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Post-game recap of the Oakland Raiders Week 17 contest on the road against the Denver Broncos.
Win, and the Oakland Raiders would be AFC West champions for the first time since 2001 — simple as that. But actually going out and accomplishing that, sans Derek Carr, would not be so simple.
There were many factors in play for both teams heading into this contest. The 12-3 Raiders had a division title to play for, and a win would also afford them a first-round bye in the playoffs — time that would be well-spent in getting Matt McGloin prepared.
The Broncos didn’t have any personal playoff aspirations to play for as they had already been eliminated from contention, but they sure would love to play spoiler to the Raiders. And with word coming out before the game that Gary Kubiak would be resigning for health reasons, they had their head coach to play for.
Oakland began the game on defense, but it looked as if the defense was unaware of that. Trevor Siemian and the Broncos offense needed 8 plays to travel 84 yards to score on the opening drive. A combination of Siemian throws and Oakland penalties were the theme of the drive, and Devontae Booker walked into the end zone to cap the drive.
Without Derek Carr, the offense struggled on the first drive — they started the game with four straight runs plays, with the third one picking up a first down. McGloin completed his first pass for 6 yards to Seth Roberts, and then an threw an incompletion on his next attempt. Oakland punted after gaining only 16 yards.
The Raiders defense came up with a three and out on the next drive, but the offense couldn’t capitalize. The offense again picked up a first down, but only managed 13 yards of offense before punting.
Denver would then put together a drive nearly identical to their first one of the game, but this time it was 8 plays for 85 yards, instead of 84 like the first drive. And the Oakland defense was able to keep the Broncos out of the end zone this time around, instead forcing Brandon McManus to kick a field goal. 10-0 lead for Denver.
It would be more of the same for the Raiders offense not only in the coming drives, but for the entire game. It was only two drives later where McGloin was roughed up on a couple of plays, and just like that, it was Connor Cook time.
After another Denver touchdown to go up 17-0, Cook entered the game. His first drive resulted in a punt, although he made once nice throw that was dropped by Clive Walford. On Cook’s second drive, Shane Ray stripped the ball from him, and Denver recovered.
The Broncos went up 24-0 on the next drive. At which point CBS had decided they had seen enough, and pulled the game from nearly every market outside of the Bay Area. Including Los Angeles.
The only sign of offense the Raiders showed all game took place after this — Cook made nice throw to Walford that went for 17 yards, followed by another good throw to Amari Cooper, who reached for the pylon for the touchdown.
The rest of the game was uneventful and a continuation of how the game had gone so far. Johnny Holton fumbled on an end-around for a turnover, two drives after that, Cook experienced his second turnover of the game with an interception. And there was another Cook mishandled snap/fumble and near interception that almost ended up being turnovers.
Denver would run the clock out, winning the game 24-6. And minutes later, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers, officially giving them the AFC West title. Meaning the Raiders will play on the road against the Houston Texans in the first round of the playoffs.
Matt McGloin went 6 of 11 for 21 yards. Connor Cook went 14 of 21 for 150 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and 1 fumble. He was sacked twice.
The Raiders ran the ball just 16 times for 57 yards (3.6 YPC) with one of those runs being a 20-yard gain by DeAndre Washington.
Crabtree led the receiving core with 5 catches for 47 yards. Amari Cooper had 4 receptions for 39 yards, and he had the only Raiders touchdown of the game.
Oakland’s defense allowed 349 yards of total offense — 206 through the air and 143 on the ground.
Brynden Trawick had the team’s only turnover, as the Raiders lost the turnover battle 3 to 1.
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