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Week 2 Game Recap: Oakland Raiders 20, Denver Broncos 23
What you need to know
| Oakland Raiders |
Despite being listed as doubtful for this game, Josh McCown was surprisingly Oakland's starter. In retrospect, perhaps they should have gone with Culpepper after all. McCown threw for a meager 73 yards (46 of which came on one play), while turning the ball over three times, all on interceptions. Had it not been for an effective running game, his performance likely would have looked a lot worse. His finger injury did not seem to affect his ability to throw the ball, though you wouldn't know it by the statistics he put up. You have to think Daunte Culpepper would have given the Raiders a better chance to win this game.
LaMont Jordan was essentially the entire Oakland Raiders offense in this game. He showed great patience throughout, and ran hard on every one of his 25 carries. He put up an outstanding 159 yards, and was basically the only guy moving the chains for them. He was not targeted in the passing game nearly as much as last week with only one pass thrown his way, but he more than made up for that with a huge effort on the ground.
In overtime Oakland was able to drive the ball down the field to setup a game winning fieldgoal attempt of 52 yards. Sebastian Janikowski lined up and nailed it straight down the middle, only the Broncos called a late timeout that nullified the kick. On his second attempt, the ball hit the left upright to leave the game in a tie. All of Janikowski's kickoffs went for touchbacks, showcasing one of the strongest legs in the league.
| Denver Broncos |
Jason Elam kicked a 23 yard field goal in overtime to win the game. The Broncos won the coin toss to get the first possession, but ended up scoring on their second drive after Sebastian Janikowski missed a 52 yard fieldgoal for the win, in Oakland's first possession.
As a straight drop back passer at times Jay Cutler looks poised, while at other times he looked like a guy with seven career starts. He showed a strong arm on intermediate passes, but did not look deep down the field very often. He played an efficient game with a 70% completion percentage on 269 passing yards, and looked to have confidence in his top three receivers. His overall production may be a result of the Denver rushing game, as much of his success came on play action. He made one bad read that resulted in an interception, though his second interception came on a tipped ball.
Travis Henry headlined a Broncos running game that produced a total of 181 yards. Cecil Sapp punched in the lone rushing touchdown of the game, but given that it was out of the fullback position it doesn't appear as though he's much of a risk to Henry's goalline touches. Selvin Young appears to be Henry's primary backup, and provided a spark off the bench with a 40 yard run out of the shotgun formation in the second quarter.
Javon Walker and Brandon Marshall showed a glimpse of the kind of dynamic duo they can be. Marshall had an excellent game making things happen after the catch, and totaled 82 yards on five receptions. He had another two receptions for 41 yards called back by penalty, one that would have gone for a score. Walker looked equally strong, targeted 13 times, coming down with eight for 101 yards. With Stokley as a highly effective player out of the slot, and two good receiving TE's in Graham and Scheffler available to him, it is clear Jay Cutler has ample weapons at his disposal.
What you ought to know
| QB Josh McCown, Pass: 8 - 16 - 73 - 1 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 2 - 28 - 0 |
McCown went eight of 16 for 73 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. He was able to add two rushes for 28 yards, one of which was for 21 yards and a first down, but he took a big hit at the end of the play when he didn't slide. At times McCown showed some good athleticism eluding the rush, and didn't appear to be physically effected by his foot injury. He did show a relative unwillingness to stand in and take a hit however, preferring to scramble outside the pocket. His finger injury did not appear to be bothering him, though he was still highly inaccurate at times. McCown hooked up with Porter for 46 yards for his loan score of the day on a nice pump fake. All three of his interceptions were on targets to Porter, though one was knocked up in the air and not his fault. With a minute to play in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 20, McCown showed poor clock management on a number of plays. Despite the running game getting the ball down the field for a possible game winning FG attempt, McCown never showed any urgency in setting up under center. In a play that summarizes his day, in overtime, McCown found Porter breaking free from Dre Bly deep down the left side, but McCown over threw him by at least five yards.
