3 storylines for the Raiders' rivalry game against the Broncos

What to look for as the Silver and Black head to Denver for a bitter divisional matchup.
Carolina Panthers v Las Vegas Raiders
Carolina Panthers v Las Vegas Raiders / Ian Maule/GettyImages
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Can the Raiders block out the noise?

This week's NFL headlines have been dominated by the Davante Adams trade rumors.

Adams will not get another chance to dominate the Broncos again this weekend as the future Hall of Fame wide receiver will miss Sunday's game officially due to a hamstring injury, but many folks feel like there is more to this situation.

Hamstring injuries are tricky, and the team has proven lately that they will protect players from themselves instead of letting them carelessly play through injuries.

But this is the same injury Adams came up with during the preseason after Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce noted that all healthy players will be participating in the exhibition contests.

Perhaps he re-injured himself last week, but there is lots of speculation that Adams' sitting out is somehow a response to Pierce's "business decisions" comment he made last week.

Missing a star player is already bad for production, but when you compound that with the media aspect of the job, it can be a bit distracting. Players have been asked all week about the situation all week instead of the task at hand, which is traveling into hostile territory and taking down the rival Broncos.

Pierce neglected to comment on the matter entirely during his press conference on Wednesday, simply stating that he was "focused on Denver."

Let's hope the rest of the team feels the same way.