Denver Broncos stay unbeaten after OaklandRaiders win

Raiders running back Latavius Murray sits on the bench during the second half of Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos.

Chris Harris’ no fly zone saves the day. Then there was Kansas City: Jamaal Charles coughs up the game in the waning seconds, fumbling at the Chiefs’ 21 yard line, where Bradley Roby recovered the ball and ran it back for the game-winning score. It’s thereafter where we’ll find out if the Broncos truly are great defensively.

He hadn’t learned that before Sunday?

The game against the Raiders on Sunday was Manning’s first time to fail to score a touchdown since 2003. Is he standing still?

Actually, it was a ball they didn’t catch that killed the Raiders, who are a sour 2-3 heading into the bye week when their season carried so much promise last month. The Raiders lost the game, 16-10. “I want to do a better job and do a better job playing quarterback to help our team get into the end zone more”.

Sunday, those eyes were cast on that very, very bad interception.

“We had three wide [receivers] on the field, and they were playing us a certain way, which I thought was conducive to throwing the ball and we were doing that pretty good, we just weren’t finishing”, he said.

Carr motioned to the sideline after the play, putting up four fingers. The Denver defense looks even bigger.

After the game, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was pissed. You can not ask any more of your defense to step up on third down and make plays. Denver had just two rushing first downs.

Upon his hiring, Del Rio talked of a culture change – just as virtually every National Football League coach who takes over a losing team does when he walks into a new building. He’s the same way as all of us. “I felt (Carrie’s chest issue) would settle down, and I felt it did have a chance to settle down”.

“That’s a good place to start”, Del Rio said.

“We take our lumps”. In fact, Manning continues to look downright pedestrian, with a 77.3 passer rating that would be his lowest over a full season since his rookie year in 1998.

And on Sunday Woodson intercepted Peyton Manning for the first time in their long careers, to cut off a possible Broncos touchdown drive at the end of the first half.

Woodson and Manning will be forever joined by being on the stage together during the 1997 Heisman Trophy ceremony won by Woodson. Denver’s defense threw a few curves at Carr with disguised coverages and blitzes.

-Quarterback David Carr completed 26 of 39 passes for 249 yards and had a 3-yard touchdown pass to running back Marcel Reece, but the interception in Denver territory with the Raiders trailing 9-7 was a backbreaker. Beckham, hobbled by a bum hamstring, was able to reenter at the end of that drive and drew a pivotal pass-interference call. He could never move the offense into Denver’s red zone.

Oakland held onto the lead most of the game, but their offense came to a screeching halt in the second half. “It turned into a pick six the other way”.

Two missed field goals by Sebastian Janikowski and a Derek Carr fourth-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown spoiled a valiant defensive effort. But this was the exact play sent into the huddle by offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave. “I’ve seen a lot of those convert and stuff in situations like that”. “We had to teach Eli the 12 teams in the SEC before he went to Ole Miss”.

And his conclusion about how it fits into his progress?

“I was a little anxious”, Janikowski said. And we can. We’ve shown that we can. Does any more need to be said? The Raiders should have beat Denver.

What happened next surprised Carr.