Alright welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders’ final regular season game against the divisional rival, Denver Broncos where the Broncos put a hurt on the Raiders 14-47 to clinch a first round bye in the playoffs.
Outscored by the Broncos this season 21-88, that’s pretty much the story regarding the Raiders’ divisional matchups with the Broncos this season. First they make it look competitive, then it looked like the Broncos were just toying with us, then they rub it in our faces to run up the score. All I can say is f*ck that team. The one divisional rival I hate with a passion, but words are meaningless now that the season is already over and the Broncos are going to be sitting comfy waiting for their divisional opponent while the Raiders, well, an extreme makeover is coming within the team from top to bottom.
The Positives
Keith McGill, 5 tackles, 1 fumble return for a TD. Perhaps the only positive I can think of this game because the Raiders managed to showcase what McGill is made of being drafted out of the 4th round. T.J. Carrie is out, Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers on IR, Chimdi Chekwa inactive, and McGill for the most part did a solid job. He may have gotten beat on a couple of plays by Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, but McGill’s coverage on them has been fairly decent for a rookie and cornerback is the hardest position to transition from college to the pros.
The Negatives
Offense. Too conservative, too many dropped balls. Mychal Rivera and Andre Holmes are the scapegoats on that offense. Rivera had a lot of drops, Holmes had a lot of them as well. Particularly Holmes, third quarter, McFadden and Carr executed a flea flicker well and Holmes dropped it. He may have been contacted by a Broncos defender that might’ve affected the route, but he was wide open, no excuses not to haul that in. It’s not just Rivera and Holmes, the running game didn’t show up, but since Jack Del Rio came to Denver, they’ve owned our rushing attack since.
3rd down defense. The Broncos offense made it look easy on third down. Their receivers were getting wide open for big chunks of yardage. D.J. Hayden’s coverage had a lot to do with some of those 3rd down conversions. He was playing the ball off 10 yards and was just late on getting back to Demaryius Thomas or Emmanuel Sanders. He played better in the 2nd half though, I’ll give Hayden that. Also, Khalil Mack’s hamstring problem had a lot to do with that too. The defense wasn’t getting any disruption when Manning was looking to throw the ball.
Coaching. Well, prepare for a massive overhaul in the coaching staff. Greg Olson’s gone definitively by season’s end, Jason Tarver’s gone. Olson all game long was being conservative and didn’t open up the playbook till mid 3rdquarter. Tony Sparano, there’s a reason he’s interim coach at best and not permanent head coaching material. Not trusting Janikowski to kick a field goal to keep it a two possession game, bad. The Broncos scored right after that, though it was a field goal. If the Raiders were to keep Sparano, then keep him as the O-line coach. Olson, Tarver, everyone else on the coaching, they’re all likely gone by season’s end.
Conclusion
Overall, glad the season’s over with. In what began with high expectations to shock the NFL world turned into a nightmarish ride for us Raider fans. There are some positives to take out though in this lost season, like how bright the future is with Carr at the helm and Mack being a future superstar on defense, likely he wins Defensive Rookie of The Year. However, it’s time for the organization to shake things up big time in the offseason. Anyway, thank you Raider Nation for keeping track of my coverage of the games during the season. However, football coverage is not over yet considering I have the Super Bowl in February to cover. Be sure to stand by for my yearly “Season in Review” post that I’ll put up before the New Year. Now time to fully focus on basketball. Until next season, I’ll see you guys later.
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