Silver And Black Pride
The NFL is a copy cat league.
As such, interim offensive coordinator Greg Olson would be wise to exploit the apparent weakness the Denver Broncos having stopping tight ends and use Brock Bowers — the Las Vegas Raiders beast weapon on offense — to the fullest extent this Sunday.
Covered or not, the Silver & Black’s offense must flow through Bowers. The second-year tight end leads the team in targets (68), receptions (49), receiving yards (573) and is tied for the with five touchdowns. Only rookie running back Ashton Jeanty has more production (635 yards rushing, four touchdowns; 251 yards receiving, four touchdowns).
For Bowers, the Week 14 home date with the Broncos can prove quite advantageous. In back-to-back games, Denver’s defense (ranked 4th and 5th best in points allowed (218) and yards (3,437), respectively, had difficulty containing the Travis Kelce in Week 11 and Zach Ertz this past Sunday night.
By The Numbers
Tight Ends Productions Against Denver Broncos
(last 2 games)
Now, this isn’t to say the Broncos defense didn’t rise to the occasion when matched up against Ertz. The play above highlights a great pass break up by linebacker Alex Singleton on a 3rd-and-21 situation the Commanders faced.
Yet, watching a 35-year-old tight end get open and almost come down with a big first down play against your stout defense is a disconcerting thing for Denver. Ertz also couldn’t come down with a potential touchdown reception, too. Ertz’s 10 catches for 106 yards is the Stanford product’s highest production this season and the 6-foot-5 and 250-pound 13-year veteran has 49 receptions for 493 yards and four touchdowns in 2025.
And that was coming off a bye week.
In Week 11, the 36-year-old Kelce dropped 91 yards and one touchdown (fourth quarter to allow Kansas City to take a 19-16 lead) in Denver’s 22-19 victory. That game marked the Cincinnati product’s second-highest output of the year (six catches for 99 yards and a touchdown against the Commanders the high mark).
Being susceptible to aging tight ends is something that should stand out on film for Olson. And he should test the Broncos’ ability to matchup with Bowers thoroughly this Sunday.
The Raiders’ 31-14 loss to the Chargers this past Sunday showed that when he’s open or covered, the 22-year-old tight end keeps making plays. Bowers hauled in all four of his targets for 63 yards (long of 27) including a highlight-reel one-handed touchdown grab.
A double-digit target afternoon for Bowers against the incoming Broncos must be in order. Especially considering in that 10-7 defeat to Denver at Mile High, the tight end finished with a paltry three targets and one catch for 31 yards.
“There’s is a few variables in there, and some of the way they played him. And we’re always looking for him ——...
