The Las Vegas Raiders marched into Mile High and dominated the Denver Broncos more than the final score showed.
Well Earned Victory Lap
A huge victory lap around the stadium was earned though I’m not sure if it was taken. Regardless, the Silver and Black thumped the Mile High City dwellers out of their home field advantage at Empower Field. The Broncos simply could not make a move without the Raiders having an effective answer on offense or defense.
The Offense Came to Play
On offense, Derek Carr was 18 out of 27 for 341 yards and two touchdowns, with no picks. And there were no lost fumbles though he was sacked twice. The running back tandem of Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake made their presence felt during the game against Denver.
After a bit of a quiet start to this season, Drake got his first touchdown in a Raiders’ uniform with a second-quarter score on a 31-yard connection from Carr. He followed that up with an 18-yard scoring run in the third quarter. Drake finished with 73 yards of offense: 34 rushing, 39 receiving on just six touches. Meanwhile, Jacobs ended up with 53 yards on 16 carries, 29 receiving yards, and a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to put the Raiders up 31-10.
The Raiders played a complete game on offense. Not only did their running back tandem finally have a breakthrough, but the receiving corps stepped up as well. Carr made completions to eight different receivers in the game. Not only did he spread the ball around, but he had a deep hookup with Henry Ruggs III for a 48-yard long receiving touchdown on the Raiders’ first drive.
Defense Feasts
Not to be left behind, the Raiders’ defense came out in force, and they came to play. Maxx Crosby led the Raiders with three sacks and galvanized the entire defense en-route to five total sacks, three interceptions, eight pass deflections, and one forced fumble and a recovery. It was one of the finest performances the defense has put together in a few seasons.
Episode Wrap Up
After discussing the game, we moved on to look at the upcoming match against the Philadelphia Eagles. We each talk about keys to victory and our score predictions. Even though Homer was not on this episode, we still had our weekly quiz. Heidi got the answer wrong and then kept complaining about pigeons. We wrap up the episode with another amazing Heidi’s Hero.
*Join Heidi Stabbert, Raider Homer and T3RaiderFax on their Las Vegas Raiders show The Only Nation Podcast. Sponsored by Chuckie’s Thugzz and available on podcast platforms everywhere.
*Top Image: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images