The visitors are getting way too comfortable, way too quick to make themselves at home at Invesco Field at Mile High.

And on Sunday, having spent the better part of an afternoon putting together a game that will need a significant upgrade simply to get tossed into the ugly pile, the Broncos were at a loss for words to explain their third consecutive home loss this year.

"It's one of those perplexing games," defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "It's almost felt surreal in a way."

Some of the folks who paid to spin the turnstiles might have another word or two to describe the 31- 10 loss to the Oakland Raiders .

A loss that was so one-sided, so dramatic, so unexpected by many that Amy Trask, the Raiders' chief executive, took a moment in the waning minutes to tell a gentleman in a Raiders jersey being led away in handcuffs it was important to "be respectful" in somebody else's stadium.

Especially after you've done almost whatever you wanted inside it the rest of the day.

"We knew they were going to come in hungry," Broncos linebacker Jamie Winborn said. "We just kind of shot ourselves in the foot in a lot of ways, turnovers, letting them score on special teams. Defensively, they made some plays on us."

Offense. Defense. And special teams. Yes, that about covers the whole three phases of the game deal.

And in coming off two road wins in which the Broncos seemed to regain their balance at least some, they again also proved to all who care to watch that there is one thing this team positively can't handle right now.

Prosperity. No matter how slim the slice.

The Broncos started the season 3-0. They then spent a week preparing for a team they should beat, a team in several layers of trouble, a team that, on paper or on the field, shouldn't beat them.

Then the Kansas City Chiefs rumbled over them 33-19, still the only win for that team.

The Broncos had lifted themselves to 6-4 with wins in Cleveland and Atlanta in the previous two weeks. They had reasserted themselves as seemingly the only team interested in winning the AFC West.

They then spent a week preparing for a team they should beat, a team in several layers of trouble, a team that, on paper or on the field, shouldn't beat them.

The Broncos then became the Raiders' third victim this season.

"We're immature," Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall said.

The Raiders entered the game last in the league in passing offense and threw one incomplete pass. They entered last in the league in third-down conversion and converted their first seven of the second half before taking a knee on the eighth to end the game.

Jay Cutler completed 43.2 percent of his passes and didn't throw a touchdown pass in a game for the first time this season. The Broncos missed two field-goal attempts and they surrendered an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown. Oh, that was the only punt the Raiders returned all day.

"It's real frustrating to lose a game we were supposed to win . . . ," Broncos tight end Daniel Graham said. "Real frustrating."

And the list of games they are supposed to win is getting shorter all the time.

THIRD AND DONE

The Raiders entered the game as the league's worst offense in many respects, including net passing yards per game and points per game.

They also were last in third-down conversion, somewhere down in the going-to-pick-in-the-top-five-in-the- draft 22 percent area.

Yet there were the Raiders, converting one third down after another in the second half, keeping one drive after another together because of it.

"On defense, three-and-outs are always encouraging," Ekuban said. "You always feel good after those. But when it comes down to the other team keeping a drive going, sustaining drives and you can't get off the field . . . it's demoralizing, you get frustrated.

"Because everything you're talking about all week is getting off the field, and then you can't."

Before Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell took a knee on the final play of the game, Oakland was 7-for-7 in the second half on third-down conversions. That was after they went 1-for-5 in the first half.

But most troublesome from the Broncos' perspective was the fact the Raiders made all seven after halftime without Russell completing, or even throwing, a pass.

The Raiders ran six times, converting four third-and-1s - that total included two touchdowns - to go with a third-and-6 and a third-and-3.

In the other, running back Michael Bush threw an 8-yard pass that tight end Zach Miller snared one-handed that converted a third-and-3.

"We didn't stop them in the third-down area, which is something I thought we would do," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said.

MAN UP

The Broncos have spent much of this season talking about all the weapons on offense, about how they can challenge a defense from sideline to sideline, from the short, intermediate and deep routes.

How if - the Broncos have phrased it - a defense plays them "honest," there will be big plays on the docket.

The Broncos got what they wanted from the Raiders.

"They challenged us in man-to-man the whole game," Shanahan said. "Some of those plays we usually make, we didn't make."

The Broncos avoided Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha for much of the time. Asomugha stayed at his right cornerback spot the bulk of the game and didn't match exclusively on any of the Broncos receivers.

"He took away half the field," Cutler said.

That left the Broncos firing away at Chris Johnson, who started at left cornerback, and Stanford Routt, who played as the third cornerback when the Raiders went to five defensive backs.

But the Broncos didn't have a completion longer than 32 yards, and despite several attempts up the right sideline to shake a receiver loose from Johnson, it didn't succeed.

Toss in a couple of drops, and the Broncos didn't win any of the one-on-one battles enough to keep their offense out of trouble.

Numbers game

1-5 record for the Broncos when they have two turnovers or more. The only only win in that group came against New Orleans. They had two turnovers Sunday.

INFOBOX

A mile high

* Raiders running back Justin Fargas, in his sixth season, has had six games in which he has rushed for more than 90 yards. Three have come against the Broncos, including Sunday.

Date Att Yds TD

Nov. 23, 2008 24 107 0

Sept. 8, 2008 18 97 0

Dec. 2, 2007 33 146 1