So where did that come from? The Denver Broncos and their wily head coach, outfoxed (pun intended) the Oakland Raiders on their way to 298 rushing yards.
What’s more, they didn’t need their offensive line to really do much, such was the confusion in the Raiders' defense. Indeed, don’t be fooled by the near 300-hundred yard rushing day as a testament to the might of the Broncos, but instead accept that the Raiders made a number of key errors on plays that left blockers with little to do, and ball carriers with space aplenty.
It’s a shame because the numerous gaffs the Raiders made took the shine (and then some) off an at times extremely impressive first start for Carson Palmer. Such is life as part of the Raider Nation.
Let’s look at that and more in our performances of note.
Denver Broncos – Three Performances of Note
Run, run and run some more
It didn’t matter if it was Willis McGahee (+2.9 rushing) or Tim Tebow (+3.5 rushing), the Broncos found it far too easy to pick up yards on the ground. Normally, when your team picks up 298 yards rushing you can look at your offensive line and think they’ve had a day to remember, but this wasn’t the case. The line wasn’t terrible, but it was truly a case of the Raiders struggling to deal with runs to the perimeter, with a number of defenders losing contain to facilitate big runs. It’s telling that outside of McGahee’s 60-yard touchdown, the Broncos only picked up 52 yards between the tackles, instead relying on some sharp cutting and good bursts of speed to rip-off numerous big gains. A lot of credit has to go to the offensive scheme and to the rushers themselves who made the most of the space provided to them.
Tackle Troubles
Normally, when I write about tackle troubles for the Broncos I’m referring to Orlando Franklin (+0.3), but he held his own in this one. Instead, I’m turning my attention to Ryan Clady (-4.7) who didn’t have the best of days. Sure the scorers didn’t credit him with giving up a sack (on the same play he gave up a declined holding penalty to Desmond Bryant), but Bryant brought Tebow down, and that was the least of Clady’s issues in pass protection. He gave up two more penalties that were not declined, two hits and two pressures in an uncharacteristically bad day.
Why you should use high picks on linebackers
What a surprise. Khaled Elsayed of Pro Football Focus is about to launch into a paragraph praising Von Miller (+6.5). Well what else am I suppose to do when he plays like this? Proving the naysayers wrong, Miller was more than just a pass rusher in this one as he twice badly beat Khalif Barnes in the running game to pick up one tackle for a loss and another for a short gain. Still his best did come while rushing the passer where he took Carson Palmer down an incredible seven times! That’s worthy of an exclamation mark even if one of them was an unnecessary roughness penalty and another was a sack called back for a hold in the secondary (though Miller registered pressure within 2.1 seconds). Essentially, Miller destroyed Khalif Barnes, and when Joe Barksdale was forced into the lineup at left guard, Miller was so quickly by Barksdale you needed to watch it in slow motion to make sure he was actually attempting to block him. This kid is special and I really can’t say that enough.
Oakland – Three Performances of Note
Introducing your new starting QB
It wasn’t a perfect first start by any means by Carson Palmer (+4.6), but it was definitely encouraging. Two of his touchdown throws beat tight coverage and were as close to perfectly thrown as it gets. He hit on a number of others too as he instantly found his stride again as a starter. Watch his completion to Denarius Moore with 5:25 to go in the game, with the Raiders down by seven and with 19 yards to get the chains moving. That’s a big time throw, and Palmer had moments where he looked a big time player in this one. Now there were some bad decisions, with Palmer forcing the ball a little too much at times, but overall how can you not be impressed given how little time he has spent with the team?
Why you shouldn’t use high draft picks on linebackers
I don’t really know what to say about Aaron Curry (-3.1). Seeing his face after he was whistled for a late hit out of bounds led to this strange feeling of sympathy for him. Then I remembered how much money he has earned for playing so poorly. This game was no different with Curry displaying the kind of football instincts that led the Seahawks to trading him and replacing him with a late round rookie. Now to be fair he did make some nice plays, especially early in the game. But as the game wore on he seemed to forget himself more and more, constantly taking bad angles and regularly finding himself out of position to make any positive impact (he redefined how to play force on Willis McGahee’s second touchdown run). How were so many people wrong about him?
Big play problems
Not so much a performance of note as a series of massive mistakes that hurt the team. The Raiders were clearly not ready for the option play with Tebow, and three times their defenders (Jarvis Moss, Trevor Scott and Kamerion Wimbley) lost contain. It was hardly rocket science but the lack of discipline showed despite constantly getting burned by the play was startling. Still the biggest blunder of the day goes to DeMarcus Van Dyke (-1.2) who bit so hard on a play fake that by the time he turned around and located Eddie Royal, the Broncos were already celebrating. Throw in 15 penalties, a fumbled snap and a kneel down in the middle of a drive and you have some things to work on.
Game Notes
– Quarterback Tim Tebow threw outside the left hash marks just four times. Incredible for a left handed passer.
– Despite getting run over, the Raiders only missed one tackle.
– Champ Bailey was thrown at five times where he intercepted two balls and forced a fumble, but gave up 75 yards (69 of which to Jacoby Ford).
PFF Game Ball
This isn’t his first PFF game ball and it won’t be his last. Watch how quickly Von Miller was applying pressure and tell me he didn’t deserve this.
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