McDaniels says this Broncos team is ‘dramatically different’ than first matchup

The Las Vegas Raiders got their first win of the season against the Denver Broncos in Week 4.

Since then, Denver has made some changes to its personnel.

Starting running back Javonte Williams was placed on IR and ruled out for the season following an injury in that Week 4 loss. When the NFL trade deadline arrived, the Broncos moved linebacker Bradley Chubb in exchange for Chase Edmonds. The team also added Jake Martin in exchange for a 2024 draft pick.

There were other moves as players got injured, but those were the biggest. Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said Wednesday his team is in an interesting situation because the Broncos feel like a different team since they last saw them.

“I’d say the team we’re getting ready to play is dramatically different than the one we played the first time,” McDaniels said. “And that doesn’t always happen. But there’s a number of players obviously that have changed, some that have come back, some that are no longer there. So, we spent a lot of time this morning talking about the differences in the two rosters, honestly, and getting familiar with the players we’re getting ready to play against this time. You don’t always have the challenge of that because a lot of times there’s some familiarity and you’re repeating a lot of the things that you said. But I’d say with all the guys that have either gone on IR or aren’t there anymore, and now some of the guys back, this is kind of a new opponent in many regards.”

McDaniels went on to acknowledge his own squad doesn’t look the same as it did in Week 4. Since then, Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow have been placed on IR.

“I’ve always been more uncomfortable if you win the first one than if you lose it,” McDaniels said. “Because if you win the first one, your natural inclination and human nature is, well let’s just do what we did the first time. But the other staff is really good and they’re probably going to stop a lot of the things that you did to have success in the first game.”

In the previous matchup, running back Josh Jacobs set a then personal best, rushing for 144 yards.

“We can’t just say, ‘Well, let’s just roll the same game plan out there,’ because they’re going to practice those things and they’re probably looking at them saying, ‘We can’t let them beat us this way again’,” McDaniels said “So, there’s a little bit of getting out in front of that before it happens on game day when you’re playing the second game of a division rivalry.”

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