Week 12: RAIDERS vs. Denver Broncos 1st Half Open Thread and Discussion

Must-win game today. This is the first half open thread of the Raiders' Week 12 divisional matchup vs. the Broncos. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.

Q2

DEN 0 OAK 14

Well, from the looks of that shot, it looks like the Broncos are going to be turning back to Trevor Siemian in the 2nd half. It should make this game a lot interesting and luckily, the Raiders will be up by two TDs. So, the Raiders lose a couple of key cogs in the offense. Crabtree got ejected. Gabe Jackson got ejected. Amari Cooper took quite a hit by Darian Stewart and is questionable to return. They are absolutely fortunate to build a 14-0 lead. They've rekindled a formula they established when they beat the Broncos last season, pound the football. Lynch, Washington, and Richard each got touches and churned up some good gains against the Broncos' d-line. Even though going up against Paxton Lynch, the defense is the one that standing out. First game under John Pagano and they've finally get that elusive first INT from Bowman with an assist from Reggie Nelson off a series of tips. Bruce Irvin managed to get a sack. The D-line was getting some pretty good pressure up against Paxton Lynch. But, then again, it's Paxton Lynch. It's the guys first game and the defense was expected to feast on him. Now, if Siemian starts based on him putting on the helmet at the end of the first half, it will present a more interesting test for the defense in Pagano's first game as DC. With the Raiders' primary receivers out, they have to keep running the football on this thin Denver D-line and get Jared Cook involved as a primary go-to-guy. The 2nd half will open up shortly.

Q1

DEN 0 OAK 0

Derek Carr fumbling the football with 47 seconds left is not a good way to end the quarter. Both teams were struggling to get something going and they just gift wrapped the Broncos good field position to score. Overall, this was a mundane quarter. The big highlight of this was the massive brawl early on in this quarter that was ignited by Crabtree and Talib. We definitely haven't forgotten about that chain snatching incident last year I hope to avoid an explanation of this personal rivalry. Both players ejected was expected. I didn't understand why Gabe Jackson got ejected and I saw replay that he pushed the official. Definitely not okay and the ejection was justified.