four touchdowns to Jones' three.

I'm not going to sit here and act like I think Oakland's offense is going to put on a show Sunday. It seems very unlikely that this group is going to score enough points to keep up with Denver.

However, if they have to, a guy like Holmes is going to be the one to get it done. He has the ability to break long plays that can change the game. If Oakland's defense can play well enough to keep them within striking distance, Holmes would be the one they turn to to get over the top.

Chris Harris, though, is having a spectacular year. He's almost never mentioned among the best cornerbacks in the NFL, but his stats put him above some of the biggest names.

Harris went weeks without giving up 100 cumulative yards, and he has two interceptions on the year. He's credited Champ Bailey with mentoring him and elevating his game, and it shows. He's the type of guy who consistently shuts down receivers.

You don't need 10 interceptions to be the best corner in the NFL. You need to take your man out, time and time again, so the ball never comes that way. That's exactly what Harris does.

At the end of the day, the edge has to go to Denver in every category. If Oakland can somehow put it all together—with Holmes beating Harris and playing explosive football, Carr reading the pressure and avoiding Von Miller and Charles Woodson shutting down Julius Thomas—they do have a chance to be in this game.

But even if that happens, it doesn't account for Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas on the outside. It doesn't account for DeMarcus Ware and Terrance Knighton on the defensive line. It doesn't even consider Ronnie Hillman and, if he's back for real, Montee Ball in the backfield.

Denver just has too many weapons, especially in the passing game. The matchups listed above can help if the Raiders win those battles, but even that may not be enough.