Week 4 GDT: Denver Broncos (2-1) @ Las Vegas Raiders (0-3)

[paul-mac]

Crazy to think this is already Josh McDaniels last chance to save his season. Only one 0-4 team have ever made the playoffs so we have a chance to finish them off.

 

It would mean the world to our fans to go and get a win in Vegas.

 

We need to be better on offense this week for sure. 14 PPG is not going to cut it.

 

23-16 Denver. 

[lomaxgrUK]

It sounds crazy, but I am really not confident for this game. The Raiders are absolutely desperate and anyone who has seen the Raiders will know that 0-3 isn't a reflection of that team. They've had some bad bounces, poorly timed penalties and some terrrrrrible drops. I would also question some of the Offensive playcalling (in particular their pass/run selections in the redzone), but that would just come across as bitter .....

Adams vs Surtain is going to be something else. After his low production yesterday, I'd expect the Raiders to force feed Adams. Will Surtain be up to it?

Waller has killed the Broncos time after time. With no Simmons, it's going to be a problem for sure. 

Will Renfrow be healthy? Another guy who has killed Denver relentlessly.

As for our Offense - just like the 49ers game, our biggest weakness (RT) is up against our opponents biggest strength (Crosby). I've mentioned a couple of Bronco killers; he's the biggest. In fact, he's one of the biggest Bronco killers I've ever seen.

We need to score points. Is that too simple? We can't keep trending downwards and coming up with excuses. "Its only week 1". "Its only week 2". "The 49ers are really good Defensively". That has to stop, and stop quickly.

[paul-mac]

22 minutes ago, lomaxgrUK said:

It sounds crazy, but I am really not confident for this game. The Raiders are absolutely desperate and anyone who has seen the Raiders will know that 0-3 isn't a reflection of that team. They've had some bad bounces, poorly timed penalties and some terrrrrrible drops. I would also question some of the Offensive playcalling (in particular their pass/run selections in the redzone), but that would just come across as bitter .....

Adams vs Surtain is going to be something else. After his low production yesterday, I'd expect the Raiders to force feed Adams. Will Surtain be up to it?

Waller has killed the Broncos time after time. With no Simmons, it's going to be a problem for sure. 

Will Renfrow be healthy? Another guy who has killed Denver relentlessly.

As for our Offense - just like the 49ers game, our biggest weakness (RT) is up against our opponents biggest strength (Crosby). I've mentioned a couple of Bronco killers; he's the biggest. In fact, he's one of the biggest Bronco killers I've ever seen.

We need to score points. Is that too simple? We can't keep trending downwards and coming up with excuses. "Its only week 1". "Its only week 2". "The 49ers are really good Defensively". That has to stop, and stop quickly.

If Surtain shuts down Adams then I think we can call him an elite CB. One of my big hopes for this year is that our first two picks from the 2021 draft can establish themselves as top five players at their positions. Surtain is nearly there. Javonte a bit more to do but he’s making very good progress.

 

Surtain is 1.5 years away from Paton writing him a blank cheque. 

[Broncofan]

52 minutes ago, lomaxgrUK said:

It sounds crazy, but I am really not confident for this game. The Raiders are absolutely desperate and anyone who has seen the Raiders will know that 0-3 isn't a reflection of that team. They've had some bad bounces, poorly timed penalties and some terrrrrrible drops. I would also question some of the Offensive playcalling (in particular their pass/run selections in the redzone), but that would just come across as bitter .....

Adams vs Surtain is going to be something else. After his low production yesterday, I'd expect the Raiders to force feed Adams. Will Surtain be up to it?

Waller has killed the Broncos time after time. With no Simmons, it's going to be a problem for sure. 

Will Renfrow be healthy? Another guy who has killed Denver relentlessly.

As for our Offense - just like the 49ers game, our biggest weakness (RT) is up against our opponents biggest strength (Crosby). I've mentioned a couple of Bronco killers; he's the biggest. In fact, he's one of the biggest Bronco killers I've ever seen.

We need to score points. Is that too simple? We can't keep trending downwards and coming up with excuses. "Its only week 1". "Its only week 2". "The 49ers are really good Defensively". That has to stop, and stop quickly.

Did you see the post halftime interview? Hackett literally said “we just need to finish when we’re in the red zone.   We need to finish”.  
 

