It’s December 29th, 2019, and Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders travel to Denver to face off against Drew Lock and the Denver Broncos. Fans watched a very sluggish and, quite frankly, boring game. The Broncos would defend their home turf in a 16-15 victory. Broncos fans were more or less excited had they found their new franchise QB in Drew Lock to end the seemingly never-ending carousel of QBs. Well, that would start an 8 game losing streak and several new QBs, including the infamous Mr. Unlimited. Well, fast forward 1,743 from that game, and we find ourselves once again trying to defend our home turf against the Las Vegas Raiders.
There are a few key change-ups from the 2019 game. Both teams feature new QBs, new HCs, and new OCs. And, of course, the Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas. As we all gather around on a particularly warm Sunday afternoon in the Mile City, the opening kick-off takes place.
In the first quarter, most fans started to get some Déjà vu as the Raiders would fly down the field off an impressive catch by rookie TE Brock Bowers for a 57-yard TD. The Broncos would fire back with the all-too-familiar punt. The Raiders would stall out on a 13-play drive and kick a FG leading the game 10-0
Quarter 2 would start with the Broncos finally getting on the board by kicking a 51-yard FG. QB Gardner Minshew would start another impressive drive, keeping the Bronco’s normally tight defense looking lost. The Raiders are now set on 1st and goal on the Broncos 5 yard line. Most fans expecting another back-breaking TD. The fans begging the defense to make a game-changing play. And game-changing play is what we got. Patrick Surtain would pick the ball odd in the endzone and run it back for a 101-yard pick 6, the second-longest pick 6 in team history. After an extra point by Wil Lutz, the game would now be 10-10. After the brutal pick 6, the Raiders’ offense seemed broken as they would now trade punts with the Broncos the rest of the quarter. The Broncos, on the drive of the quarter, would score a FG to close out the half 13-10 with the lead. The 3rd quarter would give us Bo Nix’s 2nd passing touchdown and CB Riley Moss his first-ever Interception. This would lead the Raiders to switch QBs and start Aidan O’Connell under center. The 4th quarter would feature 2 more TDs by Bo 1, throwing 1 rushing, and Patrick Surtain getting his 2nd pick of the game, unfortunately, not for a TD. Aidan O’Connell would eventually lead the Raiders to a garbage time TD, and the game would end 34-18.
The good news is that we finally beat the Raiders. I feel our play calling leans on the more predictable side of things, but when it runs well, it runs like a fairly smooth running machine. I think we take the safety chains off Bo and the offense and what they are capable of. I think we are in for a fun year, Broncos Country. Bo is steadily improving, and the defense is playing lights out. We have a couple more winnable games ahead of us, and I’d like to see this team take advantage of them. The Broncos end the week 3-2 and get ready to face the 2-2 LA Chargers who are fresh off a bye week.
Darian Thompson