OAKLAND, Calif.—Josh McDaniels could be excused if he wanted to gloat following Denver’s third straight win. After all the criticism he shouldered following a tumultuous offseason in his first year with the Broncos, he might deserve to crow a bit.
Kyle Orton threw a touchdown pass in another mistake-free performance and Denver’s defense had another dominating day that carried the Broncos to a 23-3 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
“We can’t be any better than 3-0, but we’re also very humble and understand that we’ve got a long ways to go, a lot of things to improve on, a lot of good football teams to play,” McDaniels said. “We’re happy with being 3-0. I’m certainly not satisfied with the way we’ve played in any one game.”
McDaniels caused an immediate stir when he was hired to replace the fired Mike Shanahan as coach in Denver last offseason. He alienated Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler before trading him to Chicago for Orton, then suspended Brandon Marshall in the preseason.
But once the season started, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Broncos. They capitalized on a lucky bounce to win the opener at Cincinnati and followed that with convincing wins over Cleveland and Oakland (1-2).
“There’s no vindication because there’s nothing to be vindicated about,” McDaniels said.
The schedule gets considerably tougher starting next week against Dallas, but the Broncos are pleased with where they stand. Rookie Knowshon Moreno ran for 90 yards and a score and Correll Buckhalter added 108 yards on 14 carries for the Broncos. Matt Prater added three field goals as Denver won its AFC West opener for a 10th straight year.
Orton went 13 for 23 for 157 yards and a touchdown pass to Marshall. He has not thrown an interception in three games, quite a change from the flashier Cutler, who made more big plays last season but also more mistakes with 18 interceptions.
“I thought it was a clean game,” Orton said. “We got off to a good start, no turnovers again and we made plays in the passing game when we needed to. That’s kind of the formula we wanted to take into this week and we executed it.”
The Broncos have committed just one turnover all season, and even that didn’t end up hurting them. Two plays after Buckhalter fumbled deep in Denver territory, Darren McFadden gave it right back to Denver with a fumble.
That recovery by Brian Dawkins was just one of many big plays from coordinator Mike Nolan’s defense. The Broncos have allowed just 16 points all season, getting six sacks from Elvis Dumervil the past two weeks.
“Coming in this year, changing the defense up to a 3-4. It was a little stressful,” linebacker D.J. Williams said. “You just have to buy into the system, 100 percent, whether it works or doesn’t. It’s working right now.”
The Raiders offense looked inept for a second straight week and this time the defense couldn’t keep Oakland in the game long enough for JaMarcus Russell to steal one at the end, as he did last week in Kansas City.
The Raiders were held to 137 yards, their second straight week with less than 200 yards of offense. This is just the third time since the start of the 1993 season that Oakland has put together back-to-back games like that, with the other two coming in 2006.
“There’s some glaring problems that need to be fixed, in all phases of the game,” Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. “So I don’t think we have quite a read on who we are. And that’s concerning, because at this point you want to know what type of team you are.”
Russell threw two first-quarter interceptions and was the target of boos all afternoon from the frustrated Raiders fans who bothered to show up. The attendance was 45,602 and the game was blacked out locally.
Russell, who entered the game completing 35.2 percent of his passes, finished 12 for 21 for 61 yards, with only 1 passing yard in the second half.
“We have to play better,” coach Tom Cable said. “These fans deserve a better football team than what we showed today.”
