The Oakland Raiders will bring their revamped defense to the table tonight in hopes of slowing down Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on the Monday Night Football stage in Denver.

The Raiders are in the middle of rebuilding, so much so that ten of the starting defensive players were not with the team last year. But even in such a transitioning process, Oakland has found success. The Raiders' defense was tied for the lead league in sacks through the first two games, a testament to their blitzing defensive backs that have accounted for 5 of their first 9 sacks of the season as a team.

However they plan to do it, the Raiders have a difficult task ahead of them in stopping Peyton Manning. The elder Manning brother slapped around Eli and the Giants last week after notching 7 touchdowns in the season-opening victory over the defending champion Baltimore Ravens the week before.

'"Monday Night Football' against them, doing something nobody thinks you can do? There's nothing better than that," Raiders Defensive Coordinator Jason Tarver said to the Mercury News.

"This is ultimate," he added. "To be the best, you have to beat the best. This is what you want. This is why you play the game."

The Raiders suffered a season-opening, 21-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts but bounced back in their home opener with a 19-9 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor will be making only his fourth overall start tonight, but he has three years of NFL experience to his name. He told The Denver Channel that he's not looking to compare himself to Peyton tonight.

"When you do that, you'll come up short because Peyton is a great quarterback," the third-year veteran said. "It reminds me of Tiger Woods, when his competitors were kind of going against him and they kind of folded because they pressed. I've got to stay away from doing that."

The Raiders finished 4-12 last year while the Broncos emerged as a top team with a 13-3 finish in Manning's first year at the helm after his tenure with the Indianapolis Colts.