The Denver Broncos squeezed past the Oakland Raiders, holding on to their slim lead late in the fourth quarter to take a 16-10 win. The Broncos now find themselves in second place in the AFC West heading into their Week 5 bye.
The tide of the game was shifted heavily in the Broncos’ favor throughout the game, despite the close final score. Even though the Raiders were able to hang around until the last possible second, it was business as usual for the Broncos’ defense and All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris Jr.
Even though all of ‘Broncos Country’ held their breath anxiously as the Raiders began a late-game drive in an attempt to take the lead, Harris wasn’t fazed by the closeness of the final score, commenting on the nature of a high-stakes division game:
“I mean, it’s a division game, we expect all division games to be like that — down to the wire. We were just happy to end the game on defense. We know that we can finish better, and that’s something we’ll try to correct over the bye.”
Led by back-up quarterback E.J. Manuel, the Raiders started marching down the field with a series of quick throws aimed at getting the ball out of Manuel’s hand quickly, before Denver’s fearsome pass rush could pressure him. Harris’ take on the drive was fairly straightforward: “I mean, they just came out and they were in no-huddle mode. We knew that we just can’t give up a touchdown and we had the game. They had no timeouts. We knew that we had a chance to get a turnover, and we got one.”
While the defense stood tall the entire game, much of the hype leading up to it was a match between the Broncos’ elite secondary and the Raiders’ duo at wide receiver with Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. While Crabtree sat out for the game with a chest injury, Cooper was held in check by the ‘No-Fly Zone’, catching only two passes for nine yards.
Lining up against both Aqib Talib and Harris, Cooper couldn’t find any separation against either All-Pro cornerback, as the Broncos once again held the young star receiver in check. When asked to comment on shutting down the Raiders’ receivers, Harris noted, “If you look at our games, statistically, against Cooper and Crabtree — those receivers only average [about] 30 yards. We’ve been able to have our way with them for not just this game, but [for] a bunch of games as well.”
Heading into an early-season Week 5 bye, the 3-1 Broncos will focus forward and begin preparing for a home match against the New York Giants. The team has some areas where they need improvement during the team’s week off, and Harris didn’t mince words. “We know that we didn’t play our best against the Bills, and we could easily be undefeated right now. We’ve just got to come up with a great gameplan against the Giants, and we have two weeks to get ready for them . That’s all we’re looking forward to.”
While the Giants sit at 0-4 on the season, the Broncos can’t afford to let any “easy” game slip by in a highly competitive AFC. Beating the Raiders — who many dubbed as a Super Bowl favorite — was a step in the right direction, but as Harris said, the team could have been 4-0 if not for a poor performance in Buffalo.
Regardless, the defense is playing lights-out football, lead by veterans like Harris. With the season already a fourth of the way complete, the Broncos are right in the thick of the AFC West title race.
