That was Thursday but they were back at practice Friday

Jackson is banged up, but honestly, regardless of his playing status, even a Herculean effort this week will not net impressive results after this season's performance.The Texans' defense is right around average, but they are sure to look better than average this week against the Rams. The Rams scored fewer than 10 points in each of the last two games, marking the fifth and sixth time this season.Even the most optimistic Rams fan couldn’t expect more than 17 points, could they I’m thinking 13 or fewer.Want another feather in your cap betting against the Rams Okay, they cancelled practice this week when five or six players reported flu-like symptoms. That was Thursday, but they were back at practice Friday.Take the Texans if you haven’t already as the best pick on the board this week. Denver Broncos over Oakland Raiders (stats)So, how bad are things when once former starting QB, drafted to be the franchise QB, gets benched midway through the season, gets injured, and is passed over for…wait for it…Charlie Frye. I need to say it twice because I still find it hard to believe that Keith Null and Charlie Frye are NFL starting quarterbacks.

And people wonder why Brett Favre keeps coming back It’s because he is more than qualified, people!Okay, off that rant/tangent.We’ve been burned by the Raiders pulling off a surprise upset win not once, not twice, but three times this year Can they do it again I don’t think so. Not with Frye under center, and not against the, once again, surging Denver Broncos.Admittedly, the Broncos did lose last week to the Colts, and it wasn’t that close with a 28-16 final score, and the Colts scoring the first 21 points in the game. Prior to that, though, the Broncos obliterated the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants, both more resembling the caliber of the Raiders team.Correll Buckhalter is out for this game, so rookie Knowshon Moreno will carry the load for the Broncos I would expect a very good game from him. The Raiders are giving up an adjusted average of 140 rushing yards per game in recent weeks.The consistent concern of the Broncos is Kyle Orton, and whether he is going to find orange and blue jerseys, or silver and black. He does have one interception in each of the past four games, and he’s topped 60 percent completions the past three games, including 70 percent last week.Orton hooked up with Brandon Marshall a new NFL record of 21 times. If there was ever any doubt for Orton that Marshall is his top receiving option, or doubt for the rest of us that Marshall is a top WR talent in this league, that pretty much erased it.The Raiders have a very good cornerback, Nnamdi Asomugha, but overall are not good against the pass. The Broncos should have success on the ground and through the air in this game.

Outside of the games against the Giants and Chiefs, the Broncos aren’t scoring a lot of points, but regardless, we just need to be confident that they will dominate the Raiders.And that brings us back to Charlie Frye. We already know the Raiders’ receivers are poor, so do we think that bringing in Frye, who couldn’t cut it in Seattle or Cleveland, is going to elevate their play Frye wasn’t even the backup, but the third receiver practically all season. He couldn’t have much in the way of reps with the offense. This has trainwreck written all over it.I actually think the Broncos defense is pretty good They aren’t great. They aren’t as good as they looked early in the year as teams started to figure them out a bit, but they are capable of dominating weaker teams.As much as the Raiders have burned survivor pool players this year, I just don’t see it happening again here. The Broncos have too much on the line they still control their own destiny for the playoffs, but many teams are nipping at their heels and they are at home. The 49ers dominated the Cards from start to finish en route to a 24-9 win.