Rest of schedule in Denver's favor

NEW ORLEANS - With their game decided but not yet over, a portion of the Denver Broncos had turned their attention to watching the fate of the Oakland Raiders.

They didn't have a TV or a radio. They relied only on the scores run continuously on a Superdome scoreboard. For what seemed like forever, the Raiders were trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers by a point. Finally, as the clock signalled the imminent end of the Broncos' win, the F showed on the scoreboard signalling that the Raiders' score was final.

Denver fans noticed immediately and cheered. Broncos cornerback Deltha O'Neal pointed at it. The news rippled through the team.

That score brought the improbable news that the Broncos, once left for dead in the playoff race after losing to woeful Cincinnati, are 9-4 now and one game behind 10-3 Oakland for the AFC West lead with three games left.

"I think I've talked about this since midseason and I usually talk about this each year in November and December," said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who claimed he was not watching the Raiders' score. "I'm not really concerned with other teams. I'm really concerned only with how we're playing."

That said, Shanahan should be thrilled to be concerned with the playoffs at all after last season and that loss to Cincinnati. His team is using its second quarterback and its third running back. Other playoff contenders, notably Buffalo and Kansas City, have bottomed out.

Thanks to two wins over the Raiders, all Denver has to do to win the division is catch Oakland because it owns the tie-breaker. That would give the Broncos a shot at a bye through the first round and home field for the second.

And the Raiders have the harder schedule remaining. They play the New York Jets at home, Seattle on the road and finish with the Carolina Panthers at home. That's one playoff team and two spoilers. The Broncos play Seattle at home, travel to Kansas City and finish with San Francisco at home. That's no playoff teams, all spoilers.

Best of all for the Broncos, they feel like they've just hit their stride at the perfect point in the season.

"Confidence," said receiver Rod Smith. "That's what we're building now. We're just a lot more confident now. We feel like we'll do what we need to do to get in the playoffs."

A road win like their victory over the Saints goes far in the confidence column. So does pounding through a good defense for 283 rushing yards. So does snatching three turnovers, giving up none.

"There are some games when you need to separate yourselves and today we did that," Shanahan said.

Yes, the Broncos separated themselves from the playoff pretenders and lodged themselves squarely among the playoff power-brokers.

With a little help from the Raiders.

- Lynn Zinser may be reached at 636-0376 or lzinser@gazette.com

Schedule

Trailing the Oakland Raiders by one game, the Denver Broncos next host the Seattle Seahawks, then travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs and finish the regular season in Denver against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Raiders take on the Jets in New York and the Seahawks in Seattle before hosting the Carolina Panthers to end the regular season.

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