The Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders face off on Thursday Night Football in an AFC West showdown. 

The Raiders traded away wide receiver Jakobi Meyers at the NFL trade deadline, and they sit at 2-6 in a down year in the first season with Pete Carroll as the head coach. 

The Broncos are 7-2 and sit one game in front of the Los Angeles Chargers for first place in the division. 

However, the Broncos are going to be without star cornerback Pat Surtain II due to a pectoral injury. 

Eric Edholm of NFL.com had three storylines for the showdown, and one of them was regarding the defense without Pat Surtain. 

"The Broncos boast some impressive defensive credentials, with a league-best 40 sacks, allowing only 279.9 yards and 18.4 points per game. They even passed their first test following the injury to CB Patrick Surtain II, beating the Texans, holding them out of the end zone this past Sunday and allowing a mere 3 of 17 third-down conversions. But it was a different Denver defense, with the Broncos playing man on only 27.7% of their snaps against Houston, according to Next Gen Stats."

"With Surtain on the field this season, the Broncos have been in man 44.2% of the time. If we assume Bowers will be the main target of Denver's defensive attention, it will be interesting to see how they defend him. According to Next Gen Stats, Bowers ate up zone coverage in Week 9, with eight catches on nine targets for 81 yards. Yet he was even more dangerous per catch vs. man, with three TD catches on four targets for 46 yards -- including a 27-yarder from outside the red zone, where teams tend to play more man coverage. Denver's pass rush also can help limit what Bowers can do, but Geno Smith's sack rate has nearly been cut in half the past five games compared to the first three," Edholm continued. 

The good news for Denver is that the Las Vegas offense has been up and down this season, so that should help the changes of getting a win on Thursday night. 

Still, the defense looks much different, so it will be interesting to see how they adjust without their star cornerback.