Broncos Avoid Upset vs Raiders, Extend Win Streak to 7 and Improve to 8-2 | Game Recap

Broncos Avoid Upset vs Raiders, Extend Win Streak to 7 and Improve to 8-2 | Game Recap

Back in studio alongside Emory Hunt, the two-time Super Bowl champ Brett McFeden joining the conversation as well and depth and breadth of this conversation will show the skill of these two men that I know. Emory Hunt, explain to me what you just saw over 60 minutes of football. There were so many inefficiencies on both sides. How did Denver manage the win? They made less mistakes collectively than the the Las Vegas Raiders. I was about to call them Oakland Raiders, but they made less mistakes, not in the terms of penalties, but in terms of just the offensive execution. And they made one more play or two more plays than the Raiders did, which got them the points that they needed. They took advantage of the turnovers the Raiders the Raiders gave them. And once they were able to take advantage of the second turnover, moving the ball inside field goal range, kicking a field goal, getting the job done, giving them just enough points. But all jokes aside, this was awful offense for both teams, especially the Broncos. This was no identity football for Denver uh tonight. Well, I’m going to keep it plain and simple. The Broncos won because they had the better defense. Now, the Raiders defensively, they played a they played a great game considering what they’ve done in road in the previous road opportunities. They really played a good game, but unfortunately the Broncos were just a tad bit better than they were, and they needed to score points. That was the issue for the Raiders when you talk about that offense being outside of that first quarter success. They were stagnant for the remaining three quarters. And you saw with the Denver Broncos defensively what they did. They sacked the quarterback. They were able to set up great field position for the Denver Broncos, which was an issue in the first half. And they also blocked a punt. And I understand on every opportunity, every turnover, and every great uh field position they gave their offense, they didn’t score. Well, all that did was set up momentum for them to finally find a way to get them the significant three points they needed to get to be able to win this game. And that’s all that was needed. I mean, when you watch this game, guys, I know when I watched it, I felt like if they got a one-point lead, it was a wrap. It was nothing the Raiders could do, especially when Gino Smith became a bit hobbled. They were limited in what they could do in terms of success against the the Broncos defensively. When I watched it, I felt like I needed a shower. But uh we will trudge on here because I do want to explore the inefficiencies on the Denver side. I think we might end up a little bit lopsided here. The Raiders not expected to win this game. The Denver Broncos, so much more was expected than what they gave us in their performance. Looking at this box score, these two teams, to your guys’ point, played very similar games. 220 total yards for the Broncos, a buck 88 for the Raiders. Third down inefficiency on both sides of it. Neither team cracks 90 yards rushing. Neither team cracks 140 yards passing. It was not the prettiest brand of football. And I want to lean into the passing here for a moment. Mac, what are you seeing in the maturation or regression of Bo Nicks trying to throw from the pocket? It doesn’t look like a play caller that believes in his quarterback all too much. And why would he after a performance like this? You know what, the entire night Bo Nicks just seemed to be a bit off, man. It felt like he wasn’t prepared. It felt like he wasn’t going he wasn’t playing within the game in terms of the rhythm of the offense. uh the connection with the pass catchers wasn’t there. I mean, the entire night, guys, when you watch this game, you talk about sloppiness. Yes, we saw sloppy a sloppy performance from the entire Denver Broncos offense offense led with their starting quarterback, but there’s no such thing as style points in National Football League. No question, Joe was ugly. It was an hard watch in terms of watching both of these teams play. But at the end of the ball game, the Denver Broncos had more points. Now, what’s next for Shawn Peyton in terms of the maturation process for Bo Knicks? Because watching him today, it felt like he took a step back. Will this be a continued thing? I don’t think so. I think it was just a oneoff. But the fortunate part for Bo Knicks, this was a one-off in terms of a bad performance, but they still won. That’s the most fortunate part about this entire ordeal, watching Bo Knicks play. And Emory, I won’t push back on what Max said there. It is a one-off in this level of inefficiency from Bon Knicks, but we did see some of that against Houston a week ago as well. That was the most punts in an NFL football game this season. Houston versus Denver. We saw 16 punts again in the teens this game. So, the offense I it’s it’s not finding that gear. It’s not turning over. How much of that falls on Knicks? How much of that falls on the play calling? And do you trust in those two to get it right? It falls a lot on Knicks. And I think the reason why is because we didn’t see him get into that Bick’s groove that he usually gets into in the fourth quarter. We were saying that, okay, he’s going to put on his cape, he’s going to have success in the fourth quarter. He’s going to get himself out of a rut. But the true problem and with to your point, Joe, is the fact that why does he start the games the way he does? And why hasn’t this clicked or looked efficient or effective for him early in ball games? Thank God they have JK Dobbins because I felt like he was the only guy that showed some consistency tonight. They kind of helped them get the run game going when they needed to to close out a ball game. Found some big plays on the ground. Was the only one that brought it consistently throughout the course of the game because they couldn’t get it from their offense uh from their coordinators, from their quarterbacks, from their receivers. Everyone outside of JK