ALAMEDA, CA – For the Oakland Raiders (4-4), winning at home against the Denver Broncos would keep them in first place in the AFC West – possibly put them all alone at the top after nine weeks into the season for the first time since 2001.
More notably, it was Carson Palmer’s first start at quarterback as a Raider, and the first game in silver and black for newly-acquired wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh – whom teamed with Palmer in Cincinnati.
None of that mattered this day, because the Broncos had a pair of stars of their own.
The much maligned Tim Tebow threw for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 10 completions for 21 attempts, while also rushing 12 times for another 118 yards. Tebow got help from Willis McGahee, who rushed 20 times for 163 yards, and had two rushing touchdowns – one, a 60-yard score which broke the back of the Raiders defense.
The two players helped to lead the Denver Broncos (3-5) to 31 second half points and a 38-24 victory in front of a sell-out crowd at the Coliseum. To make matters worse, the Raiders held a 10-point, 24-14 advantage with 4:07 left to play in the third quarter before allowing 24 unanswered points.
“Honestly it doesn’t necessarily matter too much how you drew it up as long as you get this feeling at the end because it was pretty special,” said Tebow about the game plan.
Both Palmer and Tebow joined the Heisman fraternity for different reasons – Palmer for his golden arm and Tebow for his superior athleticism. Both showed their wares on Sunday, but Tebow also outplayed Palmer in the passing game.
For the second straight game, Palmer threw three interceptions, while Tebow finished the game without a turnover.
Despite the criticism that Tebow has received for his ability to pass the ball, it was Palmer who began the game struggling to make his throws. After the first quarter, Palmer had a QB-rating of just 50.3 compared to Tebow’s 143.8 rating.
Tebow also had 36 of his 117 rushing yards in the opening period.
Palmer would get out of his funk by the end of the first half, and the Raiders appeared to be cruising to their fifth win of the season with a 17-7 lead at the break.
Palmer completed 18 passes on 34 attempts and had a QB-rating of 77.1, while throwing three touchdowns, and three interceptions to go along with 332 yards passing. Michael Bush led the Raiders on the ground by rushing for 96 yards on 19 carries to go along with his two receptions for 33 yards.
The Raiders opened up the scoring midway through the first quarter when Sebastian Janikowski hit on a 48-yard field goal try. Janikowski, who missed the last game due to a hamstring injury, appeared to hobble after the make.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders’ strong-legged kicker was only able to reach the Denver 21 yard line on the kick, but he continued to play without any further obvious sign of injury.
After starting the drive from their own 29 yard line, the Raiders moved quickly down the field to the Broncos’ 19 yard line with a 34-yard pass play to Jacoby Ford, and a 14-yard run by Bush. Unfortunately for Oakland, the drive was halted after the offense imploded.
On second-and-11 from the Denver 20, Palmer attempted, and failed, to draw the Broncos offsides with a quick snap and kneel down. Third down didn’t come until the Raiders were flagged for a false start, and for having 12 men in the huddle – putting the ball on the Denver 31, 21 yards needed to convert third down.
It didn’t take much time for the much-criticized Tebow to strike back for the Broncos. Tebow faked a handoff to Willis McGahee, who ran to the right edge of the line – faking the Raiders defense in that direction – then the second-year quarterback ran to the wide-open left side of the field for 32 yards.
The running play put the Broncos on the Raiders’ 27 yard line. Two plays later, Tebow showed the arm he’s been ridiculed for by overthrowing a potential touchdown pass to tight end Julius Thomas by more than 10 yards.
Tebow didn’t miss his next opportunity – which came one play later. On third-and-10, Tebow found wide receiver Eric Decker wide open over the middle for the go-ahead score with 1:11 remaining in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Raiders’ defense, and a mishandled snap by Denver punter Britton Colquitt led to a reversal of fortune for the Silver and Black. Aided by a holding penalty on Broncos’ left tackle Ryan Clady and a shared near-sack by Richard Seymour and Lamarr Houston, Denver was forced to punt from their own 15 yard line.
