Raiders’ quick slants: Broncos edition

Surtain, Denver emphatically end Silver & Blacks’ eight-game win streak with 34-18 victory

And the win streak snapped. Emphatically, so.

Forget a curtain call, the Denver Broncos provided the visiting Las Vegas Raiders a Surtain call as elite cornerback Pat Surtain II intercepted an errant second-quarter Gardner Minshew pass and sprinted with the takeaway 100 yards for the pick six to flip the script in the AFC West matchup.

What should’ve been a commanding, if not easy, 17-3 lead — rookie tight end Brock Bowers walks into the end zone if Minshew’s pass was on target instead of sailing over his head where even a seven-foot target would have trouble snaring it in — became a 10-10 tie instead. And from that point, Denver seized momentum and Las Vegas folded like a degenerate gambler at the myriad of casinos on the strip.

Just how bad was it?

Denver rattled off 24 unanswered points before Las Vegas engineered a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that culminated in running back Ameer Abdullah’s three yard run and fellow tailback Alexander Mattison’s two-point run with 4:01 left to play.

Gone is the Silver & Black eight-game win streak as the Broncos (3-2 overall) galloped past the Raiders (2-3) 34-18 on Sunday afternoon.

“We knew there was going to be a play or two in the game that wouldn’t go our way. Obviously, that happened,” Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce lamented during the post game press conference. “At the end of the day, we came back in here at halftime, it was a 10-13 ballgame. Got to keep playing and we just didn’t make enough plays. Obviously, penalties and turnovers killed us.”

A lot’s been made of Pierce’s football team playing clean football and avoiding penalties, but in Denver, his Raiders imploded. In total, Las Vegas racked up 11 infractions to the tune of 79 yards. And the turnovers — all three being interceptions — were as hideous as the Raiders overall performance.

Minshew’s misfire to Surtain was the first of his interceptions while Broncos cornerback Riley Moss made a leaping pick to account for the pair of the Raiders starter’s turnovers.

Then, two Las Vegas’ drives later, backup Aidan O’Connell — who came in after Minshew got yanked after his second interception — threw a pick of his own as his pass to Bowers was deflected and ended up in the hands of Denver’s top-flight cornerback.

Denver turned that takeaway into an end zone visit just four plays later accounting for the 34 the Broncos dropped on the listless Raiders.

Pierce is big on returning to the old-school Silver & Black roots and watching the team erode after the 100-yard interception return was indeed a throwback to Raiders teams of old. Those are the squads that couldn’t recover from a drastic turn of events and showed little to no resolve or perseverance to get through the trying times. There are many Silver & Black squads that go off quietly into the night and we saw yet another prime example in this lopsided defeat.

“Of course nobody wants to lose, but we’ve got to find ways to win. That’s truly all that matters,” Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby said post game. “Very emotional, big win last week, and we had a tough loss today. So, back to the drawing board, get better one percent every day in every way. That’s what we’re going to do.”

At this point, that drawing board — which is habitually erased and written on numerous times — may reach legendary status like the overhead projector the late great Al Davis used when he fired Lane Kiffin as the head coach for his Raiders back in the day. Not only does this division loss sting, by Las Vegas still has the Davante Adams situation to deal with, too.

Let’s hit the quick slants as fast as Surtain effortlessly picked off the pass and sprinted to the end zone on his pick six:

—Bowers scored the first touchdown of his career as he took a Minshew pass 57 yards to the house on the Raiders’ first drive of the afternoon. Props to wide receiver Tre Tucker for sealing off Surtain in pursuit. The rookie paced the team with 12 targets and hauled in eight of those for 97 yards and a score.

—Crosby returned to action after missing Week 4 and tallied two sacks to go along with three total tackles (all solo). Crosby exhibited the frenetic energy and relentlessness that makes him a terror for opposing offensive coordinators. He even had quite the suggestion to Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix during the game.

—But it’s Nix who would get the last laugh. Denver’s rookie signal caller finished an efficient 19 of 27 for 206 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. This after struggling and spearheading a downtrodden offense. The Raiders seem to be the get-right game for opponents, don’t they?

—Minshew finished 12 of 17 for 137 yards with one touchdown pass and two interceptions before getting pulled. O’Connell ended up 10 of 20 for 94 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. It’ll be interesting to see if Minshew maintains his status at starter or do the Raiders consider a change?

—Raiders defensive tackle Christian Wilkins was having quite the game with a sack, five total tackles (four solo) with two tackles for loss. But fellow defensive tackle Adam Butler celebrated Wilkins sack with him and the high-priced interior defender didn’t play another snap with what the team categorized as a foot injury.

—The tale of the tape shows the Raiders offense gaining 330 total yards against the Broncos stout defense. Meanwhile, Las Vegas defense limited Denver’s offense to 289 total yards. But it’s the Broncos’ red zone performance — four trips, three touchdowns — which made the difference.

Quote of Note:

“I thought we got off to a good start, but then I killed our momentum with a pick-six. And at the end of the day I didn’t do a good enough job giving us a shot to be competitive in the game. So, at the end of the day, that’s on me.” —Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew