Denver Broncos lose ugly to Oakland Raiders, fall to third place in AFC West

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OAKLAND, Calif. — sprinted onto the field, zig-zagging his way around crowd of Raiders players and officials, before throwing his arms up to signal his arrival.

A chorus of boos rained from the stands at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, growing louder with his provocation. This was expected by Ward. This was welcomed, even.

Ward needed little reason to hate the Raiders — he didn’t have one, really, aside from growing up a 49ers fan — but they provided one with their 30-20 win over the Broncos that put them atop the AFC West, at 7-2. The Broncos (6-3) fell to third place in the conference, behind the Chiefs.

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“We lost in all three phases,” Ward said. “Coach told us offense, defense, special teams — we didn’t play good enough. When you don’t play good enough as a team, you take L’s.”

Oakland entered with one of the most prolific passing offenses in the NFL, with coming off a 513-yard, four-touchdown outing at Tampa Bay. The Broncos entered with the league’s stingiest pass defense. It was matchup fit for prime-time television, but the shortcomings of Denver’s inefficient offense and porous run defense quickly took the spotlight.

And the absence of starting cornerback (back) was immediately felt.

Quarterback Trevor Siemian went 18-of-37 for 283 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and two sacks in the loss. Carr completed 20-of-31 attempts for 184 yards, well below his season average of 290. But he needed to do little behind the Raiders’ running game.which amassed 218 net rushing yards — their highest output in more than three years — and scored three times on one-yard runs by .

“Stopping the run is a group effort,” coach said. “It looked to me like we could tackle better and do a lot of things better.”

And like most of the other Broncos opponents this early, the damage was inflicted early.

The Raiders became the eighth team to score on their first possession against Denver, capping a 47-yard drive with a 24-yard field goal. They followed with a 29-yarder some six minutes later to take a 6-0 lead before the Broncos could muster a first down.

“That’s something we have to fix,” cornerback said of the Broncos’ run defense. “That’s something that’s been leaky pretty much the whole season, so we have to figure that out.”

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Oakland controlled not only the score, but also the clock, staying on the field for more than 42 minutes as its run game ran roughshod over Denver’s defense.

Containing the Raiders proved even harder in the second half, when defensive end was lost to an elbow injury. Wolfe was ruled out to return in the fourth quarter and told reporters after that he suffered a hairline fracture that could force him to miss time.

“Wolfe is a big loss, especially on defensive line he’s been that strongside guy stopping the run,” outside linebacker said. “So we have to replace him. That��ap what the team is about. Everybody has to pick up the pieces. It��ap not just one guy that��ap playing; it��ap 11.”

Oakland exploited the Broncos’ other weaknesses, too.

Against San Diego, Denver seamlessly filled in for Talib, as cornerback recorded a game-changing pick-six and earned conference defensive player of the week honors.

Against Oakland, however, Talib’s value to the secondary was never clearer. Roby and were targeted early and often by Carr — and to much success. On separate drives in the second quarter, Roby and Doss were each called for pass interference. Doss’ penalty led to Murray’s second touchdown of the night.

The Broncos’ offense, meanwhile, stuck to its usual pass-heavy script to open and came away with similar results: Its first four drives were all three-and-outs that put it in a 13-0 hole after only 16 minutes of play. Denver made up some ground as snagged a 23-yard catch on a third down to help set up a 36-yard touchdown catch by . And Brandon McManus’ 55-yard field goal before the break kept the Raiders’ lead to only 20-10.

The offensive sparks kept the Broncos alive, when they deserved to be out. But those alone weren’t enough.

Only three of 11 third downs were converted. And the run game, again, was a non-factor with a season-low 33 net yards.

“We have got to find a way to run the football somehow, some way to help our football team,” Kubiak said. “Obviously the last two weeks, it’s been pretty non-existent.”

The Broncos had the ball for less than 19 minutes, and only 12 run plays were called, offering little time and few chances to gain ground.

“Part of that’s on me,” Siemian said. “I feel like some of those third downs — you can’t run the ball if you’re not on the field. So converting those third downs and staying on the field and getting a rhythm helps.”

In the second half, Siemian was sacked twice and fumbled on the second, on a second down in the fourth. The turnover was almost mitigated by an interception by safety T.J. Ward, but his pick was overturned on review.

On the Raiders’ ensuing drive, the Broncos’ defensive backs were flagged three times for interference or holding before Murray scored his third and final touchdown of the night.

“We did that throughout the game,” Ward said. “We’d make a big play and come back and get a penalty, they throw one on us, we get a stop, they give them the penalty. It��ap frustrating when you have to go against two teams.”

Running back Kapri Bibbs trimmed the lead back to 10 with a touchdown off a 69-yard catch-and-run in the final six minutes. But the score would stay that way. Hope of a Denver comeback was lost with Siemian’s interception before the two-minute warning.

“We didn’t lose a championship or anything tonight,” Kubiak said. “There’s a lot of football left to play, but we have to play a hell of a lot better than we played. That team is really, really good and we knew that coming in.”

Joe Amon, The Denver Post

Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray (28) leaps over players to score a touchdown against the Denver Broncos during an NFL game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Nov. 6, 2016, in Oakland, Calif.

Joe Amon, The Denver Post

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For more than a season and a half, the Broncos’ imbalanced offense has needed the defense to provide both the stops and the scores. The favor seems to be expiring and the defense unable to carry the load as it once did.

While the storied rivalry with the Raiders may be back (for now), the Broncos’ search for answers is still on.

Test in the West

The Raiders’ 30-20 victory over the Broncos at Oakland on Sunday night left Denver in third place in the four-team AFC West race. NFL reporter Nick Groke analyzes each team’s chances of winning the division and an automatic playoff spot:

Oakland (7-2)
Division games left: Three, at Kansas City, at San Diego, at Denver
How to win West: Hold on tight and don’t let it slip away.

Kansas City (6-2)
Division games left: Four, at Denver, vs. Raiders, vs. Broncos, at San Diego.
How to win West: Have a victory in hand over Oakland. Another would be gravy.

Denver (6-3)
Division games left: Three, vs. Chiefs, at Kansas City, vs. Raiders
How to win West: Win out. At 1-2 in the West, Broncos need three more victories in division.

San Diego (4-5)
Division games left: Two, vs. Raiders, vs. Chiefs
How to win West: Hope and pray.

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