Sputtering offense dooms Raiders in defensive struggle with Broncos

DENVER—The struggle continues for the Las Vegas Raiders to get anything in terms of momentum.

On Thursday, the Raiders dropped a defensive showdown 10-7 to the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High, leading to their rival’s seventh straight win.

Falling to 2-7 on the year, playoffs appear to be a pipe dream for the Raiders at this juncture, and the team now hopes to play spoiler the rest of the way to try and have something to build around.

Here are some of the major points in a game that felt like a slog to go through at times.

Defense does it part…

Despite the loss, the Raiders defense did their part to keep their team in the fight.

Adam Butler and Charles Snowden both came away with sacks in the game, and Kyu Blu Kelly notched two interceptions against Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. Outside of a 43-yard bomb to Pat Bryant, the Raiders avoided falling for the explosive plays that have doomed them in the past. Keeping a top team in the league to 10 points is at least worth something, even if it ultimately did not produce a winning result.

…Offense does not

While the defense came through, the offense could never fully take advantage of the situation.

The Raiders came away with little offensively, with far too many drives coming up empty. Ashton Jeanty struggled with 3.2 yards per carry, despite coming up with the only touchdown of the game, and receivers outside of Tyler Lockett could not get open consistently. It was a frustrating night altogether in a game that the Raiders could have easily pulled off a major upset.

Pressure bursts pipes

The offensive line has been one of the more maligned units for the Raiders, and it popped up again this game.

The Broncos were able to hit Geno Smith regularly, with the quarterback going down for six sacks. Even worse was that it came while the Raiders were marching down the field, particularly when Talanoa Hufanga sacked Smith to turn the ball over on downs (which lead to the Broncos’ only touchdown of the game) and a fourth-quarter sack after the second of Kelly’s interceptions. It messed up the ability of the offense to find a rhythm, and it will surely be a point of emphasis in practice next week.