Win and they’re in. That’s where the Raiders stand as of right now. The team was facing what was basically an elimination game against the rival Broncos on Sunday. What was to say a loss would have all but closed the door on the playoffs. They won, however, and as a result, they control their own destiny the rest of the way.
For the second week in a row, the Raiders defense stepped up big time and ruled the day. After holding a depleted Browns squad to 14 points in Cleveland last week, they held the Broncos to just 13 points and it wasn’t even that close.
In particular the Raiders defense controlled the ground attack, holding the Broncos to just 18 yards on 16 carries. And ten of their 13 points came off of turnovers in which the defense gave up a total of five yards.
“What I really want to start with is our defense,” interim head coach Rich Bisaccia said postgame. “I really haven’t come up with a word yet to describe it. First and foremost it was outstanding, it was phenomenal, it was awesome. It was a relentless, competitive effort, down in and down in and down in and down in. Can’t say enough about how excited we are about the way our defense played. I think we gave up 18 rushing yards in the entire game. They kept us in it the whole day.”
With just over two minutes left in the second quarter, the Raiders were leading 7-3. The Broncos were just 1 of 6 on third downs with three punts. Then in a span of 1:56 the Raiders turned the ball over twice and the Broncos capitalized with scores on both of them.
The first was a fumble in the open field by Josh Jacobs leading to a field goal. The second was an interception by Bradley Chubb on a screen attempt that Chubb returned to the one-yard-line. The Broncos would score the touchdown on one play. Five yards; 10 points. And a 13-7 lead at the half.
The Broncos would get no more.
An already stiff Raiders defense, gave up just 62 yards of offense in the second half with just three first downs. The only chance the Broncos had to score was off a third Raiders turnover when Derek Carr fumbled. They would reach the Las Vegas 37 and miss a 55-yard field goal.
It’s all the more impressive a performance considering the Raider were without starting corneback Trayvon Mullen (IR) and backup CB Brandon Facyson (COVID-19) and starting DT Johnathan Hankins.
It required former practice squad CB Desmond Trufant to step up and he did, leading the team with seven tackles.
Helping tremendously was the return of LB Denzel Perryman, who finished second on the team in tackles (five).
“Denzel is a special cat,” Maxx Crosby said of Perryman. “The way he plays, you can tell it matters to him. The way he hits people I would not want to be hit by that man, I don’t care how small he is. He puts a dent in everybody. He’s just a different type of player. He’s relentless, he brings leadership, and he’s a guy you can trust back there.”
Crosby was also big in the game, notching his first sack in nine games, giving him six on the season. The new Pro Bowl edge rusher added a couple tackles for loss and a QB hit.
One of the players stepping in the absence of Johnathan Hankins was Quinton Jefferson who made a sack on what would be the Broncos final offensive play of the game.
The Raiders offense had three turnovers, but helped the defense to stay fresh in the second half by running all over the Broncos. Josh Jacobs shook off his fumble to run for over 100 yards in the second half alone and finish with 129 yards on 27 carries.
Stop them on defense and control the clock on offense is a tried and true formula for winning games. It has allowed the Raiders to win the past two weeks despite the offense turning the ball over five times and putting up just 33 combined points in those games.
Now, they win the last two games and they will be in the playoffs. Something that seemed like an impossibility just a couple weeks ago.