Raiders run away with 30-20 win over Broncos, take AFC West lead

All week leading up to Sunday night’s prime time matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders, commentators and fans alike heralded the game as the renewal of a once beleaguered rivalry.

On one side, Sunday night was a chance for Denver to show it was still the class of the AFC West, as it has been for much of the last decade and a half.

The other: A chance for Oakland to show it’s returned to its form previous to the 2003 season, the year after it’s last trip to the playoffs.

And, with a forceful rushing attack and a strong outing from early MVP candidate Derek Carr, the Raiders ran past the Broncos to the AFC West, at least terms of the division standings, Sunday night.

“You don’t ever want to have one of those. But we didn’t lose the championship or nothing tonight. There’s a lot of football left to play,” Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said of the loss after the game.

“But we’ve got to play a hell of a lot better than we played. That team’s really, really good. And we knew that coming in that they’ve got a really good football team, and we’ve got to prove ourselves.”

Latavius Murray (114), Jalen Richard (62), and DeAndre Washington (35) rushed for a majority of Oakland’s 218 yards against the Broncos, the most against a Denver defense ranked 24th in the NFL against the run this season.

Quarterback, and early MVP candidate, Derek Carr added another 184 yards through the air to give Oakland highest total offensive output all season against the Broncos defense, which ranked 6th in the NFL ahead of Sunday’s game.

The win is Oakland’s second straight in the longtime rivalry — Denver had won the previous eight meetings before a loss on December 13 at home last season. It’s also the most lopsided win against the Broncos since a 39-23 loss in December 2010 (earlier that season Denver lost 59-14 at home).

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.