Takeaways power 3rd straight win
LAS VEGAS — For most of Derek Carr’s career with the Raiders, he has had to carry a heavy load whenever the team had success.
That’s what made this game so enjoyable with a powerful running game and opportunistic defense taking control.
Josh Jacobs ran for 112 yards and two TDs and Jeff Heath had two of Las Vegas’ five takeaways to help the Raiders beat Denver 3712 on Sunday for their third straight win.
“It’s kind of awesome,” Carr said. “As I get older, I let the young guys do more of the work. It’s kind of nice that we can win in multiple ways. Coach preaches it all the time, once we find what’s working, we’re going to keep doing that.”
The Raiders ( 63) have topped 150 yards rushing in three straight games for the second time in the past 10 seasons, and the defense has shown signs of improvement, capped by the four interceptions and one fumble recovery for a team that entered the game tied for the fewest takeaways in the league with five.
“I know that the game starts with the run and ends with the run. That’s a testament to the Oline,” Jacobs said. “The last three weeks in a row, we’ve had 150plus yards on the ground. It’s good to see we’re putting our dominance on the game.”
Heath intercepted two Drew Lock passes in the first half, Carl Nassib and Nick Kwiatkoski got picks in the fourth quarter and Nevin Lawson forced and recovered a fumble by DaeSean Hamilton to send the Broncos ( 36) to their third loss in four games.
The game changed late in the first half after Lock appeared to run for a TD in the closing seconds that would have given the Broncos a 1310 lead.
Tight end Noah Fant was called for holding in the end zone on the play, and Lock threw his second interception to Heath on the next play.
“Everybody’s disappointed,” Denver head coach Vic Fangio said. “All of our fingerprints are on that game — coaches and players. Nobody’s happy about it, obviously.”
The Raiders then put away the game with two long scoring drives in the third quarter, leading to a 52yard field goal by Daniel Carlson and a 5yard TD run for Jacobs’ second score.
Carlson added another field goal and Devontae Booker added two late TD runs against his former team.
Las Vegas has won three straight and is firmly in the playoff hunt with a showdown at home against divisionleading Kansas City ( 81) up next.
“We don’t have much time to celebrate,” head coach Jon Gruden said. “We have to play the Chiefs. We had 87 puntreturn yards called back. We had a penalty on 4thandinches. We left some plays out there that our guys are capable of making.”
Carr went 16for25 for only 154 yards, his third straight game under 200 yards passing. But the Raiders have won all three, because of the running game and defense.
Lock went 23for47 for 257 yards, with four interceptions and a garbagetime TD pass to Hamilton.
“It was pretty normal looks we were expecting,” Lock said. “I just didn’t put the ball in our receivers’ hands. I put it in their hands. Could’ve been some better plays there by me, without a doubt.”