The good, the bad and the ugly from Sunday’s loss to the Raiders

The Broncos traveled to Las Vegas for the first time to take on the Raiders and it was a trip they’d very much like to forget. Struggling on both sides of the ball, the Broncos fell to their division rival by a score of 37-12 on Sunday.

The Broncos offense abandoned the running game and quarterback Drew Lock threw a career-high four interceptions against the Raiders. It was a recipe for disaster when the defense couldn’t get off the field against the Raiders because they couldn’t stop their rushing attack.

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio commented after the game on the mood of the locker room and where things go moving forward.

“We’ll see where they’re at when we get back to work on next Tuesday and Wednesday and see where they’re at. Obviously, everybody is disappointed. All our fingerprints are on that game — coaches and players — and nobody is happy about it, obviously. In fact, everybody is probably very disappointed and disgusted by it that a 10-6 game at halftime can turn out like that. Turnovers will do that to you, and we’ve got to play better,” Fangio said.

Can the team rebound and save their season? The Broncos are at home next week to take on a Dolphins team that is on a five-game winning streak. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Week 10 loss.

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The Good

It was incredibly difficult to find any good on the Broncos side in this game. The one player who I can say had a good game was cornerback Bryce Callahan. He missed last week’s game with an ankle injury, but was back in action against the Raiders on Sunday. Callahan finished with three tackles and one pass defensed but his presence was larger than that.

The veteran was singlehandedly keeping the Broncos in the game with his play. Callahan did a great job of covering any player he was tasked with, and he had to face some big-time athletes like Henry Ruggs and Darren Waller on Sunday. The team did not reward Callahan for his play as the offense just couldn’t get anything going when Callahan and the defense gave them the ball back in the first half.

Callahan is playing at a high level, and he’s posting good stats from a coverage standpoint – but the team is not winning. The veteran cornerback said after the game that he’s not as excited about his strong play as a he could be because of the win/loss record.

“It would be a lot better if we were getting wins too because then I could celebrate it, but if we’re losing then I’m not trying to worry about my stats. I’m trying to win football games. That’s what makes football fun,” Callahan said.

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The Bad

There is plenty of bad from the Broncos game, but I’ll just pick one thing for this article. The worst “bad” for the Broncos must be the four interceptions from Lock. His game was off – to say the least – against the Raiders. Compare and contrast how Lock looked against the Raiders last year in the season finale and then take a look at how he looked on Sunday. You can see a big difference in his play.

Lock was not reading the defense, and it showed up in his ill-advised throws. He has a strong arm and can fit passes into tight spots, but that doesn’t mean he has to try those throws all the time. Lock needs more patience and nuance to his game as a passer and has to understand the concepts he’s running compared to what a defense is showing him.

The Raiders don’t get much pressure as a defense, yet against the Broncos they were harassing Lock all afternoon long. He did not respond well and those four interceptions were the result.

After the game, Fangio admitted the interceptions were a big problem.

“Obviously, it’s very much of a concern. With four interceptions, you can’t win turning the ball over that much. We’ve got to do a good job of evaluating why we’ve thrown these interceptions, what can we do to help him. Everybody’s fingerprints is on that performance, coaches, players, and we all have to take a good hard look at it, which we have been on a weekly basis, but we haven’t found the right formula yet to be consistent on offense,” Fangio said.

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The Ugly

It’s bad when a former draft pick for your team – widely considered a bust for your organization – plays against you and posts big numbers. That’s exactly what happened to the Broncos on Sunday against former draft pick Devontae Booker. The Broncos selected Booker out of Utah in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and he was supposed to overtake C.J. Anderson for the starting job.

That never materialized, as Anderson was the much better back and as Booker spent years with the Broncos his role continually dwindled. In 2019, Booker barely saw the field on offense and played only 26 snaps the entire season.

With the Raiders, Booker has produced at a solid level as the backup to starter Josh Jacobs. Against the Broncos on Sunday, Booker ran the ball 16 times for 81 yards and two touchdowns.

The Broncos run defense has struggled ever since nose tackle Mike Purcell was lost for the season. After the game, Fangio discussed the team’s problem in stuffing the run.

“They’re a good running team, obviously, and we just didn’t play the run well enough. Particularly if you lose your edge in a game, it’s going to show up in the run defense more so than anywhere else. I think in that fourth quarter, we just weren’t as sharp as you need to be playing the run,” Fangio said.

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