Colquitt dropped the snap, and before a Raider could tackle him for a safety, the punter side-armed the ball to the 25-yard line. Rather than ruling an intentional grounding penalty for a safety, the officials ruled that Colquitt had a receiver in the area (Eddie Royal) – giving the Raiders the ball on the Denver 15.
The Raiders appeared to hurt themselves again when Stefen Wisniewski was called for holding – leaving them with a second-and-18 play from the Broncos’ 22 yard line.
Finally, Palmer made a throw that Raider Nation had been anticipating since head coach Hue Jackson traded away two potential first round picks. While being pressured in the pocket, Palmer threaded the needle over the middle of the field to tight end Brandon Myers.
The pass maneuvered its way through two defenders and reached Myers for an 11-yard gain. On the next play, Palmer stepped up away from pressure and zinged a pass to Bush in the right flat. Bush made the catch running from left to right and then ran parallel to the sideline before launching himself over a defender into the end zone for the score.
That first touchdown pass was only the beginning for Palmer and the Raiders. Oakland’s next scoring drive consisted of four plays, 72 yards, and lasted just 1:16 – in large part due to Palmer’s 40-yard touchdown strike to fullback Marcel Reece over the middle of the field, and more impressively, over linebacker D.J. Williams in tight coverage.
The long touchdown pass gave the Raiders a 10-point, 17-7 advantage, with 1:30 left in the half.
The Broncos nearly took advantage of the time left on the clock. Denver drove to the Oakland 35, before attempting a 53-yard field goal by Matt Prater. On Prater’s first attempt, he missed wide left, but rookie running back Taiwan Jones jumped offsides, turning a Broncos a fourth-and-11 into a fourth-and-six from the Raiders’ 30 yard line.
The Broncos then had Prater attempt a 48-yard field goal on the next play, which was through the uprights, but Jones again pulled a rookie move by running into the kicker. The 15-yard penalty nullified the field goal, and gave the Broncos the ball on the Raiders’ 15 yard line with 17 seconds remaining.
After an incomplete pass and a holding penalty by Broncos’ right tackle Orlando Franklin, Prater came back out on the field with eight seconds remaining in the half for a 43-yard attempt. Again, Prater’s kick was wide left.
The half ended with the Raiders up by 10 and in control of the contest, but the second half would be different.
The Broncos came out of the locker room in sync on offense. Tebow completed three of four passes for 52 yards and rushed for 19 on the nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. On the final play of the drive, Tebow found a wide-open Eddie Royal for a 26-yard touchdown score.
The opening drive of the half was the first of three consecutive scoring drives by the Broncos.
With the Raiders’ lead cut down to just three points, 17-14, it was necessary for Palmer and the Oakland offense to answer back. They did exactly that.
The Oakland offense put together their own eight-play, 80-yard drive that answered the Broncos’ score, ending with a Palmer 18-yard touchdown strike to Jacoby Ford on the left edge of the end zone.
The drive was equally divided between pass and run, with Bush rushing for 16 yards and picking up 22 yards on his lone reception of the possession. The touchdown extended the Raiders lead to 24-14, but that margin didn’t last longer than Denver’s next possession.
On the first play of the Broncos’ next possession, the Raiders again left a receiver wide open. This time, Demaryius Thomas was the target of a 29-yard pass play to go along with two Tebow scrambles for 24 yards. The big plays set up another 43-yard field goal attempt by Prater, which he made with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter.
The Raiders drove down the field on the ensuing possession, highlighted by a 28-yard pass to Houshmandzadeh that ignited the home crowd to begin chanting, “Hoosh.” The drive ended when a pass from Palmer was thrown high to Denarius Moore, who tipped it up and into the hands of Broncos cornerback Chris Harris for the pick.
