Silver And Black Pride
39:03 to 20:57. In a 60-minute football game, the first number is how long the Denver Broncos offense possessed the ball. The latter, the Las Vegas Raiders time of possession.
Denver strolled into Allegiant Stadium on Sunday and played a classic game of keep away as the Broncos had little trouble in dropping the Raiders 24-17. The victory marks Denver’s 10th straight while the defeat is Las Vegas’ 11th consecutive AFC West loss and sixth-straight loss this season.
Another game, another inconsistent outing that featured some glaring face plants for the Silver & Black.
“Unfortunately, a couple of these games seem very similar in format when you look at them,” Raiders head coach Pete Carroll noted as he began his postgame press conference. “The scenario of the impact of third downs on both sides of the ball continues to be a factor, and that’s why they can hold the football and keep it away from us, and we can’t keep our drives going. That’s one simple way of looking at it. And then one explosive play, it kind of knocks you out a little bit.”
Marvin Mims Jr.’s punt return for a touchdown certainly was a haymaker that stumbled Carroll’s Raiders. It was a play that featured a shorter than usual punt from the normally consistent AJ Cole III, a missed tackle by cornerback Decamerion Richardson (No. 25), and Mims Jr. getting out of the traffic and weaving through for the score.
A microcosm of all the bad that’s going on for the Silver & Black as poor execution continues in all three phases. The special teams face plant comes after Carroll dismissed former special teams boss Tom McMahon and interim lead Derius Swinton II is in charge. Gone is McMahon but the same sloppy and uncharacteristic special teams gaffes are still ever present.
Under Carroll in 2025, however, the lack of execution and identity are without question, are Raiders characteristics.
Defensively, Las Vegas couldn’t create a stop and get off the field. On 12 third down attempts, Denver converted seven and moving the chains was a balanced affair from Sean Payton’s offense with 14 coming via pass and 11 via rush. In all, the Broncos ran 72 plays for 356 yards with 204 of those coming from the aerial attack and 152 coming from the ground game.
Payton was also money in the red zone dialing up two touchdowns on three attempts inside the Raiders’ 20-yard line.
“Yeah, we got the ball run on us today, and that hasn’t been happening like that. There’s some games when they run the ball in fourth quarter and then they get some extra carries and all that, but this game, we didn’t control the running game like we normally do,” Carroll explained. “They averaged five yards a carry the first half and the second half, so that’s not good enough on our end.”
One of the few bright spots for the Raiders: The opening drive. That was a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown trip...