| RB LaMont Jordan, Rush: 25 - 159 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jordan started off the game with a 19 yard carry up the middle, setting the tone for what was going to be a very nice day from him. His longest run of the day came in overtime when he went 33 yards up the middle, which would eventually setup a game winning fieldgoal attempt. Overall Jordan carried the ball 25 times for a total of 159 yards. He showed excellent patience running behind the revamped Raider offensive line, and finished strong on most of his runs. There weren't any huge holes for him to run through, but he seemed to be able to maximize what he was given on every play. Oakland never got near the redzone, but Jordan would definitely be their goalline and short yardage option if they had. On his only target of the game, McCown badly missed him on a screen attempt that went way over his head.
| RB Justin Fargas, Rush: 8 - 13 - 0 |
Fargas carried the ball eight times for 14 yards, and was the primary backup to LaMont Jordan. He had one of three yards that got Oakland a first down, but otherwise did not make any impact plays, and was not on the field in key situations. He was never targeted in the passing game.
| RB Justin Griffith, Rec: 2 - -3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Griffith lined up at fullback the entire game, and caught both of his targets for minus three yards. He did not have any carries.
| WR Ronald Curry, Pass: 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (5 targets) |
Curry was able to bring down two of his five targets, for a total of 12 yards. He took in an end around from McCown in which it appeared as though he was going to pass the ball, but his target wasn't open and wisely threw the ball away. Call it poor QB play, or the fact that Champ Bailey was in coverage on him for much of the day. Either way, Curry struggled to make an impact in this game. The one positive for Curry was catching the two point conversion on Oakland's second touchdown of the game to put them up by three at the time.
| WR Jerry Porter, Rec: 1 - 46 - 1 (6 targets) |
Porter caught one pass for a 46 yard touchdown on a beautiful double move that Dre Bly bit on perfectly. He was targeted a total of six times in this game, but three of those resulted in Josh McCown interceptions. Though he made the biggest impact of any Raiders wide receiver, he was virtually non existent for most of the game. He had trouble creating any type of separation from coverage.
| WR Travis Taylor |
Taylor came into the game when Oakland ran their three receiver sets, but was not targeted.
| WR Mike Williams |
Though Williams was Oakland's third receiver in week 1, he found himself inactive for this game.
| TE Zach Miller, Rec: 3 - 18 - 0 (4 targets) |
Miller was targeted four times, catching three passes for 18 yards. He was generally used as a check down option, and did not appear to be running any deep routes.
| PK Sebastian Janikowski 1 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 4 points |
Janikowski missed the potential game winning fieldgoal on his second attempt from 52 yards, when his first attempt was good but nullified by a timeout. Overall Janikowski was one of two, and flexed a powerful leg on kickoffs with every one going for a touchback. He was also apparently hitting 65 yard attempts in warmup. As always there's no lack of power in his leg, but consistent accuracy continues to haunt him.
| OAK Rush Defense |
The Broncos rushed a total of 38 times for 181 yards, an average of 4.8 per carry. The Broncos offensive line did a good job creating some running lanes for their backs, although the battle up front was not completely lost by the Raiders. Overall this unit played hard. There were a few let downs though, when there was a long run of 40 yards given up to Selvin Young, and others of 23 and 16 to Henry.
| OAK Pass Defense |
The Raiders gave up 269 passing yards to Jay Cutler, much of which was on play action. They were able to sack him twice, one going for a safety. Generally the pressure was average unless they were blitzing. Two interceptions were forced, one a deflected Cutler pass that Thomas Howard brought back for a score to give the Raiders the lead in the fourth quarter. The other was a bad decision by Cutler against a zone. Both Javon Walker and Brandon Marshall were able to create separation not necessarily with speed, but their imposing physicality.
| QB Jay Cutler, Pass: 23 - 33 - 269 - 1 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0 |
Cutler went 23 of 33 for 269 yards. He threw one touchdown, and two interceptions, though one was on a ball tipped at the line. The second interception was on a bad read against a zone coverage where Javon Walker fell down, however the ball likely would have been picked off either way. Much of his success through the air came on play action. He appears to be developing a nice chemistry with second year receiver Brandon Marshall to go along with already having complete comfort with Javon Walker. He has confidence that either player will come down with the tough catch in traffic. He showcased a strong arm, but did not take many deep shots downfield. Cutler is a good athlete, and can buy himself time in the pocket with his legs. He does not look to tuck the ball and run with it though. He fumbled the ball once, but was able to recover it himself.
