‘Nobody’s happy about it’: Broncos crushed by Raiders 37-12 as turnovers, abysmal second half dooms Denver
(AP Photo/David Becker)
Vic Fangio stared at the ground, his hands on his knees as his team lost its fourth of five turnovers Sunday. This time it was a fumble by DaeSean Hamilton.
One play later, the Las Vegas Raiders would take a commanding 24-point lead. And 10:05 later, the Denver Broncos would lose 37-12 — their second loss this season by 25 or more points — falling to 3-6.
“Obviously, everyone’s disappointed,” Fangio said. “All of our fingerprints are on that game — coaches and players. And nobody’s happy about it, obviously.”
It was ugly from the start for the Broncos, who started on their own two-yard line to begin the game, which inevitably resulted in good field position for the Raiders’ first drive that ended in a touchdown.
From there, the Broncos hung in the game with two field goals from Brandon McManus, while the defense held Las Vegas to a field goal after a Drew Lock interception. Denver trailed only 10-6 at the half, despite two Lock interceptions, giving itself an opportunity to upset the Raiders.
But it wasn’t close after that.
The Raiders went on a 20-0 run in the second half, taking a commanding 30-6 lead with 10:05 remaining. A couple of garbage time touchdowns by both teams resulted in the final score, 37-12.
“Unacceptable,” guard Dalton Risner said. “That was an unacceptable performance today and we need to know that. We need to be better.”
The Broncos once again showed their youth on offense Sunday, with their 24-year-old quarterback, Lock, throwing four interceptions; their 25-year-old wide receiver, Hamilton, fumbling inside their own 20; and their 26-year-old wide receiver, Tim Patrick, being disqualified for throwing a punch in the fourth quarter. There was also a defense riddled with injuries that allowed 203 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
And almost all of this came in the second half, as Denver was outscored 27-6 and outgained 206-117 in the final two quarters.
“Everybody’s probably very disappointed and disgusted by it — that a 10-6 game at halftime can turn out like that. But turnovers will do that to you and we’ve got to play better,” Fangio said. “The second half was unacceptable. We didn’t play or coach good enough in that second half to stay in a game that was a four-point game at halftime.”
The Broncos fell to 3-6 with the loss, the exact record they’ve held through nine games as the past three seasons. And with games against the Miami Dolphins (6-3), New Orleans Saints (7-2) and Kansas City Chiefs (8-1) over the next three weeks, things won’t be getting any easier.
Still, some of the Broncos have hope they can turn things around in the final seven games.
“We know with the guys that we’ve got, we can be good,” linebacker Josey Jewell said. “Yeah, you want to win out. You want to win every single game on the calendar. But really, what I think a lot of people are worried about is the consistency. That’s what we need to do the rest of the year is be able to show we can play, show that we can be consistent and do the small things right, which in the end, will get us the win.”
The Broncos would likely need to win all or most of their final seven games to have any shot at making the playoffs. They’d also likely need the Dolphins and Raiders to lose several games.
So while the future may seem bright, as Jewell pointed out, it’s Fangio’s bent-over posture that’s the mood of Broncos Country.
Because just like last week, it’s back to the drawing board.
“Well, we’ll see where they’re at when we get back to work on next Tuesday and Wednesday,” Fangio. “We’ve got to regroup. As you guys alluded to, we’ve got another really good team that we’ve got to play against coming up here shortly. And we’ve got to get regrouped and refocused and get our energies and emotions pointed in the right direction.”