By DjackThe Denver Broncos went into Oakland last night looking to prove that they were still the team to beat in the AFC West. The Raiders were looking to defend their home turf and prove to the league that this was no mirage, that they were actually the real deal this year. I don't want to say Oakland dominated this game, but they dominated this game. Not much action in the first quarter, the Raiders forced to back to back three and outs for the Broncos offense, off each of those three and outs they were able to put together good drives that ultimately were stopped a little short of the endzone, which forced them to settle for field goals. Oakland was up 6-0 after the first as Oakland's offense was moving the ball pretty well against Denver, meanwhile Denver could not move the ball against Oakland whatsoever. Oakland scored early in the second quarter on a drive that started late in the first quarter, it was 9 plays for 57 yards capped by a Latavius Murray rushing touchdown. Oakland led 13-0, things were not looking good for the Denver offense, starting the game with four straight 3 and outs is never a good sign of things to come in a game, especially against a Raiders defense that has been pretty awful all year. Denver finally put together a nice little drive, it was 7 plays for 84 yards, the big play of the drive being a 36 yard touchdown pass to Jordan Norwood. Both teams would score again before the half, the Raiders able to add on another 7 with another drive ending in a Latavius Murray touchdown run, and the Broncos kicked a field goal as time expired in the first half, the score was 20-10 going into halftime. The second half was a little more the type of game we expected, not too much scoring because Denver's defense was supposed to be able to shut down anyone and Denver's offense is downright ineffective without C.J. Anderson carrying them. The nail in the Coffin for Denver was when Trevor Siemian was strip sacked by Khalil Mack to give the Raiders awesome field position with a 10 point lead. The score was 23-13 at this point, both teams were able to get field goals early in the second half, and now the Raiders had the ball in Denver territory mid way through the fourth. Latavius Murray would get his 3rd rushing touchdown of the night, ultimately ending the game since they now had a 17 point lead with just 6 minutes to play. Denver would score quickly on a 69 yard touchdown pass, but that would be all she wrote as Oakland takes sole possession of first place in the AFC West for the first time this season after beating Denver 30-20. Denver's offense cannot continue to perform like this if they want to stay in the playoff picture, they had 13 first downs last night compared to Oakland's 30, time of possession wise this was one of the more lop sided matchups I've ever seen, Oakland had the ball for 41 minutes on offense last night, you're not going to win any games when you only have the ball for 19 minutes. They lost basically every single team matchup whether it was the time of possession battle like I just stated, or the turnover battle which they have done a good job of winning all year. Denver has now lost 3 of their last 5 games, it seems like they're starting to look like the team I thought they'd be in the beginning of the season, and Oakland on the other hand is probably going to exceed the already high expectations I had set for them coming into the season. Denver needs to dig deep because their schedule doesn't let up at all the rest of the way, Chiefs twice, Patriots, Saints, and Raiders all going to be tough games for them, although they do have a couple gimmes against the Titans and Jaguars. Oakland also has a lot of tough games left on their schedule, but they have set themselves up nicely where they can still lose a few, but if they win their division games they'll be AFC West champs without question. AFC West is definitely the most competitive division in football so if the Raiders can make it out on top look for them to raise some hell in the playoffs. Just win baby, perfect motto for this Raiders squad, Derek Carr doesn't care how it looks just wants the W at the end of the day, that's a true competitor, every team passed on Derek Carr at least once in the draft, and he wants to make sure they regret that by winning his team football games. He's done a damn good job of that and will hopefully continue to do so.
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AuthorDjack- Chief editor Archives
April 2018
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