NFL
NFL Week 10
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The Denver Broncos have beaten the Las Vegas Raiders 10-7 in a sloppy game full of miscues on “Thursday Night Football.”
The Broncos extended their winning streak to seven games. That’s their longest since 2015, a season that ended with them winning the Super Bowl.
The Raiders took an early 7-0 lead thanks to an Ashton Jeanty touchdown, but a Bo Nix pass to Troy Franklin tied the game at 7-7 late in the second quarter. A Wil Lutz field goal for the Broncos, set up by a blocked punt, was the only scoring in the second half. Daniel Carlson missed a potential game-tying 48-yard field goal with less than five minutes remaining.
Denver improved to 8-2 while Las Vegas fell to 2-7.
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With their seventh consecutive win, the Denver Broncos have created more separation over the Los Angeles Chargers atop the AFC West for the time being, now leading the division by two games in the win column.
Los Angeles will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on “Sunday Night Football” this weekend while the Kansas City Chiefs are on a bye after a loss to the Buffalo Bills on the road in Week 9.
Despite the Broncos' winning streak, the AFC West remains wide open.
Denver has plenty of things to figure out on offense, because the Broncos will be welcoming a much tougher AFC West foe into Empower Field at Mile High next week.
The Broncos will face off against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Denver on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 4:25 pm ET. That game can be seen on CBS.
Pete Carroll said after the game that Geno Smith suffered a “thigh bruise” and he’s not worries about a long-term injury.
The good news for Smith is that he gets an extra few days to rest up before Las Vegas is in another prime-time matchup, against the Cowboys on “Monday Night Football” at Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 17.
Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET and that game can be seen on ABC and ESPN.
Nik Bonitto generated 8 pressures and 1.5 sacks on 24 pass rushes tonight, including 6 quick pressures. His average time to pressure (2.04 seconds) was the second fastest of the season (minimum 5 pressures). He currently leads the league in total pressures (51) and quick pressures (28).
The Raiders couldn’t overcome a Broncos pass rush that could challenge the all-time single-season record for sacks and added six more tonight. The result was a game filled with punts and few scoring opportunities, aside from Ashton Jeanty’s early rushing touchdown. A late missed 48-yard field goal attempt by Daniel Carlson sealed the Raiders’ fate.
Raiders quarterback Geno Smith played in visible pain for much of the fourth quarter. He took his first trip to the injury tent after getting tripped up by Denver’s Nik Bonitto. Backup quarterback Kenny Pickett entered for one play — an incomplete pass to Jack Bech — and set up a Raiders punt.
Smith came back onto the field for each of the Raiders’ final two drives, but was limping badly. He was sacked six times for 29 yards.
Smith also threw his 12th interception of the season against the Broncos, though it was tipped by Jeanty before getting picked off. With it, Smith passed Tua Tagovailoa for the most interceptions in the NFL. No other quarterback has thrown more than eight.
Sean Payton spoke postgame about the decision for the Broncos to try a 59-yard field goal in the third quarter:
💬 “Hindsight, me attempting that field goal, I wouldn't have done it.”
Another problem for the Raiders was the lack of involvement from tight end Brock Bowers. One week after returning from injury and recording 127 receiving yards and three touchdowns in an overtime loss to the Jaguars, Bowers was barely seen. He had one catch on three targets for a career-low performance.
To add concern to the Raiders’ path forward, there are injury issues outside of Smith. Guard Jackson Powers-Johnson was carted off the field in the first half and ruled out with an ankle injury and guard Dylan Parham suffered an ankle injury of his own.
At least they have a mini-bye to get healthy as they don’t play again until next Monday night when they head to Dallas to face the Cowboys.
In the Raiders first game after the Jakobi Meyers trade, Tyler Lockett led Las Vegas in receiving on “Thursday Night Football.”
The veteran wideout, who was also Geno Smith’s teammate in Seattle, saw a team-high six targets and caught five passes for 44 yards.
