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Awful.
Just awful.
They were sloppy, overmatched, outplayed, and self-destructive.
If there was a mistake to be made tonight, the Broncos made it. So how did it break down?
Well, the Raiders capitalized on several Denver miscues to run away from the Broncos. The biggest was a fumble by Orton in the fourth quarter with the Broncos threatening to take the lead. The Broncos defense, while improved was left on the field far to long in the wet sloppy weather. The ineffectiveness of Kyle Orton and the offense helped the Raiders keep the D out on the field, wearing them down with the power run game until they had nothing left. The end result: the defensive front seven gave up 190 yards rushing with 78 of them coming in the fourth quarter alone.
By contrast, the Denver’s offense fumbled the ball four times (losing it twice) and turned it over on an interception. They never got the running game going so the Oakland D could pin the ears back and bring the heat.
Kyle Orton went 24/46 for 304 yards and a QB rating of 71.3. The Broncos power run game only managed a meager 38 yards.
But despite Orton’s wild throws and Moreno and McGahee’s snoozer, probably the worst and best plays for the Broncos came on special teams, and special teams is where we’ll find this weeks Good, Bad, and Ugly
Good – Eric Decker’s 90 yard punt return for a TD.
Bad- A miscommunication on punt coverage allowed the Raiders to block a punt in the first quarter which eventually lead to their first 7.
Ugly – The Broncos “let” Sebastian Janikowski tie Jason Elam’s record in their own freaking house!
The Broncos have a lot of things to correct before week two’s matchup against Cincinnati. The need to clean up the sloppiness on D, find their running game and their offensive rhythm. I can assure you one thing, if Kyle Orton plays the next few games as poorly as he did tonight, expect a change in QB before the Chargers come to town on the October 9th.
