Today was the hottest game in the history of the Broncos at home, and yet, Denver was ice-cold to start the game. Especially on offense.
The Broncos looked (mostly) like a new team in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks with the ball, totaling 470 yards and scoring 27 points. All of that rhythm and momentum was lost in the first half of the team’s Week 2 game against the rival Oakland Raiders.
Denver had no three-and-outs last week, and yet they had three straight three-and-outs to start the game this Sunday.
After that, the Broncos moved the ball well down field finally, aided by a 64-yard run by Phillip Lindsay, but Case Keenum threw his fourth interception of the year, ending that drive again without points.
At the end of the first half, the Broncos had a mere 112 total yards and three first downs. That meant of their drives, they had four punts, one interception thrown by Case Keenum near the goal line and the end of the half was the finish of their other.
It was the first time Oakland shut out an opponent in the first half on the road since Week 2 in 2008, an entire decade ago.
Finally, in the second half, the Broncos offense came alive. Out of the break, Denver enjoyed five first downs as they totaled 75 yards, capped with Royce Freeman’s first-ever NFL touchdown. That brought the game to 12-7, Oakland.
But, Oakland then was able to march right back down field and match the touchdown, pushing their lead back to 12 at 19-7.
And that looked to be it; the Broncos would fall to their divisional rivals at home.
Not so fast.
That offense, which was inept for nearly the entire game, found that rhythm once again.
Keenum and his teammates mixed the long and short passes well, along with a few key runs, but ended up having to settle for a 39-yard field goal to make the game 19-10.
Denver’s next offensive drive was all determination. It started with a key, big-play pass from Keenum to tight end Jake Butt for 22 yards and into Oakland territory. And it ended with five runs, including the Broncos new quarterback taking the ball over the goal line on 4th and goal from the Raiders one yard line. Just like that, it was 19-17.
After a key stop by the Denver defense, Keenum and the offense were set up with an 80-yard field and 1:58 to play. Then, they were backed up further due to a holding penalty. It looked bleak, but the QB connected with Emmanuel Sanders for 21 yards and hit Butt for 14 yards before scrambling for a seven-yard gain himself, into Oakland territory.
The key play of the game, though, came with 18 seconds to play and Keenum hit rookie Tim Patrick on his biggest play of the day, turning the ball upfield and outside for a 26-yard gain. That set Brandon McManus up with the game-winning 36-yard field goal.
When the game was said and done, Keenum finished with a line of 19-35 (54.3 percent) for 222 yards and the interception. Those numbers aren’t exactly what the Broncos hoped when they signed him to a two-year, $36-million deal this offseason.
Denver did end up going 8-16 on third downs, which is a solid percentage, but digging themselves a deep hole early won’t be sustainable moving forward. And, their 2-4 red zone efficiency would place them in the bottom third of the league if they continued to squander opportunities like as the season goes on.
Simply, the offense’s lack of production for a vast majority of Sunday’s game points at looming disaster and that the offense has yet to take a step forward after being the weakness on this Broncos team for four years.