Gritty, ugly; an AFC West rivalry game.
The Oakland Raiders played the Denver Broncos as hard as possible and ended up ahead of the AFC West leaders in the Mile High City.
Denver completely dominated the first half, but still only led by 12 points due to the fact four drives ended without touching the end zone. Brock Osweiler played well, but when it mattered most, he threw the ball high. On the third drive of the game, Osweiler threw the ball too high to Emmanuel Sanders on third and goal, resulting in a field goal. On the final drive before halftime, Virgil Green came open in the end zone and Osweiler rivled the ball over his head. So, it was 12-0 Broncos at halftime, with a 224 to -12 yards advantage.
But, it was a tale of two halves.
In the second half, nothing went right for the Broncos. Oakland jumped out to a touchdown with a quickness when Seth Roberts caught a touchdown from Derek Carr and the game became 12-7. Then, Demaryius Thomas fumbled, the Raiders booted it for a coffin corner, and then Osweiler was sacked by Khalil Mack for a safety. 12-9 Denver with 1:50 to go in the third quarter.
When the Broncos free kicked it to the Raiders, Oakland punted to the Broncos where Emmanuel Sanders muffed in Denver territory before Carr connected with Mychal Rivera for a 16-touchdown which fooled new safety Shiloh Keo. The Raiders didn’t kick the extra point but went for a 2-point conversion due to a shoulder injury to the long snapper and missed the conversion to keep the 15-12 lead. Denver went down and a drive stalled at the Oakland 32, where Brandon McManus missed a 49-yard field goal by booting it off the left upright. Denver remained down three, where they stayed for the rest of the contest. Late, tight end Vernon Davis dropped a pass on fourth and 5 when he was wide open. The Broncos went for it again on fourth down late, but were again unsuccessful and lost 15-12. Denver’s second half drives looked like this: Punt, fumble, punt, safety, muffed punt, missed field goal, punt, turnover on downs, turnover on downs.
STAR OF THE GAME
Khalil Mack was the star of the game. He enjoyed five sacks, including the safety strip sack of Osweiler in the third quarter to change the game completely.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Long snapper Jon Condo ran down and recovered Sanders’ muffed punt, which gave Oakland the ball and a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown.
TURNING POINT
Mack’s safety sack was the turning point for Oakland. They already came out of the halftime and stole momentum with coaching adjustments, and then Mack gave them a 2-point sore with the ball back. The Raiders ended up punting, but Emmanuel Sanders muffed it and Oakland recovered, which led to Carr’s game-winning touchdown to Rivera.
BY THE NUMBERS
Von Miller‘s sack of Derek Carr in the first half pushed him into double-digits on the season, making him only the third Broncos player with four seasons of 10-pls sacks. The others are Simon Fletcher (5 times, 1989-93) and Paul Smith (4 times, 1970-73). For Miller, it was also his fifth straight game with a sack.
224 yards is what the Broncos accumulated in the first half compared to -12 for the Raiders. It was the least amount of yards Denver allowed in the first half of a game since 1991.
Brandon McManus went 4-4 on field goals to start but missed the most important, would-be game-tying attempt from 49 yards.
Brock Osweiler went 35-51, which was too high a number of pass attempts for the young man, for 308 yards.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“We had many, many chances to get it done today,” Gary Kubiak said. “Didn’t get it done.”
LASTING IMPACT
This loss drops the Broncos out of the AFC’s No. 1 seed. It’s a big loss, too, because it was the first one with Osweiler at quarterback. He’s now 3-1 overall and the Broncos are 10-3. It also means the Kansas City Chiefs are now only two games back of Denver in the AFC West.
WHAT’S NEXT
Next up, the Denver Broncos (10-3) play at the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5) next Sunday, Dec. 20 at 2:25 p.m. MT
