ClutchPoints
Before the Thursday Night Football showdown between the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos, oddsmakers thought Denver would win this game handily. Significantly, the line was 9.5 points in favor of the Broncos. Only, it did not end up that way. The Broncos’ offense was offensive, totaling just 10 points against their lowly divisional rivals. Despite the poor offensive showing, they escaped with a 10-7 win, thanks to the Broncos’ defense.
Oddsmakers still give Denver the 10th-best odds to win the Super Bowl, according to FanDuel. But do they deserve to be there? While the Broncos have had some good wins this season, this was a clunker. They should have run all over the Raiders. Instead, they struggled.
The win was good enough to raise their record to 8-2. However, there is a consensus around the football world that this offense is bad and that the team could be fraudulent. Here are three things to watch for as the Broncos are officially on fraud watch.
The game on Thursday Night Football had so many penalties, which was a major reason for the lack of offense. Regardless, the Broncos’ offense looked terrible, and part of that was due to Bo Nix.
Nix played his worst game of the season, going 16 for 28 with 150 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions. Also, he struggled to run, garnering just -2 yards. To be fair, two of these were on kneel-downs to end the game. But Nix still had no room to run. Of course, much of this had to do with the penalties that put the Broncos in bad situations.
There was an instance where the Broncos committed an offensive pass interference. As a result, it forced Nix and the offense into a 2nd-and-20. After gaining just two yards, Nix had 3rd and 16. There was another scenario in the fourth where Nix was driving, and it was 3rd and 5. Instead of finding an open receiver, Nix fired a laser that ricocheted off two Broncos’ bodies and into the hands of Kyu Blu Kelly for an interception. If the Broncos want to be contenders, Nix has to make better decisions.
JK Dobbins finished with 18 rushes for 77 yards while averaging 4.3 yards per carry. However, a decent chunk of that came in the fourth quarter, when the Broncos were attempting to put the game away.
Dobbins got off to a good start in the first quarter, picking up a six-yard gain on first down. Yet, he only managed two yards and one yard before the Broncos punted the football away. Dobbins did not get a single carry on the next possession, as the Broncos passed on first down, and then Nix took a sack, forcing them to punt.
Dobbins did not get a single touch in the second quarter, restricting the Denver offense. He found some room in the third quarter, but the Broncos only managed a field...
