DENVER — Win the AFC West, earn a well-deserved week off, embarrass the Raiders. It was the kind of day they dream about in Broncoland, the likes of which they haven't celebrated in the seven long seasons since Denver's last Super Bowl title.

Jake Plummer threw for 268 yards, Mike Anderson surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the season and the Broncos closed out an undefeated season at home yesterday with a 22-3 victory over archrival Oakland.

"I'm at a loss for words," Denver defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "I've been in the league seven years and I've never experienced anything like it before."

At kickoff, Denver (12-3) had already secured its first division title since 1998 thanks to San Diego's 20-7 loss at Kansas City. Cincinnati's loss to Buffalo gave the Broncos a chance to wrap up the second seed in the AFC and the first-round bye that goes with it.

All that was left was to beat the Raiders (4-11) and that wound up not being too big a challenge.

"We just weren't able to match the things they were able to do," Raiders coach Norv Turner said.

Neither Turner nor quarterback Kerry Collins did anything to reverse the thinking that this could be their second-to-last game with Oakland.

Collins went 17 for 41 for 178 yards and an interception in the Denver end zone after being flushed from the pocket. Turner oversaw an offense that moved the ball at times, but was overcome on almost every drive by untimely mistakes: illegal procedure, holding, dropped passes, receivers who slipped.

"They're a good team and you can't make mistakes against them, whether it's dropped passes or interceptions before the half or penalties that hurt us," Collins said.

Only Sebastian Janikowski's 43-yard field goal in the fourth quarter prevented the Raiders from being shut out for the first time since 1997. Even so, they lost their fifth straight and fell to 5-17 against Denver's Mike Shanahan, the coach Al Davis fired early in the 1989 season.

"That's been a long time ago," Shanahan said, when asked if he enjoys beating up on Davis more than anyone.

Led by Plummer's efficient passing — 19 for 29, one interception — and the running of Anderson and Tatum Bell (71 yards), Denver held the ball for 38 1/2 minutes.

Anderson twisted his left ankle after rushing for 46 yards — boosting his season total to 1,014 — and a score. He sat out the second half.

"It kind of got rolled, kind of tweaked," Anderson said. "We'll give it a couple of days off and see how it looks."