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ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Two years after starting the season with 10 straight losses, the Oakland Raiders head into their bye week in a far different place: first place.Fresh off a 30-20 victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos that left them all alone in first in the AFC West, the Raiders now get the chance to rest up a bit before the stretch run of a season they hope will include playoff games for the first time since 2002.After building a strong record with wins against some of the lesser regarded teams, the Raiders (7-2) stamped their arrival as legitimate contenders with a complete victory over the Broncos on a prime-time stage.The offense controlled the line of scrimmage and ran for 218 yards, Derek Carr made key plays in the passing game, the defense shut down Denvers run game and harassed Trevor Siemian all night and even the special teams got into the act with two punts downed at the 2, prompting celebratory dances from punter Marquette King .I think it was closest, coach Jack Del Rio said Monday when asked whether his team put together a complete game. I think all three phases certainly contributed in the game. They had really good moments, all three. We see a lot of things that can be better. Thats what were going to keep working at. I dont know if you ever reach that perfect performance youre striving for anyway but there are things we need to clean up, that we need to be better at.Seeking improvement after a big win is a far cry from where this franchise was as recently as 2014. Oakland started that season 0-10 -- firing coach Dennis Allen after four games -- and was often not even competitive in games during Carrs rookie season.But after showing progress by winning seven games last year in Del Rios first season, the Raiders are putting it all together in 2016 and look like one of the top teams in the AFC even if they see plenty of room for growth.We have so much we can do and we see that we can do it, Carr said. We cant work on it all at once. We have to just build, but were trying.Carr has been a big reason for the rebuilding job. He has improved in each of his three seasons and has thrown for 2,505 yards with 17 TDs and only three interceptions so far this season.But he has gotten plenty of help from an offensive line that mauled Denvers heralded front to clear holes for Latavius Murray and the backs, big-play receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree and a defense that has improved significantly in recent weeks after getting torched the first few.Thats all part of the winning culture Del Rio is trying to instill.Im pretty straight forward about it with the staff and with the players about what were looking for and what championship football looks like, he said. Were just going to push for it. It takes time to develop and to grow. The good news is weve recognized where these areas are yet were winning. Being able to win and put that big smile on your face, go home and feel good about things, lay your head down at night but wake up in the morning knowing you have work to do and there are things that must improve.The Raiders hope to get a boost from the bye with players like right tackle Menelik Watson and cornerback Sean Smith able to heal up from injuries, other key veterans getting needed rest and some potential help on the front seven from two players who have been missing all year.Linebacker Aldon Smith said last week he hopes to be able to return when his one-year suspension for violating the leagues substance abuse policy ends Nov. 17.Smith still must get reinstated by the league and Del Rio is not counting on anything at this point.Defensive lineman Mario Edwards Jr. seems like a better bet to return. He has been out since training camp with a hip injury but could be able to return to practice soon and provided needed help for both the pass rush and run defense.The unknown part, I just leave that over there in that category and were not going to wait for that, Del Rio said. What weve got to do is continue to grow, got to continue to do the things that helped us play better defensively the last several weeks and continue to be better.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Matthias Farley Jersey . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Jack Mewhort Jersey . It might not have mattered. 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Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, a driving force behind the NHL adopting its wildly popular 3-on-3 overtime, wondered recently how exciting it would be for the league to adopt a wild-card play-in game similar to what is used by Major League Baseball.The proposal would add a third wild-card playoff team to each conference, with the bottom two wild-card teams facing each other in a one-game playoff to determine which team advances to a first-round playoff series. The idea was discussed at last weeks board of governors meetings in Florida.Personally, Im not in favor of it, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said. I think we demand a lot of our players and playing more games, I dont think, is a solution.Hextall said that considering the teams play a preseason with a minimum of seven games, 82 games in the regular season and up to two months in the playoffs, plus the potential of the Olympics and World Cup every other season, weve got to be really careful of putting our players through more than we already do.Under Hollands plan, if the current season ended Sunday, the ninth-seeded New Jersey Devils (30 points) would face the second wild-card team in the East, the Washington Capitals (37 points), in the Eastern Conference play-in game. The ninth-seeded Winnipeg Jets (29 points) would face off against the second wild-card Los Angeles Kings (30 points) in the West.It is something weve discussed and it has gained some traction, Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said. But what if the second wild-card team has a six-point lead on the ninth-place team? Should they be knocked out of the playoffs becausse they lose one game?In the three seasons since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, when the Columbus Blue Jackets missed the playoffs despite being tied in points with the Minnesota Wild, at least two points have separated the second wild-card team from the ninth-seeded non-playoff team in each conference.ddddddddddddThat alone, Florida Panthers executive chairman Peter Luukko said, should be reason enough to keep the current playoff format unchanged.I think its fine the way it is, Luukko said. I mean, were playing 82 games. I think its fair and I think its really working. Its coming down to the end of the season anyway right now. It couldnt be more exciting. I just think that kind of cheapens it.Nill said there have been discussions among general managers about giving the No. 1 playoff seed more of a reward for finishing with the best record in each conference, perhaps by increasing their number of first-round home games from four to five.That idea might be more palatable to the players than adding an extra game to their schedules.I think its stupid, Flyers forward Jakub Voracek said. A one-game playoff? I dont think this is baseball. You have 82 games to get in the playoffs. If youre not in, youre out.Teammate Wayne Simmonds agreed.You get in, you get in, he said. There should be no play-in game. You finish one through eight, youre in the playoffs. You finish ninth and you lose a tiebreaker by goal differential or something else, its too bad. The tiebreakers are fine, why change it now? 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