Third-and-6 from the Denver 24: After the Broncos’ first two plays from scrimmage yielded just four yards, the team was faced with an early third down to stay on the field. Quarterback Peyton Manning hit wide receiver Brandon Stokley, who then ran for a 26-yard gain to midfield to extend the drive. The offense continued marching down the field and culminated the possession with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Manning to tight end Joel Dreessen.
Fourth-and-1 from the Oakland 40: The Broncos chose to pass on what would have been a 58-yard field goal attempt, and instead went for it on fourth down on their opening series. The gamble paid off as Manning hit tight end Jacob Tamme for an 8-yard gain to the Raiders 22-yard line. Manning hit Dreessen in the end zone on the next play to give Denver a 7-0 lead.
Third-and-1 from the Denver 29: Denver’s second drive of the game started much like its first, needing a third-down conversion to stay on the field. Manning found Tamme for a 10-yard pickup to keep the possession alive. The Broncos took it all the way down to the Oakland 3, before Matt Prater kicked a field goal to give Denver a 10-3 advantage.
Third-and-3 from the Denver 6: The Broncos defense came up with a big stop at the end of the second quarter as Oakland had driven deep into Denver territory. The defense forced the Raiders to settle for a field goal as Sebastian Janikowski converted the 24-yard attempt to keep the score in favor of Denver at the end of the first half, 10-6.
Third-and-3 from the Denver 28: After the Raiders went three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, Denver’s offense again needed an early third-down conversion to extend a drive. Like it did in the first half, the offense converted and once again the drive ended in a score. Manning connected with Tamme for a 4-yard gain and on third-and-2 later in the series, Manning hit wide receiver Eric Decker for a 17-yard touchdown to extend Denver’s lead to 17-6.
Fourth-and-14 from the Oakland 16: With Raiders Pro-Bowl punter Shane Lechler on to punt, safety David Bruton deflected the ball and it only traveled 2 yards downfield. With strong field position, the Broncos turned to running back Willis McGahee, who took care of all 18 yards himself on the ground, punching the ball into the end zone on his fourth attempt.
Tags: Key Plays, Oakland Raiders, Week 4
Great play calling, no receiver drops (apart from the fumble, d’oh!), intense D effort, effective and exciting run game, blocked punt… what a great game! The only thing that would have made it better would be if Adams (?) would have made that pick. Oh yeah, and if that fake kick would have worked. (D’oh!)
But if I had to pick one thing to be most excited about, it would have to be how the receivers bounced back from last week and really made some great catches. That Dreesen TD, with the big hit coming right away, was very impressive. Not to mention that reach-back one-handed grab by Tamme.
Obviously next week is going to be a much bigger challenge, but if our D can keep improving (how ’bout Von Miller’s run coverage and tackling, huh?) I believe it’s going to be an EPIC battle.
Finally, it’s going to be interesting having Koppen go up against his old team, but I sure hope Walton’s not too seriously injured.
GO BRONCOS!!
Walton is gone for the year dude.