Dobbins came to uh didn’t come to play. But when you talk about Bull Knicks, man, this he played like a backup starting his first game. Like Shawn Peyton was saying, “Okay, I’m starting a backup and we got to make this thing close and keep it close for him because we don’t want him to lose a game and they didn’t allow him to go out there and win it to.” So to the other point, do they trust him with play calls and how they’re calling this game? It doesn’t seem like it because they’re waiting for both Knicks to get into a groove and just show some ability to hit the easy things or like BMAC says, make the routine plays routinely and he is not able to do that. He is playing like a backup quarterback. The responsibility belongs to the quarterback. So too does the glory. We know these are teamwide issues. A couple drop passes didn’t help Nicks out, especially an interception coming off of the hands of a wide receiver as well. But that effort to get it right, there’s only so many opportunities in front of you right now. This is a team that will not play for 10 days until they play Kansas City next Sunday. Then they go to the buy. So that’s one game in 23 days to show that you can get it right on field. Maybe you get those bodies fresh. Yes, that is the silver lining to this. But also, you want to be on that football field making plays if your offense just struggled like this. So Emry, I’ll ask it this way. How do you feel if you’re Denver right now? You’re 8-2. You’re a winner of seven in a row for the first time in a decade, but you’re coming off of a win that sort of feels like an out. Yeah. You don’t feel good, but if you’re head coach Shawn Payton, you’re like, “Okay, I have a lot to dive into in these 23 days with this one game against arguably the best team in our division in the Kansas City Chiefs.” Right? So there’s a there’s a significant and great coaching point that he has at his disposal with these next 23 days in terms of the game plus a buy and the time off in between. So from a players perspective, you got to be like, well, yeah, we won. You know, it’s going to look like a win in the win column, but at the end of the day, we didn’t play our best. So it’s going to be interesting to see how the offense more so than the defense dives into these uh this next game and these uh days off surrounding it. All right, Mac. You know, we we like to spin positive here. You alluded to it earlier. Six sacks on the day for this vaunted defensive front of the Denver Broncos. Five of those coming in the first half. What do you love about this rush group right now? And and how do they hem up quarterbacks the way they did tonight? The multitude of players they have that can win their one-on-one matchups. I mean, it’s amazing when you talk about having but three guys that came into this ball game with at least five sacks. That’s the best in the National Football League. and they could they improved in that number based on the six sacks that they were able to get on Gino Smith. So just the one-on-one matchups, the scheme that we that we see week in and week out really puts them in positions to be able to be dominant. Nick Nick Bonito is the lead singer for their group and they have so many other guys that can take the mic at any given time and and take off and do good numbers. And we also have to remember they were able to be dominant without the best quarterback in the game and Pat Sertan Jr. So, you know, he’s been out for for some weeks now, but hopefully he will come back sooner than later. So when you look at the their job in terms of the individual talent that they have at the with the guys that put their hand in the dirt and the way they play, man, this is a team, man, they really showed you how good they are defensively because we just talked about the problems and the concerns from their offense tonight, but they won the ball game for their team and we don’t expect to see the issues from their offense, but if this thing if these things surface more than not because they happened last week, Joe, you talked about the issues for B Knicks. They didn’t do a good job last week, but guess what? They won the ball game because they have a championship-like defense. So th those are the things that’s needed to make a significant playoff run. And I can tell you this much, they’re eight and two. The last time I checked with them winning tonight, they’re sitting a top of the AFC. That defense is not the defense you would like to go play if they happen to get the top seed in the playoffs where everything will have to come through Denver. I don’t know how many quarterbacks in the AFC or offenses would love to sign up for that opportunity. Top of the AFC and top of the NFL right now. First team to eight wins. I’ve got an idea of a team in that division that wouldn’t mind going anywhere uh to play this version of the Denver Broncos. Got to get it sorted. Emry, a thought here on the defense. Man, I don’t want to gloss over that graphic we had of the most sacks in 10 games. Those numbers of those other teams, 84, 87, 89. That was a running league. You would think there’ll be more teams in the passing era that would have this number, right? So, this is a remarkable statistic for this defense in this era considering who they are playing and how they’re playing football in passing games. So this defense is doing something that’s unprecedented in in such a s significant era of passing the football where they’re diversifying the sacks across the board. Also in the era of quarterback protection as well where some sacks get taken off the board. That’s where they come to rest here on Thursday night. We now have an 8-2 team on the other side two and seven and a quad contusion for Gino Smith. Gentlemen, thank you. All right, a look here at the longest winning streaks at home in Broncos history. We are now on to 10 and counting and you’re on the graphic. No picture on the scorecard. No style points needed. Now seven in a row and 10 in a row at home.

Bryant McFadden and Emory Hunt join CBS Sports HQ to recap the NFL Week 10 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos.

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