Brock Bowers caught just one pass for 31 yards and Tre Tucker caught two passes for 28 yards.
J.K. Dobbins rushed for 77 yards on 18 carries tonight (4.3 yards per carry) and sealed it with his late first-down run.
He has rushed for at least 61 yards in every game this season. For an offense that doesn’t hang its hat on much right now, Dobbins has been a constant.
More from Broncos coach Sean Payton, now on the team’s struggling offense:
💬 “We had 8 penalties. Let’s start there … I felt like it was a night where, when it was third down, I was looking at the wrong section of the third-down sheet. When you’re over there too much, it becomes difficult.”
Broncos coach Sean Payton:
💬 “I’m real proud of the fight. Give Vegas credit. They came in and had a real good plan, did some things that were challenging.”
Payton lamented the penalties.
Per the Amazon Prime Video broadcast, the Broncos have an NFL-best 109 sacks since the start of last season.
That’s 37 more than the next-highest total: a four-way tie between the Cowboys, Vikings, Chargers and Seahawks at 72.
After totaling just four carries in the first half, J.K. Dobbins got going in the second half and was pivotal in Denver closing out this game in the final minutes.
The 26-year-old finished the night with 77 yards rushing on 18 carries, including 25 yards on the Broncos last drive which iced the game.
Some post-game footage of Geno Smith from Scoop City co-host James Palmer shows the Raiders quarterback still not moving right several minutes after the end of the game.
The Broncos began the third-quarter possession at the Las Vegas 33-yard line after an interception and big return by linebacker Dondrea Tillman. The Denver offense had already punted five times and ended another drive with an interception, but now they were in prime position to grab the lead.
Instead, after a penalty and two plays of minimal gain, the Broncos faced a fourth down from the 39-yard line — and punted the ball away. The Broncos later began a drive at the 12-yard line of the Raiders after recovering a blocked punt, only to move 2 yards backward in their next two plays before kicking a field goal.
Those blown opportunities were a microcosm of Denver’s meager offensive performance. It was one thing to tally only 18 points against the Houston Texans’ top-ranked defense four days ago. It was another to not be able to move the ball against a Raiders defense that entered the week giving up 333.4 yards per game, the 14th-most in the league.
The Broncos went three-and-out on their first four possessions of the game and didn’t get a first down until midway through the second quarter.
Final – Broncos 10, Raiders 7
Let’s survey the carnage after an ugly, ugly one in Denver.
Total Yards
First Downs
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Possession Time
💬 Christopher V: “Lose 2 games in 4 days by 4 points total. There is nothing more Raiders than that. I am so sick of being terrible. Year after year after year.”
💬 Blue M: “My goodness how can Denver about to be 8-2? Their offense is just horrid. I get that the D is respectable, but the overall package is excruciatingly painful to watch.”
💬 Mark M: “Hey Broncos Nation, it’s a win. Despite some unfortunate clumsiness, the team worked their butts off to correct and it paid off. When you’re working on problems after a win, it’s safe to say these are good problems. Good hunting.”
💬 Jeremy W: “We might be the worst 8-2 team in the history of the NFL.”
For the second straight week, the Denver Broncos found a way to win an ugly football game despite pedestrian quarterback play from Bo Nix.
As we saw again, the second-year quarterback has been inconsistent this season with both his decision making and accuracy which stunted Denver’s offense for a majority of the night. Nix finished the night 16-of-28 passing for 150 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The first interception came on a ball he overthrew into double coverage and the second came on a pass that Troy Franklin dropped.
Like last week though, in the latter stages tonight he made just enough plays to help the Broncos get a win.
The Broncos do enough to become the NFL’s first 8-win team, extending their longest-in-a-decade winning streak to seven games with a 10-7 win against the Raiders.
Denver could use a break. This was its seventh game in 38 days. Now, a mini-bye before the Chiefs come to town.
