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

[lomaxgrUK]

Not overly surprised with the result; I am a fair bit surprised with how the game went.

Those long drives we gave up in the 1st half might not have cost us points because of the high calibre redzone D, but we were absolutely gassed by the end of the game and it showed on the Raiders final drive.

The TOP stats from that 1st quarter (and 3rd due to the Offense) just killed us. The problem is, when you are as thin as we are on the DL, the longer the season goes on the more that is going to show. DJ Jones has played something like 70% of the snaps as a 320lbs NT - there is no longevity in that. Once again against the Raiders, we got beat up in the run game on both sides of the ball.

Despite that ... We were still right there, but fairplay to the Raiders for those 3rd down conversions on the final drive. The Derek Carr 3rd down scramble on the first set of downs was a back breaker. Is it me, or do we give up more of these over the years than any other team? It just feels like we don't have pass rushers that are dominant enough to play with gap integrity, play with their head up looking at the QB, thus eliminating scrambles like that.

I fear the DL Issue is going to grow, and grow, and grow in the coming weeks.

The Adams-PS2 battle was everything we wanted and more. Two elite players making plays. Not a single issue with Adams' stats; PS2 did his bit, zero doubt about it.

Russ had more TDs than incompletions in the 1st half, then every facet of the Offense was awful in the 3rd. The run game got stifled so bad, the penalties came in droves, the pass protection broke down and the playcalling was mind numbing (the naked bootleg on 2nd and 11 ........................... WHO is falling for that?)

On all the drives in the 2nd half minus the TD drive, I heard we had something like 20 yards total. That ain't it.

Can't stop the run, can't run the ball - a familiar tale against the Raiders these last few years.

Edited October 3, 2022 by lomaxgrUK

[AnAngryAmerican]

26 minutes ago, Dbrog24 said:

Also random but does anyone know why we are running the "west coast offense" but literally have 0 plays for TE's? It's a hallmark when I watch san fran or KC or GB and that's even when Kittle was injured so it's not just elite TE's. I'm guessing it kinda goes back to the trend I've seen where we use nearly all our offensive personel to block and only have 1 or 2 options and our RB. I just feel it would do wonders for us if we increased that number to even 2/3 options every play...with something like a TE if you don't want to put another WR out there

This is a good point. I don’t see the TEs being used at all. The TE is a very critical component of the WCO and while Albert O is an awful blocker, at least use him in the passing game. At this point I don’t care if it scripts we’re going to throw having him on the field he is a matchup problem, you have to win one on ones and he’s someone who can if it’s schemes correctly.

There is also the possibility that Hackett doesn’t know WTF he is doing. As others have also mentioned, with a short QB who has a big arm, move the pocket. It cannot all be deep passes down the sidelines, which is all Russ does. Move the pocket and create lanes in the middle. Use PA/rollouts, another staple of the WCO, which we not using. 

Surely, Klint knows that and if George and/or Greg don’t force a change, Hackett will be one and done which will a) create a disgruntled Russ (and we already know he is a locker room b**** despite the all the positive PR) and b) mean we will lose the bright spots, few as they are, on the staff.