Raiders' Improbable Comeback Bid Falls Short vs. Broncos

Welcome in to the final impromptu recap here on this blog as Open Thread and Full Recap posts are coming back next week. Today, the Raiders drop their 2nd game in a row and they dropped a big time division game, falling to the Broncos at Mile High 10-16.

I'll admit, I made it just in time from work mid 3rd quarter and yes, I saw the Derek Carr injury. I saw that Mack was single-handedly keeping the game alive (Edwards Jr. too). I saw that EJ Manuel almost gave the Raiders an improbable victory until that interception to end the game. But, going back to the Carr injury, I'm sure we all had that deja vu of last season like "oh, here we go again." It looked a lot worse on replay as Carr got knee'd to the lower back area, he also got his neck slightly pulled. From what I'm hearing after the game, the Raiders might be in luck as the early diagnosis is that Carr has back spasms. But, expect the unexpected, we could see an extensive look on EJ Manuel. More to say as I go through the positives and negatives.

(+)

Johnny Holton, 1 reception, 64 yards, 1 TD. This was one of the lone highlights for the Raiders this game. Looking at the play in the highlights, Carr pumped once and placed the ball perfectly to Holton. Holton continued to run an "out and up" type of route to leave Darian Stewart in one-on-one coverage and burn him for the 64 yard TD. 

Khalil Mack, 5 defense, 2 sacks. He could've had a forced fumble if Siemian's knee wasn't down. The defense played well in terms of bending, but not breaking. Mack was the focal point of that. It's not exactly like the 5-sack game two years ago, but Mack took over when needed to keep the Raiders hanging around in Denver.

Mario Edwards Jr., 2 tackles, 1 sack. MEJ is slowly regaining his form he showed in his rookie year back in 2015. The D-line missed his presence big time last year. He got a good sack on Siemian on the Broncos' opening drive and provided much-needed pressure up the middle to force 3 and outs on the Broncos' offense.

EJ Manuel, 11 of 17 passes, 106 yards, 1 INT. The game-losing interception certainly hurt EJ's stock for a bit, but he almost pulled off an improbable comeback. You knew Denver's defense was gonna be blood-thirsty when EJ Manuel was put in the game. But, he held his own despite a couple of miscues. It would've been understandable if he was a rookie, but burning two timeouts late in the game was bad for a 4-year NFL veteran QB. But, he was calm and collected, driving the Raiders down the field and in scoring position against a vaunted Denver defense.

(-)

Late game missed opportunities. Denver dominated the first three quarters with their defense, but the Raiders had a couple of missed opportunities to steal this game away. As mentioned, Khalil Mack could've had a forced fumble recovered by Mario Edwards Jr. had Siemian's knee not go down. Karl Joseph deflected a pass and a couple of Raiders were in vicinity to pick it off, but it landed in the hands of Emmanuel Sanders. Jared Cook had two perfect attempts to put the Raiders within two points, but the ball went through his hands. Amari Cooper dropped a pair of easy catches. Raiders had every chance to steal this game late in the 4th quarter.

4th and 11. The logic behind the failed Marquette King fake punt run was that Coach Del Rio and probably Coach Seely (special teams coach) wanted to give the Raiders' offense behind EJ Manuel some momentum and confidence. It was questionable because the Raiders were in their own territory and it gave Denver all kinds of opportunity to tact on to their lead. Also, Denver was ready for it. The fact that they were gonna try to run it with King made it all too predictable. Luckily, McManus missed the field goal to keep it within a two possession game. 

MVP

Khalil Mack, 4 tackles, 2 sacks

The defense deserves a little bit of credit for living up to the bend-but-don't-break philosophy, but that all starts up front with Mack. Like I said, Mack single-handedly kept the Raiders within this game.






Conclusion

We can all agree, these last two games were a debacle. Luckily, outside of the Thursday Night game against the Chiefs in Week 7 and the Bills in Buffalo in Week 8, the Raiders have a favorable stretch to get back on top of things. They start a three-game home stand against Baltimore, LA Chargers, and against the Chiefs on Thursday Night. Then, they travel to Buffalo and down to Miami to face the Dolphins in prime time. The Ravens are having trouble. I don't know what's up with the Chargers as they continue to blow winnable games. The Dolphins are a train wreck as of late. If I could rank between the Chiefs and the Bills, unequivocally, the Chiefs are the #1 test for the Raiders. With this loss today, the Raiders have dug themselves in a little bit of a ditch in the AFC West Race. Denver keeps 2nd place. And Kansas City is still sitting undefeated and they have home-field advantage against the same Redskins team that put the clamps on the Raiders Sunday Night. Tomorrow's game is critical to watch. In short, the Chiefs must lose tomorrow. And in turn, the Raiders have to get that monkey of their back. They need to beat the Chiefs. But for now, they must move on and take care of business against Baltimore and the Chargers these next two weeks. Like I said, I'll be back next week to provide some open thread and full recap posts. I'll see you guys later.