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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The past two years, the Oakland Raiders went into Denver late in the season and upset the Broncos in games that ultimately cost their rivals a playoff berth.

Now it's the Broncos who are the team playing out the string and the Raiders who still have flickering playoff hopes that Denver can extinguish by winning in Oakland on Sunday.

"I remember those were must-win games for us and they beat us," said former Broncos linebacker Jarvis Moss, who was released by Denver last month and joined the Raiders.

"They ruined the season, what we were trying to get accomplished when I was there. We have that same thing coming here this week. They want to ruin what we're fighting for, what we're playing for, so we got to prepare well this weekend, and not let that happen. Period, bottom line."

After losing 38-31 last week in Jacksonville, the Raiders (6-7) likely need to win out and get some help from Kansas City and San Diego if they are going to end a playoff drought and make it to the postseason for the first time since 2002.

The Broncos (3-10) can essentially end those hopes, like the Raiders did to them the past two years. In 2008, Oakland went into Denver with a 2-8 record but beat the first-place Broncos 31-10 in a game that helped coach Tom Cable keep his job and cost Denver a shot at the division title. The Broncos finished 8-8 and lost a tiebreaker for the division title to San Diego.

Last year, JaMarcus Russell came off the bench to throw a touchdown pass in the final minute of a 20-19 win that helped cost the Broncos a wild-card spot.

With the Broncos having lost eight of nine games, they're worried more about their own futures than in ruining Oakland's.

"If you have to try to find motivation in spoiling somebody else's season I think it's a little weak," receiver Brandon Lloyd said. "I always look at it as I'm a professional, what I do out there on that field is being recorded, is being studied by teams and I want to put my product out there on the field."

While those two losses were painful, it's another Oakland win in Denver that is more prevalent this week. The Raiders helped send the Broncos on this recent tailspin by scoring 38 points in the first 22 minutes of a 59-14 victory in Denver on Oct. 24.

Oakland set a franchise record for points, tied the most ever scored against the Broncos, and ran for 328 yards in a performance Denver hasn't recovered from.

The Broncos have won just once since that game, fired coach Josh McDaniels earlier this month and could tie a franchise record for losses in a season with one more defeat.

"We'd like to beat them and return the favor," cornerback Perrish Cox said. "We know that we messed up in that game and we're going to focus on that this week. We have to play the way we know that we can play."

The Broncos only watched snippets of that game in the days after the loss, but watched the entire debacle this week to prepare for the rematch.

That film showed Zach Miller practically strolling in on a 43-yard touchdown that started the rout, Darren McFadden running for 165 yards and score four touchdowns, and the Broncos turning the ball over on their first two offensive plays as they fell behind 21-0 before running a play that didn't result in a turnover.

"Sometimes on a game like that you want to bury it and act like it never happened," defensive lineman Justin Bannan said. "What are you going to do, cry about it all day? Now we can look at it and be critical about the mistakes that happened. Things went wrong and we'll fix them.

The Raiders are expecting a much different Denver team in the rematch, well aware the Broncos want to atone for such a dismal performance.

They don't need to look far for evidence, considering it was Oakland that bounced back from blowout losses at home to the Broncos only to win the rematch on the road the past two seasons.

"Anytime you're playing a division game, and the way we went there and won the first time this season, you know as a competitor they're going to come back and fight hard," Oakland quarterback Jason Campbell said. "They're going to play extremely well because any team would. Just like us, a game we get beat bad, we come back and fight our butts off the next time. So we expect to get their best effort."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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How did that work out Denver? GO RAIDERS!!!

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