Raiders

2019 Raiders In Review: Week 1 vs Broncos

/ Las Vegas Raiders / By

The Las Vegas Raiders had a solid 2019 offseason in the sense that they had a good draft and added quality free agents to help contribute. The Antonio Brown fiasco, however, soured the team right before their primetime opener on Monday Night Football. As a result, the Raiders showed up ready for war against an AFC West rival.

Raiders’ 1st Quarter

Opening Drive

The Raiders came out hot to start their final season in Oakland. They started with their newly acquired running back Josh Jacobs getting fed, and then featured some short passes from quarterback Derek Carr to Ryan Grant to get the ball rolling. They ate up about eight minutes of the clock between feeding Jacobs, and Carr adding some nice passes to Darren Waller.

Sealing the drive with a short touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams to run up for a 7-0 lead.

Stalled Broncos

The Denver Broncos intended to respond quickly, but they were stuffed on their first play for a five-yard loss thanks to Josh Mauro, their next play ended it in a three and out with stops by Clelin Ferrell, Johnathan Hankins, Lamarcus Joyner, and Karl Joseph, respectively. Raiders came to play.

End of the first

Raiders didn’t do much on their second possession outside of feeding Jacobs a few more times, keeping Williams and Waller involved and even getting rookie Hunter Renfrow in the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep the chains going and they had to punt. Broncos started marching back to end the first.

2nd Quarter

Sloppy Start

Broncos looked to be starting a decent drive, then both teams got sloppy trading off penalty flags from rookies Jonathan Abram and Clelin Ferrell of Raiders, and Ron Leary of the Broncos, this drive ended when Benson Mayowa got the strip-sack on Joe Flacco, that Broncos were able to recover, although it still brought in the special teams.

Sloppy 2nd

Raiders started their drive with a couple of offensive holding penalties from Trent Brown and Jordan Devey. Carr fed Jacobs some more and hit Waller and rookie Foster Moreau with small passes to chip away before nailing this beauty to Williams:

After that play, Carr nickel and dimed his way down the field spreading the ball around to Waller, Jacobs, Renfrow, and Grant for short gains before Jacobs hammered in a two-yarder touchdown to push the team up 14-0.

Broncos marched the ball down their next drive but failed on their field goal attempt when Brian McManus missed his 64-yard attempt. Raiders went into the locker room having full control. Carr was on fire and giddy, and he had every reason to be.

3rd Quarter

New Game

The Broncos came back out fired up, they had a good pep talk and marched down the field slowly. Raiders defense tried their best and Mayowa looked to have a strip-sack again, Head coach Jon Gruden thought so too and threw the challenge flag, the play stood and it wasn’t a fumble, but it was still fourth down, and Broncos got on the board with a field goal. 14-3 Raiders

Sails Crumbling

Raiders came out to a thud going three and out on their first try. Now it seemed like the tides were changing, Broncos were marching back and no matter how hard the defense was playing they just kept pushing. Stomachs dropped around the stadium when Abram lowered his head on a hit to Lindsey drawing a flag but also colliding with Gareon Conley.

The penalty put Broncos at the 13 but luckily the defense held up, most importantly rookie Maxx Crosby and Karl Joseph, and they had to settle for another three, but bringing it to a one-score game. 14-6 Raiders

End Of The 3rd

Raiders fought to drive down the field making small plays with Waller, Grant, and Jacobs. Even started getting DeAndre Washington involved but to no avail, they had to punt with 1:24 left in the third. Broncos didn’t get anywhere though as this quarter ended with them punting right back.

4th quarter

Ground and Pound

Raiders started the fourth on their 40-yard line but a few runs by Jacobs in addition to a couple of Williams’ receptions and they were right there for Jacobs to run in his second touchdown of the night. 21-6 Raiders

Trying to make something happen…

Broncos came out with a couple of quick passes then Flacco hit a nice bomb to Emmanuel Sanders, they were looking like they were going to score by the time they hit the red-zone but Mullen and Crosby made some stops with some help from Tahir Whitehead and then Ferrell adding the icing by getting his first NFL sack

Forcing a field goal. 21-9 Raiders, 8:43 left.

Nail In The Coffin

Broncos kicked off and Dwayne Harris lit them up for it!

Raiders just kept feeding Jacobs, ate away some clock, and kicked a field goal. 24-9 Raiders, 4:41 left to go.

Final Score For The Raiders

Broncos ran “no-huddle” and marched down the field, ending with Flacco hitting Sanders for the touchdown. 24-16, 2:18 left

Carr got Washington and Jacobs involved to run the clock, hitting Williams when he had to for the first, then he and Jacobs ate up the rest of the clock to end the game-winning their season and home opener on Monday Night Football, 24-16

Related: A Look Back At The Trade That Never Was

Review

That was an awesome game, definitely got the team and fans pumped up. All the new members contributed right away but unfortunately, this was also the only game Abram played as he tore his shoulder sometime early in the game. He showed his toughness working through it though. Jacobs showed the kind of workhorse he can be. Renfrow showed his handling skills. Williams and Waller were consistent threats and on the defensive side, Ferrell, Crosby, and Mullen helped guys like Mayowa and Hankins dominate up front. They looked good and had some fun under the primetime lights. Raiders started 1-0 for the third straight year.

Here are some more highlights from the game.

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*Top Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images

*For more Raiders stuff, keep it here at the Ramble. To check other things Ben’s written, head to eagleyeforum.com

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