NFL Afternoon games open thread

The afternoon games are upon us, and there are a couple of very interesting rivalry games going on today for the 1pm PT lineup of games. Literally a couple, as in just two options this week for the late games. They are the Dallas Cowboys taking on the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos playing the Los Angeles Chargers.

With the Broncos already reeling at 0-4 on the season, their outlook is only getting bleeker with a very tough Chargers team coming to town. To make matters even harder for them, this will be the season debut for LAC RB Melvin Gordon who ended his contract holdout last week and is expected to finally play in the 2019 season today.

Things have been looking so bad for Denver so far this year that there is talk of an all out fire sale that could include Von Miller even being on the trading block, though so far that has just been speculated. If they want to quiet that speculation they are going to need a big game out of their perennial pro bowl pass rusher though, Miller has been ridiculously unproductive so far this season.

As for the other game, the Cowboys and Packers has been a staple of the NFL since the Ice Bowl back in the 60’s. It’s been a very one sided match-up if late with the Packers surprisingly taking 7 of the last 8 games against Dallas, but with both teams being 3-1 this is a toss up game between the two.

Green Bay is coming off a physically and mentally draining loss against the Eagles last week on Thursday Night Football so they have had a few extra days to prepare for the Cowboys. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers need a win to keep up in their very tough division, and they always seem to show up big against Dallas in recent times as already noted.

The Cowboys on the other hand will focus on their new triplets on offense with QB Dak Prescott, RB Ezekial Elliot and WR Amari Cooper. They are coming off their own prime time defeat themselves after losing to the Teddy Bridgewater led Saints on Sunday Night Football.

Chat here with your fellow Raiders fans in our open thread while these two games play out for Week 5 of the NFL season.