We hadn’t even been to the RZ the entire 1H.   We were there once yesterday.   At least we were 1/1 lol.   But that doesn’t inspire any confidence Hackett even knows the issues in-game.  
 

This is a zero excuses game.   Barring a plague which wipes out our OL or skill position group - you have to be able to score 24+ pts a game to consistently win.   You can’t rely on the D playing No Fly Zone like ball.   It’s not sustainable.   

Edited September 26, 2022 by Broncofan

[Broncofan]

1 hour ago, lomaxgrUK said:

It sounds crazy, but I am really not confident for this game. The Raiders are absolutely desperate and anyone who has seen the Raiders will know that 0-3 isn't a reflection of that team. They've had some bad bounces, poorly timed penalties and some terrrrrrible drops. I would also question some of the Offensive playcalling (in particular their pass/run selections in the redzone), but that would just come across as bitter .....

Adams vs Surtain is going to be something else. After his low production yesterday, I'd expect the Raiders to force feed Adams. Will Surtain be up to it?

Waller has killed the Broncos time after time. With no Simmons, it's going to be a problem for sure. 

Will Renfrow be healthy? Another guy who has killed Denver relentlessly.

As for our Offense - just like the 49ers game, our biggest weakness (RT) is up against our opponents biggest strength (Crosby). I've mentioned a couple of Bronco killers; he's the biggest. In fact, he's one of the biggest Bronco killers I've ever seen.

We need to score points. Is that too simple? We can't keep trending downwards and coming up with excuses. "Its only week 1". "Its only week 2". "The 49ers are really good Defensively". That has to stop, and stop quickly.

5 reasons we shouldn’t ever feel confident for this season playing LV:  

1.  Intra-division games always are closer than ppl think because if the familiarity.   
 

2.  As you mentioned we often struggle playing on the road whether it’s Oakland or Vegas.   The home crowd not helping our O with the noise won’t help. 
 

3.   Maxx Crosby is a top 5 pass rusher that can take over games on his own.  When he’s not in there it’s way easier to succeed while he’s there he can be an absolute game changer.  
 

4.  The Raiders max out their output with one of the best K in the game not named Justin Tucker in Daniel Carlson.   McManus rep doesn’t match the production.   
 

5.  While we’re this bad on the HC/OC side we leave zero margin for error on the D.  That can only go for so long.  
 

Even though we’re 2-1 and Raiders are 0-3 we’re the slight underdog (+1.5).   I get HFA accounts for 3 pts in general.   If we play our best game we’ll win.   But that’s not even close to a foregone conclusion.   
 

But given it’s an intradivision game and we gave away the SEA game I consider this a must win.   You have to put away less talented teams.    You can’t make the playoffs squandering opps like these.    Having said that there’s no reason to feel confident.   I share your concern.  Just hope they find a way given they’re clearly the more talented squad.   

Edited September 26, 2022 by Broncofan

[big_palooka]

3 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

It sounds crazy, but I am really not confident for this game. The Raiders are absolutely desperate and anyone who has seen the Raiders will know that 0-3 isn't a reflection of that team. They've had some bad bounces, poorly timed penalties and some terrrrrrible drops. I would also question some of the Offensive playcalling (in particular their pass/run selections in the redzone), but that would just come across as bitter .....

I don't think it's bitter at all. They are throwing on 71% of their plays and that's not Carr's game. Jacobs is running as good as we've seen, but not getting the ball enough. They have FIVE RBs on the roster and have 54 total rushing attempts.

Their losses are not a reflection of the team, I agree. Everything you said is accurate, plus they can't put it together for 60 minutes. 

4 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

Adams vs Surtain is going to be something else. After his low production yesterday, I'd expect the Raiders to force feed Adams. Will Surtain be up to it?

Waller has killed the Broncos time after time. With no Simmons, it's going to be a problem for sure. 

Will Renfrow be healthy? Another guy who has killed Denver relentlessly.

Adams has been ignored 2 weeks in a row. I think he gets more one on one coverage with Surtain, which could be a fun battle. Waller is due a bounce back game. He dropped arguably 3 TD balls yesterday in what was his worst performance.

 

4 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

As for our Offense - just like the 49ers game, our biggest weakness (RT) is up against our opponents biggest strength (Crosby). I've mentioned a couple of Bronco killers; he's the biggest. In fact, he's one of the biggest Bronco killers I've ever seen.

