The Raiders win on special teams
The 1991 season was an interesting one for these two teams. The Raiders were coming off of the worst postseason defeat in their history, a 51-3 debacle in the 1990 AFC Championship against Buffalo. The Broncos finished the 1990 season 5-11 but they bounced back a year later to go 11-5 and they captured their fourth AFC West crown in five years. Two of their five losses were to the silver and black. Los Angeles would finish 9-7 and as a result, they settled for a wildcard berth. In Week 11, the Raiders traveled to Mile High Stadium knowing that Denver would clinch the division with a win. The 75,000 Broncos fans present would be sadly disappointed even if they eventually got what they wanted anyway.
A game that ends in a 17-16 finale is never easy for either side. Denver raced to a 10-7 halftime lead off an Elway touchdown run and a short field goal. The Raiders’ only response was a touchdown by halfback Marcus Allen to tight end Andrew Glover. Early in the third quarter, the Raiders regained the lead on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jay Schroeder to Tim Brown and they extended their advantage to 17-10 off a short field goal following a turnover.
Elway brought Denver within one point with a short touchdown toss to Mark Jackson with roughly 8:30 to go in the game. Then, things got interesting. Los Angeles would drive down the field to attempt a field goal to try and go up four. Jeff Jaeger’s kick was blocked and Denver got the ball back in need of a field goal to win. Elway worked his magic again to put Denver within range. David Treadwell’s 48-yard field goal try was blocked by Scott Davis.
Later, the Broncos drove down the field again and Treadwell lined up for another field goal try with only twelve seconds to go. The attempt was blocked again, this time by James Fitzpatrick and the Raiders won.
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