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The Denver Broncos blew it badly at the end of regulation giving the Las Vegas Raiders life to come back to tie the game and then in overtime they scored a touchdown on three plays. What an embarrassing way to lose a game at home. I don’t think anyone is left who doesn’t think that Nathaniel Hackett needs go. And soon.
Raiders 22, Broncos 16.
In-Game Updates
5:18 AM: In a surprise announcement, Nathaniel Hackett has relinquished play calling duties to Klint Kubiak. It’ll be Kubiak who calls the plays on offense against the Raiders today.
12:46 PM: Denver is down two starting wide receivers as both Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler have been ruled out. The good news is their offensive line will be getting a much-needed boost with Graham Glasgow, Cam Fleming, and Tom Compton all active for the game.
2:11 PM: Defensive lineman Jonathan Harris was knocked out with a knee injury on the opening drive for the Raiders. He was immediately ruled questionable to return.
2:28 PM: With Kling Kubiak making his debut as a play calling, the Broncos marched down the field on a 7-play, 92 yard touchdown drive to go up 7-0 over the Raiders. This is the first opening drive touchdown for the season for Denver.
2:40 PM: Broncos lead 7-0 after the end of the first quarter, but the Raiders have the ball at Denver’s 27-yard line to start the second quarter. However, the Broncos push the Raiders back and forced as long field goal that was missed.
2:52 PM: Denver’s second drive started off hot as they ran and passed their way down to the Raiders 32-yard line. Wilson fired a pass to rookie Brandon Johnson to the end zone, but he was pushed out of bounds before coming down with the ball. The field goal from Brandon McManus would put Denver up 10-0 though.
3:06 PM: After the Raiders capped their next drive with a 31-yard touchdown strike to Davonte Adams, we learned that defensive lineman D.J. Jones has been ruled questionable to return with a hand injury. Huge blow for a defense that is already struggling to stop Josh Jacobs in this game.
3:27 PM: The Broncos put together a great drive to end the first half, but they forgot Melvin Gordon was still the lead back. As Gordon pushed towards the goal line for what could have been a touchdown, he fumbled. Denver recovered and the Brandon McManus field goal attempt was promptly blocked. Denver goes into halftime up 10-7 over the Raiders.
3:40 PM: Both Jonathan Harris and Chase Edmonds have been ruled out with injuries.
3:50 PM: After the Broncos opened up the third quarter with a three and out, the Raiders converted a short field into a long 52-yard field goal to tie the game up at 10.
4:16 PM: The Broncos third quarter woes continued all through the third quarter until late. They were driving well into field goal range before Maxx Crosby sacked Wilson just on the fringes of field goal range heading into the final quarter. Full third quarter recap.
4:18 PM: Brandon McManus was good from 52-yards out to put the Broncos up 13-10 over the Raiders.
4:49 PM: After the Raiders tied the game up midway through the fourth quarter, the Broncos responded with a drive of their own. From their own 18-yard line, they drove into field goal range. Wilson was 4 for 5 for 46 yards on that drive to put the Broncos back on top 16-13 with 3:30 left in the game.
5:10 PM: The Broncos fumbled a chance to win the game and gave the Raiders just enough time to score before the end of the regulation to send the 16-16 game into overtime.
5:16 PM: With the ball first, the Raiders needed just a few plays before Derek Carr found a wide open Davonte Adams for a 33-yard touchdown. Raiders win 22-16.
Game Preview
The Denver Broncos are looking to stay out of the AFC West cellar and also avoid being swept by the lowly Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11. Josh McDaniels is likely treating this homecoming game like his Super Bowl, so anything the Broncos can do to avoid losing would be good. The first thing Nathaniel Hackett did towards this goal was handing play calling duties over to Klint Kubiak.
What a surprise decision to wake up to this morning. I wanted to believe this team would suddenly score points and win games, which I have done every week, but my hope on that front was definitely waning. Now, I feel like life has been breathed back into the Broncos and hope has returned.
How much can Klint Kubiak do in a week? That is the question we all now have. I would suspect we would likely not see a whole lot of system-wide changes go into effect this week, but we could see a completely different approach to calling existing plays in the playbook. Getting the right play call in against the right defensive alignment is more important to play success anyway. Here’s to hoping Kubiak finds a way to get some efficiency out of this offense against the Raiders today.
Kickoff is set for 2:05 p.m. Mile High time on Sunday, November 20, 2022 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. You can watch the live stream of the game through FuboTV or on FOX.
My Prediction
In partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook, I am covering all my picks this year on TallySight. Even before the Kubiak news, I had the Broncos winning this game straight-up and covering that 3-point spread advantage. Today is the day the offense shows up! Please?
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