Oakland led Broncos until final seconds of the game
DENVER >> Now that right there will be a tough one to swallow.
The Raiders didn’t trail for 59 minutes and 55 seconds yet still lost.
Gareon Conley and Leon Hall whiffed on two tackles inside 20 seconds left, allowing the Broncos to enter field goal range before Brandon McManus hit a 36-yard gamewinner.
The Raiders fall to 0-2 after
Sunday’s 20-19 loss, while their division rival Broncos move to
2-0.
Jon Gruden leaned up against a wall in the visitors locker room next to his starting quarterback’s locker 20 minutes after Sunday’s game ended. The two conversed briefly, about what exactly is unknown, but Derek Carr said his head coach remained positive after the game.
Gruden wore his patented Gruden grimace
postgame, but far fewer words of optimism came from the coach’s mouth than after a 20-point loss six days earlier. He stared down at the podium with immense frustration, cut off some questions and offered short, aggressive answers rather than his typical enlightened essays.
The Gruden honeymoon is clearly over, and has been for some time now. All offseason the hype surrounding Gruden’s return faced the possibility of vanishing if the Raiders lost multiple games to start the season. That’s exactly what has transpired, and this Raiders team has gone from intriguing mystery to early season disappointment in less than a week.
As Gruden stood next to Carr, the leader of the offense who entered the NFL record books Sunday with a completion percentage topping 90 percent, it was hard not to imagine how different their conversation would have been if the Raiders still had their defensive leader and Carr’s partner in crime of the last four seasons. If that certain defensive leader was in that conversation among the team’s nucleus, still wreaking havoc on opposing backfields and possibly helping reverse the Raiders’ fortunes in games like Sunday’s.
“We gotta do something. We gotta do something. We gotta get there,” Gruden said in a hushed tone. “We gotta win some 1-on-1s and maybe call some more blitzes. We gotta figure
something out. We will.”
Here are a couple takeaways from the game. RAIDERS DEFENSE CRACKS LATE AND STILL NO PASS RUSH >> The Raiders pitched only one scoreless half all last season, the first half in Week 12 against the Broncos in Oakland with Paxton Lynch at quarterback.
Gruden and Paul Guenther couldn’t have asked for a better defensive first half from a team that allowed 33 points six days ago. The Broncos scored 27 on the Seahawks in Week 1, so it’s not like they’re a dud either.
The Raiders couldn’t get to the quarterback — again — but found other ways to stifle the Broncos. Aside from a Maurice Hurst first-half sack, a Melvin/ Arden Key pressure early in the fourth quarter and Key drawing a hold inside the two-minute warning, the Raiders relied on sound tackling and a couple sturdy one-on-one coverages in the secondary.
The final test for Oakland’s defense came with the Broncos backed up against their own red zone, trailing by two with 1:58 left. The Raiders’ defense almost held, but those two missed tackles by Conley and Hall were enough to doom the Raiders in yet another loss.
RASHAAN MELVIN DELIVERS TIMELY INTERCEPTION >> The Raiders’ first interception last season came in Week 12. Against the Broncos. In the end zone. This season their first pick came 10 games earlier, but again against the Broncos. Melvin picked off Case Keenum not in the end zone, but on the 1-yard line, and returned
it 15 yards the other way.
Melvin jumped in front of a pass intended for tight end Jake Butt.
The pick stunted the lone threatening drive from the Broncos in the first half, as the home team only managed three first downs in the first 30 minutes.
Obviously the pick didn’t matter in the end, but the Raiders can at least say they have one under their belt.
CARR BOUNCES BACK FROM WEEK 1 DUD >> After throwing three interceptions against the Rams — Carr didn’t throw three in a single game last season — No. 4 rebounded in a big way against the Broncos.
Carr completed 21 of his first 22 passes and finished 29-for-32 with 288 passing yards and one touchdown. His 90.6-percent completion percentage ranks 23rd all time for a single game, according to Pro Football Reference, and it’s the best mark for a Raiders quarterback since Rich Gannon’s 89.5 completion percentage against the Broncos in 2002. Ken Stabler topped Carr’s Sunday clip twice, once in 1972 (90.9%) and once in 1975 (91.7%).
Granted, it’s only Week 2, but Carr needed this one after an abominable Week 1, even if it came in a loss. SETH ROBERTS TOUCHDOWN STREAK ENDS >> The Raiders are now 10-1 when Roberts catches a touchdown.
At one point this preseason it seemed as if Roberts would be traded or cut, but he delivered a clutch 20-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter to put the Raiders up 11. Carr fired the ball in between two defenders and Roberts held on and didn’t break stride before he reached the sideline.
Roberts last caught a touchdown in the 2017 season opener against the Titans in a Raiders win. His 2017 was largely disappointing, but maybe Sunday can spark something different for Roberts as the wideout caught three passes for 43 yards and the score.