Moore, who was targeted 12 times by Palmer, caught four passes for 61 yards on the day as the second-leading receiver in the game. Moore’s teammate, Ford, caught five of the six passes that came his way for 105 yards and a touchdown.
The first Broncos play following the interception, resulted in points for Denver. McGahee, who had been stopped the entire game to that point, found a hole in the Raiders’ defense and streaked 60 yards for the tying score on the last play of the third quarter.
The two teams were tied at 24 to start the fourth quarter, but only one team continued to score.
After the defense had failed the Raiders for most of the half, the punt coverage team took their turn. Shane Lechler’s booted a 56-yard punt to Royal, who in turn returned it for a touchdown.
Once he caught the punt, Royal swerved right, stopped and sprinted to the left side of the field where containment had broken down. After swerving through traffic for 20 yards, Royal finished the 85-yard touchdown return on a nearly straight sprint to put the Broncos up by seven, 31-24, with just 5:53 left in the game.
“The momentum kind of changed with that big punt return,” said Bush of Royal’s big play. “That’s a part of the game. As an offense that – we got to know that every time we take the field, we got to think that we’re going to score.”
With 4:03 remaining, and down by seven, Jackson chose to punt rather than going for a first down conversion, needing 10 yards at their own 46 yard line. The Raiders punted, rather than take the chance of giving the ball back to Denver on the Raiders’ side of the 50. The punt resulted in Denver getting the ball back on the Broncos’ 23 yard line.
“[Going for it] crossed my mind, but with four minutes left I thought we could hold them and still get the ball back,” said Jackson of his decision. “I mean, we’re a score down. To take a chance there, on our side of the field, then you’re like sticking the nail in the coffin yourself and I didn’t want to do that.”
Once again, Tebow took things into his own hands. On the first play of the drive, the quarterback ran for 28 yards. That play was followed by a McGahee run for 17 yards to get to the Oakland 32 yard line. At the two-minute warning, Denver was at the Oakland 25, facing a second and two play – and it was converted by McGahee for a 24-yard touchdown run right after the break ended.
On the game, Pro Bowl defensive lineman Seymour had little to say. “Not a whole lot to say,” Seymour began. “They made the plays when they needed to, and I think the thing that really jumps out to me on defense in terms of our team, we’re just inconsistent.”
With losses by Kansas City and San Diego, the Raiders remain in a three-way tie for first atop the AFC West. They’ll now prepare to face the Chargers Thursday night in San Diego, in which the winner will own first place alone…at least until next Sunday.
NOTES:
- QB’s Terrelle Pryor and Jason Campbell (clavicle) were inactive for the Raiders, along with RB Darren McFadden (foot), CB Chimdi Chekwa (hamstring), CB Chris Johnson (sports hernia), OG Bruce Campbell, and TE David Ausberry.
- For the Broncos, S Rafael Bush, CB Cassius Vaughn, FB Quinn Johnson, OG Manny Ramirez, OT Tony Hills, TE Virgil Green, and DE Derrick Harvey were inactive.
- On the first play of the game, a pass to Denarius Moore resulted in an injury to Broncos free safety Rahim Moore. Rahim Moore attempted to cut underneath the pass and was hit in the head by Denarius Moore’s knee. Denarius Moore and cornerback Andre’ Goodman also took a moment to get up after the pileup.
- Reece returned to action for the first time since the Raiders hosted the New York Jets Sept. 5th.
- Palmer’s touchdown pass to Bush in the second quarter was the first touchdown for the Raiders since the third quarter of the win over the Cleveland Browns, Oct. 16. To that point, the Raiders had gone six consecutive quarters without reaching the end zone. The last touchdown – Shane Lechler’s fake punt and pass to tight end Kevin Boss for the 35-yard score.
- Injuries: OC Samson Satele (knee and quad), Mike Mitchell (ankle), DeMarcus Van Dyke (hamstring). Starting middle linebacker Rolando McClain did not play due to a sprained ankle.
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