DENVER — You hear it in Vic Fangio’s voice. He’s not saying nice things just to say nice things.

The Broncos coach is a believer in the Las Vegas Raiders — and how they built a winner.

“They’ve got good players all over the place,” Fangio said.

Who let this happen? Well, it’s an interesting story, and this space won’t cover all the intimate details — the quarterback whiffs by the Broncos, the draft hits by the Raiders. But looking ahead to Sunday’s game at Allegiant Stadium I tend to believe there was some psychology behind the reason the Raiders are 5-3 and dangerous and the Broncos are 3-5, still treading water.

Here’s the theory: the Raiders had stunk for so long, they were willing to stink for a few more years in order to cure the whole operation. So they traded their best player, Khalil Mack, in return for a bunch of sweet draft picks that turned into good players. Studs like Josh Jacobs, the running back who presents a serious issue for the Broncos on Sunday. 

The Broncos took the other route. They dug in. They stuck to the franchise M.O., the Pat Bowlen mandate, that every season is a season to go for it. It finally caught up to them. They’d been good for a while, winning games and Super Bowl 50, and were not willing to stink for a few years. So they didn’t trade their best players, including Von Miller, and stepped forward with one foot stuck in the past.

Ironic, but a long stretch of winning hurt the Broncos. Long stretches of losing helped the Raiders, who winced when Jon Gruden traded away Mack but now know it was a smart move.

Funny business, football.

“They (the Raiders) beat Kansas City, they’ve beaten New Orleans. They’ve had a tough schedule and they’ve come out in good shape,” Fangio said. “They’ve built a good team there. Being in Jon’s third year, they’re seeing the fruits of that labor.”

Hindsight’s always handy, but there was a case to be made for trading Miller at the peak of his powers. Didn’t happen, and it’s tough to blame the Broncos given what Miller has done for them. It also shows the courage and audacity shown by Gruden and the Raiders to trade a franchise player in Mack.

They got rid of the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, for goodness sake, and Gruden took all kinds of heat from media critics in doing so. Gruden once said he cried for three days after. But things are humming in Las Vegas. They did it by piling up five first-round draft picks over two years. They went 0-7 against Peyton Manning’s Broncos, and now they have “good players all over the place,” according to the Broncos coach. The temperature on Saturday was 70 degrees, in November, and, unlike the old digs at the Oakland Coliseum, you don’t need a security escort to the parking lot.

“It’s so exciting to be in this facility and in this city,” Gruden said. “It’s a great, great opportunity to be great.”

The Raiders aren’t Super Bowl contenders or anything crazy like that. In fact, Drew Lock and the Broncos offense found the perfect opponent to get right, a struggling Raiders defense. But after a long time as the doormat of the AFC West, the Raiders are looking down on the Broncos. The Raiders are the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoff bracket. The Broncos are a work in progress.

Strange enough, the Raiders trading Mack pushed Fangio to the Broncos. Fangio had one season with Mack and the Chicago Bears. His Bears defense with Mack turned enough heads at Dove Valley that Fangio earned his first head coaching job at the age of 60.

Now the Raiders have good players all over the place, as Fangio said. Funny business, football.