By EDDIE PELLS By EDDIE PELLS ADVERTISING Associated Press DENVER — If the story lines for this week’s Raiders-Broncos game have a different feel from those Peyton Manning has read about for all these years — well, he’s probably not
By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press
DENVER — If the story lines for this week’s Raiders-Broncos game have a different feel from those Peyton Manning has read about for all these years — well, he’s probably not alone.
When the Denver quarterback lines up against Oakland today for his first up-close taste of one of the NFL’s most intense rivalries, it will be the guys in orange playing the role of the bad guys, with the Raiders coming in wearing silver and black, as always, but looking downright docile compared to years past.
“They’re doing a better job of being disciplined and that’s kind of at the core of what we are and what we believe,” said Raiders first-year coach Dennis Allen, who was Denver’s defensive coordinator last season.
The Raiders? Disciplined? Somewhere, Al Davis is certainly not smiling.
But, hey, at least one of these teams can say that.
In this, the 104th meeting between the AFC West foes, it’s the Broncos who come in having amassed $134,000 in fines so far this season.
It’s the Broncos who will be missing one linebacker, D.J. Williams, for violating the league’s drug policy and another, Joe Mays, for a hard hit that took off a chunk of an opposing quarterback’s ear.
And it’s the Broncos who rank fourth in the league with 23 penalties for 220 yards, while Oakland nearly brings up the rear with 14 yellow flags for 102 yards — a positively un-Raider-like statistic regardless of which officials — regular or replacement — are calling these games.
“I think it’s a credit to the coaching staff and also the players on the field in terms of everybody being held accountable for their own actions,” defensive end Richard Seymour said. “One penalty is one penalty too much. If everybody just said, ‘Well, I only got one,’ then you’ve got 11 on defense and 11 on offense and we still would be setting records.”
Last week, Oakland (1-2) got in the win column with a come-from-behind 34-31 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Raiders got a 64-yard touchdown run from Darren McFadden, three touchdown passes from Carson Palmer and a last-second winning field goal from Sebastian Janikowski. Still, the most-played highlight in that one was the brutal hit receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey took from Steelers safety Ryan Mundy.
Heyward-Bey was knocked out on contact and spent the night in the hospital.
“You never want to see your teammate or even the opposing team get carted off, and it’s one of the unfortunate things that goes along with the game,” Seymour said. “But I think as players we understand that.”
Mundy drew a $21,000 fine for the hit on Heyward-Bey, who is likely to miss Sunday’s game.
Definitely out for the Broncos (1-2) is Mays, who was docked $50,000 and suspended a game for the hit that dislodged Texans quarterback Matt Schaub’s helmet and took off a chunk of his ear, as well. Mays was contrite about the hit and his coach, John Fox, and a number of his teammates all agreed there was no intent there.
“That’s not Joe Mays,” Fox said.
But Denver defensive captain Champ Bailey said, “A lot of it’s bogus to me,” when asked about the Mays hit and the NFL’s more vigilant penalty structure that leaves the Broncos very thin at linebacker, with Williams also gone and backup Nate Irving unlikely to play after suffering a concussion last week.
All this talk about discipline, penalties and hard hits comes against the backdrop of two teams that could really use a win, especially because it’s in the division.
Manning’s initial response when asked about what’s known as “Raiders Week” around Denver: “It’s, first, a division game, I guess. All the games are important and division games always count double.”
What’s also true about the Broncos and Raiders is that they have a, shall we say, colorful history.
This rivalry picked up steam 35 years ago when the Broncos made their first Super Bowl on the strength of a couple of wins over the Raiders — the first a 30-7 drubbing in Oakland highlighted by kicker Jim Turner’s 25-yard touchdown catch on a fake field goal, the second a 20-17 win in the AFC title game. The famous line from that season came from Broncos linebacker Tom Jackson, during the first win: “It’s all over, fat man,” he yelled at John Madden, when Madden was coaching the Raiders.
Other scenes from over the years:
—Winston Moss shoving John Elway out of bounds and under the Raiders bench as Elway headed for the sideline in 1992.
—Former Broncos coach Wade Phillips getting booed off his own field after a 48-16 loss in 1994 and the same happening to Josh McDaniels after a 59-14 loss two years ago.
—Denver fans pelting the Raiders with snowballs during a win on Monday night in 1999, and Raiders offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy answering by throwing a punch at the fans.
Mike Shanahan, who coached the Raiders, then got fired and was never paid the remainder of his salary by Davis before coming to coach in Denver, once said he learned it was best not to tread too near the end zone during warm-ups for games in Oakland.
“That way,” Shanahan said, “you don’t get hit by batteries.”
Manning, who went 3-2 against Oakland while he was in Indianapolis, admits he enjoys the rich history of the NFL as much as anyone. But coming off two straight losses and with road games at San Diego and New England up next, he’s thinking more about Xs and Os than the colorful nature of the rivalry he’s stepping into.
He figures he might not feel its full effect until the next meeting — a Thursday night game in Oakland on Dec. 6.
“Sometimes you have to kind of experience it to really be able to talk about it, I think,” Manning said.
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