What We Learned from Raiders Loss to the Broncos

The Las Vegas Raiders' defense once again led the way, as Las Vegas' offense stumbled and bumbled up and down the field. That will likely continue to be the case for the Raiders this season, as it is hard for a team to change their identity in the middle of the season.

Raiders' Defense Shines

The Raiders' loss to the Broncos was another case of Las Vegas failing to play complimentary football. Although Las Vegas' offense only scored one touchdown and registered only 188 total net yards, Eric Edholm of NFL.com noted that Las Vegas' defense played an outstanding game.

"It’s easy to say that Denver’s offense was in a funk, and seven offensive penalties certainly back that up. But it would be unfair not to credit the Raiders’ defense for its effort Thursday night. They got just enough pressure on Bo Nix (16 of 28 for season-low 150 yards) to keep him honest, and they did a great job of corralling him in the pocket and not letting him use his legs to hurt them with a lot of disciplined zone defense," Edholm said.

The Raiders' defense does not blitz often. The Raiders' defense had the ninth-lowest blitz percentage of any team in the league entering Week 10. They picked up the pace against the Broncos on Thursday night; pressuring quarterback Bo Nix all night long.

"When they blitzed selectively, the Raiders had success, picking off Nix and holding him to 2-of-5 passing for 9 yards. The formula was clearly to play a field-position game, and the Raiders forced the Broncos into a lot of third-and-shorts and stopped them a few times," Edholm said.