ALAMEDA — The Denver Broncos have kicked the Raiders around seven straight times.

But in this long-time rivalry, Oakland has never lost eight straight and that’s what the Raiders (2-2) will try to avoid when the first-place Broncos (4-0) come to O.co Coliseum on Sunday.

Only five Raiders were on the roster the last time they beat Denver in the 2011 season opener. That includes kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who will play in his franchise record 241st game Sunday, breaking his tie with Tim Brown.

Janikowski’s bought in to the fact that times are changing under coach Jack Del Rio.

“I think when Jack came in, he changed the whole culture,” Janikowski said. “The guys that we have right now, I think we can go a long way.”

The Raiders haven’t won their AFC West opener since that victory over Denver in 2011 and haven’t had a winning record in the division since 2010, when they went 6-0 but still finished in third place.

Last week’s 22-20 last-second loss in Chicago slowed the hype of this game a little bit, but a win would get the Raiders right back on track in the division. That’s about as much as the Raiders will allow in terms of how big it might be to beat the Broncos.

“You never what game is going to be the game that decides whatever,” center Rodney Hudson said. “I think every game is important, especially division games. I will say that. A division game is especially important. You play these teams twice so it’s always important to get these wins.

That’s what wide receiver Michael Crabtree was stressing after last week’s last second defeat in Chicago.

“We’ve got a tougher opponent, a divisional game,” Crabtree said after the loss. “We can’t trip off this game.”

Crabtree expressed a similar attitude when brushing off the season-opening loss — “It’s one game,” he said then, “Everybody’s sad, but it’s one game. We’re good. — and the team responded with two straight wins.

It would good indicator of the team’s fortitude if they can bounce back again with a pair of division games up next — following a bye, the Raiders play at San Diego in two weeks.

But one of Del Rio’s biggest strengths has been the focus he’s brought to the locker room and he said anything that happens Sunday won’t be taken out of proportion.

“It would mean we’re 1-0 in the division,” Del Rio said of a potential victory. “It would mean that Week 5 was successful. It’s one game.

“It’s a division game, so they count a little more than just one. It’s the first of six division games that we’re going to have this year. We get them at home and it’s going to be a heck of a challenge.”

The Broncos have been a challenge especially since Peyton Manning joined the team in 2012. He’s quarterbacked the last six victories over Oakland and none have been closer than a 26-13 Broncos win at the Coliseum during his first season with Denver.

Collectively, the Raiders have been outscored 260-109 during their seven-game losing streak, an average margin of defeat of more than three touchdowns.

Much of the roster can feign ignorance of having not experienced all of those defeats — only Janikowski, fullback Marcel Reece and long snapper Jon Condo have played in all of them — but last year’s losses were two of the worst, coming at a combined 88-31 margin.

“I’ve played against them twice,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said. “I know the talent that they have. They’re obviously very talented everywhere on that defense. We have our work cut out for us, but we’re excited to compete.”

* Janikowski’s record brings some validation to a move that raised eye brows at the time when Janikowski was taken in the first round of the 2000 draft.

“It’s always a surprise if a kicker goes in the first round,” Janikowski said, “but I think in the end, it pays off. Sixteen years later, looking at all the records and this is another record in the books.”

Janikowski is already the franchise’s all-time scoring lead with 1,605 points and is four shy of matching Jason Hanson’s record of 52 field goal from 50-plus yards.

While his selection was a surprise, he’s been a good fit as a Raider and the atypical kicker who can actually produce an intimidating presence. He lamented recently to Condo, his long snapper since 2007, that he didn’t do a biceps workout and Condo used that to blame him for the game-winning field goal by the Bears’ Robbie Gould.

“He was like, ‘Ah, I didn’t do biceps the other day’,” Condo said. “I go, ‘That’s probably why Robbie kicked them field goals because you didn’t do those extra biceps to intimidate the other kicker.’”

Janikowski’s physical stature — he’s listed at 6-foot-1, 265 pounds — has apparently led to him being confused for former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher.

“I always pick on him that he needs to get that barbed wire tattoo on his arm like Brian Urlacher,” Condo said. “There’s a couple times people got confused calling him Brian at the Lake Tahoe golf tournament he plays in every summer.”

Even in his 16th season, Janikowski doesn’t plan on hanging it up any time soon.

“I feel great,” he said. “Maybe six, seven, eight more years. You never know. I’m just a kicker.”