Week 1 Leftovers: Defusing the pass rush with throws in fewer than two seconds

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It was all about time to throw Monday night.

It’s not that Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had enough time to slice up a loaf of sourdough bread and make a sandwich. It was that he simply didn’t need much time.

Carr’s average time from snap to throw — or, in one case, a scramble — was 2.15 seconds. Nearly half of his 27 dropbacks saw him release the football in under two seconds.

The closest the Broncos came to a sack was when Josey Jewell blitzed Carr with 4:14 left in the second quarter and the Raiders facing a third-and-5 at the Denver 12-yard line. Jewell forced Carr off the spot 1.66 seconds after the snap. But Carr’s sidestep allowed him to buy time, and he hit Hunter Renfrow for a first down 0.86 seconds later.

Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco didn’t hang onto the football long, either. His average time from snap to throw (or sack) was 2.53 seconds, including plays wiped out by penalty. Oakland’s first sack of Flacco saw pressure arrive in just two seconds; on the other two sacks, pressure arrived at 3.12 and 5.53 seconds.

As you might expect, Flacco was accurate when he got rid of the ball in fewer than two seconds, since those passes were quick timing routes and dumpoffs. Flacco went 9-of-10 on those attempts.

SHOTGUN VS. UNDER CENTER

The Broncos relied on the shotgun in the second half as they attempted to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit. However, the Broncos’ biggest strike in the passing game — a 53-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders — saw Joe Flacco operate from under center, executing a play-action fake before he found Sanders on a post route.

For the game, the Broncos averaged 3.4 yards per rushing attempt (18 carries for 62 yards) and 12.3 yards per pass play (5-of-7 for 86 yards) working from under center. From the shotgun, the Broncos averaged 6.6 yards per attempt (5 carries for 33 yards) and 5.3 yards per pass play (16-of-24 for 162 yards and three sacks for 19 yards in losses).

SPECIAL TEAMS: SOME GOOD, SOME BAD

With only three punts, Colby Wadman wasn’t busy, but his gross average of 47.7 yards and his net average of 45.3 placed him 10th and 8th, respectively, in the league rankings after one week.

When it came to hang time, Wadman carried over his solid work from the end of the preseason, averaging 4.19 seconds on his three punts. He dropped two inside the Oakland 20-yard line and avoided a touchback.

But for the Broncos’ special teams, the two most memorable moments were Brandon McManus’ near-miss on a 64-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the first half and the 72-yard kickoff return they surrendered to Oakland’s Dwayne Harris in the fourth quarter.

Harris’ runback was the longest in the league in Week 1 by a 29-yard margin. Another 29-yard return gave him a 50.5-yard average, placing the Broncos dead last in kickoff-return average allowed for the week.

Blocks on Devontae Booker and Keishawn Bierria spring Harris, who had galloped through a hole five yards wide between the Oakland 15- and 20-yard lines. He remained untouched until McManus got in his way, but he couldn’t make the stop, and Harris gained another 17 yards to the Denver 30-yard line.

“We had a guy sit down too far away from the ball, and then another guy that could’ve made the play, but didn’t,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said.

It was the longest kickoff return allowed by the Broncos in 24 games, since Dion Lewis’ 103-yard touchdown in the first quarter of New England’s 41-16 thrashing of the Broncos on Nov. 12, 2017.