We need to score points. Is that too simple? We can't keep trending downwards and coming up with excuses. "Its only week 1". "Its only week 2". "The 49ers are really good Defensively". That has to stop, and stop quickly.

No idea what you are going to get from the Raiders defense. Their pass rush has been terrible outside Maxx. Chandler Jones is just a guy at this point. If Perryman is out again, that's a big win as he's the run support player on defense. Corners got banged up some this week as well. 

Could easily see Broncos finding their offense against this group. They can't get after the QB right now. 

[big_palooka]

2 hours ago, Broncofan said:

But given it’s an intradivision game and we gave away the SEA game I consider this a must win.   You have to put away less talented teams.    You can’t make the playoffs squandering opps like these.    Having said that there’s no reason to feel confident.   I share your concern.  Just hope they find a way given they’re clearly the more talented squad.   

Denver is not significantly more talented that Vegas. If anything, you've overrated your skill position players and Wilson's best football is behind him. 

I can see one of two things happening. Either the Raiders come out focused, feeling pressure to win and take care of business. Or they come out flat showing McDaniel's and Co. message is not resonating. It feels like they have the right leadership in the locker room to prevent this, but they certainly are looking lost right now for answers. 

[AnAngryAmerican]

Re: Adams vs PS2, I remember back when we had Champ, BB would just cede that to us, just would never go his way, and that was with Tom Brady. Mac might (and should) take a similar approach and try to use Waller and Renfrow in the middle of the field where we are weaker, especially with Simmons absent. Not saying necessarily ignore Adams completely, PS2 is great but he isn’t Champ (yet) and Adams is far superior to Deion Branch et al., but BB even game planned around Champ when he had Randy Moss. It’ll be fun to watch. 

I can’t really add more, the offense just needs to be better, it’s rough place to play (although there should be a sizable number of Broncos fans making the trip, it’s only 80 minute flight to Vegas) and McRaiders are a wounded bear playing for their season. 

While the players have familiarity with each other, both teams have new coaching regimes and new players in major roles, that might cut down on the familiarity you usually see in division games. 

I’m going to be optimistic, the gameday management was better yesterday and the chance to go to 3-1 and knock out the McRaiders should be all the motivation we need.

I’ll go with 20-16 Broncos. 

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by AnAngryAmerican

[broncos67]

Need to wait a bit on injury reports for both teams before I make a score prediction, but like George, I don't necessarily have a ton of confidence in this game. LV is likely to come out somewhat focused after an 0-3 start, and we look like we've never played football before when the offense has the ball. I would like to think eventually Denver snaps back to reality and stops sleepwalking through these games, but seeing is believing. Defensively we should be up to the task for the most part. The PS2/Adams matchup will definitely be fun. Surtain is a special player.

[jsthomp2007]

I heard on good authority that McDaniels prefer licking booties right in the crack...right in the smelly, sweaty, hairy, old crack.  He is a crackhead.  

[broncos_fan _from _uk]

I really hope that the game plan is to force Adams the ball. Week 1 Carr threw 3 picks throwing at Adams. Since then Carr has been taking what the defense gives him, unfortunately Waller and Renfrow have both looked….off. if McDummy gives in to media/fan pressure and makes Carr go Adams’ way regardless of the coverage again we could see PS2 with a multi pick game.

it will be a close game. There will be lots of nail biting and teeth nashing amongst the fan base. The much hyped WR corps will continue to disappoint (outside of Sutton), but we will continue to make improvements and win: 23-13 Denver

[Griff254]

Always prepared for the raiders to play their absolute best game of the season against us

 

I never get my hopes up against them

[lomaxgrUK]

Like most road games, a quick start could do so much for us. A Defensive stop and a TD opening drive will, without doubt, increase the unrest in the stadium and pile the pressure on the Raider players.

I said the same for the Seattle game and that couldn't have started any worse, really (sans an Offensive turnover).

[lomaxgrUK]

@AnAngryAmericanchoosing violence in the Raider forum .... 😆

[Broncofan]

4 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

@AnAngryAmericanchoosing violence in the Raider forum .... 😆

To be fair, they're still imploding at the last 2 L's.   That ARI loss was bruuuuuutal.   So was ours to SEA, but we won the next 2 games, which takes away the sting.