Broncos at Raiders second quarter recap

The Las Vegas Raiders opened up the second quarter faced with a fourth and inches inside field goal range. They would go for it and was stuffed, but the Denver Broncos inexplicably accepted the holding penalty on the Raiders to give them a chance to punt it instead.

The result was the punt being down inside the five yard line for another terrible field position start on offense.

Drew Lock on first down handed off to Melvin Gordon for a short three yard gain inside. Gordon broke several more tackles to break free for a six yard gain to set up a third down and short. Pat Shurmur decided to go away from the run on third and short with a play action pass where Lock was strip-sacked to the two yard line. He recovered, but Denver forced to punt from deep inside their own end zone.

Hunter Renfrow returned it 60 yards for an apparent touchdown, but another penalty negated his second long punt return with an illegal blindside block.

Instead, the Raiders have to start at their own 29 yard line. The Broncos defense keys in on a screen pass on second down to force a third and seven. Bryce Callahan breaks up another pass to force a three and out.

Garett Bolles had a false start penalty on the first offensive play, but we’ll take that over a hold. Lock then fired in a short pass to Phillip Lindsay who was covered by two Raider defenders and was, rightly, blown up for an incomplete pass. Lock was blown up on his blind side for another incomplete pass, then on third down and 15, Lock fired a deep pass to Jerry Jeudy who was wide open out near midfield for 26-yards.

On the next play, Lock went deep again to Tim Patrick who hauled it in for a 27-yard gain to the Raiders 22 yard line to get Denver into scoring range.

After an incomplete pass on first down, Shurmur went back to his 2nd and 10 run play well, but Melvin Gordon rose to the occasion dodging and weaving his way for a seven yard gain. On third and three, Lock threw short of the sticks again. KJ Hamler caught the pass, but was gang tackled for a one yard gain.

Brandon McManus would boot the 33-yard field goal through to cut the lead to one.

Raiders 7, Broncos 6.

Darren Waller got his first look in the game who converted a second down and one with an eight yard pass to the Raiders 30 yard line. Josh Jacobs picked up two yards on the next carry and would take a quick toss outside from Derek Carr for eight yards and another first down.

The Broncos defense forced a third down incompletion on the next series, but DeMarcus Walker was called offsides to give them the first down yardage out across midfield.

A nice toss over the middle for a big gain was followed by a 24-yard gain by Josh Jacobs down to the Broncos eight yard line. After a two yard run by Jacobs, Carr went to a wide open Nelson Ahgolor who dropped the easy touchdown opportunity.

The Broncos defense would hold on third down to force a field goal with 1:44 left in the first half.

Raiders 10, Broncos 6.

After a quick first down to start the drive, Drew Lock looked for KJ Hamler over the middle for a big gain who ran all the way down to the Raiders 37 yard line.

A quick inside handoff to Gordon got no gain as the clock ticked down to under 40 seconds. Lock threw to the sideline to Patrick who caught the ball, but his momentum carried him out of bounds.

Lock did find Patrick for a 14-yard gain on third and 10 for a big first down. A roughing the passer call pushed Denver into the red zone with 22 seconds left.

From the 11 yard line, a quick slant to Patrick got the Broncos down the five yard line with 18 seconds left. Lock would run it in from there, but a holding penalty on Noah Fant negated the touchdown. Naturally, Drew Lock would throw an interception on the next play to end the first half.

Raiders 10, Broncos 6.