| RB Travis Henry, Rush: 26 - 128 - 0, Rec: 2 - 8 - 0 (2 targets) |
Henry carried the ball 26 times for 128 yards. He was targeted twice in the passing game, catching both for a total of eight yards. He showed good power up the middle, with enough speed to get to the outside. He does not go down easily, and is often breaking tackles showing off his excellent stiff arm on numerous runs. He came up lame in the fourth quarter and limped over to the bench, but was able to return in the next series without any limitations.
| RB Mike Bell, Rush: 4 - 7 - 0, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (1 targets) |
Bell lined up as a fullback for the entire game, and though he had four carries for seven yards, none of them were as a tailback. He caught his lone target of the day for another seven yards.
| RB Selvin Young, Rush: 3 - 43 - 0, Rec: 1 - 1 - 0 (3 targets) |
Young played as Travis Henry's primary backup in this game, always lining up out of the tailback position, while his competition; Cecil Sapp and Mike Bell both played fullback. His biggest impact came on taking a handoff from Cutler out of the shotgun for 40 yards. He only had two other carries for three total yards. Young was targeted three times in the passing game, two on deeper passes from Cutler. One of the balls he appeared to come down with, but it was knocked out when he hit the ground. Young ended up catching one ball for one yard.
| RB Cecil Sapp, Rush: 2 - 6 - 1, Rec: 2 - 18 - 0 (3 targets) |
Sapp carried the ball two times for six yards, one that went for a four yard score. He did this from the fullback position, and did not line up as a tailback at all in this game. Sapp had a nice second effort on fourth and short to gain a first down. He received three targets in the passing game, catching two for 18 yards. He had one drop on a short dump off pass.
| WR Javon Walker, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0, Rec: 8 - 101 - 0 (13 targets) |
Though Brandon Marshall has emerged as a reliable option, Javon Walker is still Jay Cutler's top target. He caught eight of his 13 targets, five for first downs, totaling 101 yards. He took an end around for negative one yard. He fell down on one pass attempt by Cutler, which was intercepted by Keith Morrison. After starting the game off slow, he emerged with frequent clutch catches as the game went on.
| WR Brandon Marshall, Rec: 5 - 82 - 0 (9 targets) |
Marshall showed just how strong he was, shrugging off numerous arm tackles on a number of his catches. He caught five of his nine targets for a total of 82 yards. Those numbers don't do his game justice, as he had a 24 yard touchdown called back on a questionable offensive pass interference call, and another 17 yard gain nullified by a holding penalty. Jay Cutler appears to have confidence in Marshall to make the touch catch in traffic, and often looked his way on third downs, four of which Marshall got the first down on.
| WR Brandon Stokley, Rec: 3 - 43 - 1 (3 targets) |
Stokley caught all of his three targets for 43 yards, one that went for a nine yard score. He was used exclusively in three receiver sets, but was on the field for much of the day.
| TE Daniel Graham, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets) |
Graham was moved around the field a lot in this game, at times lining up as a receiver, or in the backfield as a fullback. The Broncos love utilizing him as a blocker, one of his strongest skills. As a receiver he was only targeted once, catching that for nine yards.
| TE Tony Scheffler |
Scheffler was active for this game, but did not have any targets. He only came in for the two TE formation.
| PK Jason Elam 3 - 4 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 11 points |
Elam went three for four, kicking the game winning field goal in overtime for 23 yards. He missed a 45 yard attempt wide right in the third quarter.
| DEN Rush Defense |
The Broncos were shredded to the tune of 200 yards on 35 carries for an average of 5.7 yards per carry. Given that the Raiders provided little threat through the air, this was an especially poor effort by the Broncos rush defense. LaMont Jordan broke numerous long runs, one of which setup a game winning fieldgoal attempt.
| DEN Pass Defense |
The Broncos pass defense didn't disappoint in this game, limiting Josh McCown to 73 yard passing, picking him off three times. They got to the quarterback with three sacks, and provided steady pressure throughout the game. This is the strength of the team, and it appears as though they will be very difficult to pass against going forward.
