Passing Judgement: Raiders 23 - Broncos 20

I hate the Raiders. I hate losing to them in Denver (in the orange jerseys) even more!

That's what happened tonight. The Broncos, though improved, still have a long way to go before returning to prominence.



Offensively, it only took until the fourth quarter before making it into the end zone. Quarterback Kyle Orton barely finished above 50% passing (24/46 304 yds 1 TD, 1 INT) and orchestrated some head-scratching plays. He missed some wide open receivers, held on to the ball too long often resulting in sacks, or just plain dropped the ball when the offense needed him to make something happen. Orton's performance tonight just proves my theory that Orton is the master of garbage time, and cannot be trusted with the game on the line.

Running the ball 13 times doesn't help either. Knowshon Moreno had only 22 yards on 8 carries (2.75 yards per carry). You can't live on that in the NFL. It didn't help that any time there was a good run, holding was usually called against the Broncos. There were plenty of times that Oakland was holding by the same standard, but was not called, but you can't challenge the Referees making or refusing to make calls. You can't blame them for the Broncos not taking advantage given the opportunity.

Defensively, the Broncos looked pretty good at times. However, they're not consistent at stopping the run. Sometimes they'd catch the runner in the backfield or only allow a yard. Other times the (hated) Raiders broke 10+ yard runs to keep the defense on their heels and the chains moving. Denver has to figure out how to stop the run if they hope to win any games this year.

Their first drive started at the Oakland 15 yard line and they got 3 points out of it. Later in the game the Broncos got the ball inside the 10 yard line and settled for 3. Touchdowns on one or both of those drives would have sealed the game. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Jason Hunter recorded the only sack of the night but Von Miller forced a fumble that fellow rookie Rahim Moore recovered to start the first drive. Good to see rookies getting after it.

All that said, it's not Tim Tebow time yet, nor is it time to panic defensively. Orton--now 11-18 as a starter in Denver--should figure out how to be consistent since it's a contract year for him and he's so good in practice. Starting Tebow or Brady Quinn won't help the run game at all. Our defense has gotten younger with rookies Miller and Moore starting and second year cornerback Cassius Vaughn playing a prominent role on nickel packages. Hopefully Champ  Bailey's injury (no word on that yet) and Elvis Dumervil's strained shoulder won't keep them out of action for long.

Hopefully a team that came close to beating its nemesis can find a way to beat the ever-underachieving Cincinnati Bungles Bengals next Sunday.

For now, the Broncos are 0-1. Fortunately, that puts them one loss closer to landing Andrew Luck in April's draft.