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ALAMEDA — The deliberate walk by general manager Reggie McKenzie en route to the practice field isn’t much different than the way he resurrected the Raiders.

It takes patience to reduce a franchise to rubble and rebuild it into a contender.

The NFL is abuzz about all things Raiders for the first time in 13 years after a 30-20 thumping of defending Super Bowl champion Denver before their bye.

McKenzie thinks the Raiders can get much better and is focused on the future. Yet the effect of beating the Broncos was undeniable for a team which had compiled its record against suspect opposition.

“It was significant because it was a team we beat with a winning record, the Super Bowl champs,” McKenzie told this newspaper. “Any time you beat the good teams, that gives you confidence. The players are excited and we’re moving where we need to be.”

Next up are the Houston Texans, with the stage going from national to international on Monday night.

McKenzie understands the Denver win put the Raiders in another realm. With that comes recognition for the G.M., no matter how much McKenzie wants to ignore it.

Considering where the Raiders have been, McKenzie is a prime candidate to be the NFL’s executive of the year. McKenzie and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys are the front-runners, and the contrast couldn’t be more striking.

Jones speaks to the media regularly, even on daily personnel moves which are usually addressed by the head coach. McKenzie, although friendly in casual conversation, is seldom on the record and often on the road scouting talent, leaving coach Jack Del Rio to be the face of the franchise.

If Jones had landed franchise cornerstones such as edge rusher Khalil Mack and quarterback Derek Carr with his first two picks of a draft, he would be telling it to the world and posing for magazine covers.

McKenzie just smiles and shakes his head, the same personality at 7-2 as when the Raiders were 11-37 in his first three years. It was at that point owner Mark Davis was being criticized for hiring McKenzie away from the Green Bay Packers, where he had been second in command but had never run his own team.

McKenzie’s in-week practice attire is sweatshirts and shorts with a ball cap. He could fit in with the equipment staff and often mixes in almost anonymously with players for meals at the training table.

“He can do the suit and tie thing when he needs to, but basically, he just seems like one of the players,” defensive tackle Justin Ellis said.

Aside from beating a good team, the Denver win underscored McKenzie’s vision of having a big, powerful team that can flex its collective muscle. The Raiders rushed for 218 yards and had a staggering time of possession advantage of 41:28 to 18:32.

Every member of the offensive line was acquired by McKenzie — guard Kelechi Osemele and center Rodney Hudson were high-priced free agent signings in 2016 and 2015. Guard Gabe Jackson was a third-round draft pick in 2014. Tackle Austin Howard came aboard in 2013.

“Playing physical ball is what we set out to do from Day 1 and our staff believes in that,” McKenzie said before pausing to make a point. “We’re not big and slow and we don’t want people to mistakenly think that. We believe in being a threat with our speed.”

Overall, McKenzie’s losses have more often been offset by bigger wins. McKenzie fired Hue Jackson and hired Dennis Allen but then brought in Del Rio. He lost left tackle Jared Veldheer but signed Donald Penn.

The Raiders’ defense, which gave up staggering amounts of yardage and points through six games, has been much better over the past three.

One steadying influence was middle linebacker Perry Riley Jr., picked up by McKenzie as a street free agent after six years in Washington.

“It took time, but I’m sure the players were down on themselves, got together with the coaches and said, ‘Let’s fix the problems,’ ” McKenzie said. “You fix that stuff week to week, hopefully you go in the right direction and it gets better and better.”

The beauty of the way McKenzie has structured the Raiders’ finances is most contracts are on a pay-as-you go basis without enormous salary cap hits for players who don’t work out.

No roster has upgraded its talent as much as the Raiders, yet they’re only one of two teams playing below the 89 percent threshold mandated by the collective bargaining agreement from the seasons 2013-16.

McKenzie, signed to a contract extension during training camp, will rectify that by locking up key players long-term, which could include Carr, Mack and Latavius Murray.

In a year-by-year culture, McKenzie has built the Raiders to last. It’s what he had in mind when he jettisoned bad contracts early on and took the cap hits to build for the long haul, absorbing the on-field losses for the long-term gain.

“I always felt confident in what I was doing,” McKenzie said. “I was used to going to the playoffs, having good teams. I had to take a step back and say, `How are we going to build this into a perennial playoff team?’ I knew it wasn’t going to be a quick fix. I did not ever panic. I just wanted to make sure I made the right decisions to get to this point.”