Broncos-Raiders: The good, the bad and the ugly from Sunday’s win
Dec 30, 2019, 7:01 AM
The Broncos got off to a slow start at home against the Raiders on Sunday. It was an ugly win by a score of 16-15 against Oakland and the contest featured multiple mistakes by both teams on both sides of the ball.
Broncos head coach Vic Fangio aired his frustration (just a bit) after the game.
“I’m not really happy with some of the things that we did in the fourth quarter there. To start the way our season started and end up 7-9, although 7-9 is a record that nobody’s proud of and it’s not the rich tradition that this franchise is used to, I do think it says something about the guys,” Fangio said.
The Broncos avoid having double-digit losses for three years in a row with this victory, and most fans in Broncos Country feel good about the direction this team is headed in under Fangio.
Up next, it’s the offseason for the Broncos! As Von Miller said after the game, “It’s John Elway’s season.”
The team has a bright future that can be catapulted even further if Elway and the scouting staff get some more hits in what I call the “non-playing” season. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Week 17 win.
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The Good
The Broncos made a concentrated effort to get Phillip Lindsay more than 1,000 yards rushing for the season. For only the third time this season, Lindsay got 18 or more carries in a game. Needing 42 yards to get past 1,000 for the season, Lindsay finished the game against a tough Raiders defense with 18 carries for 53 yards.
With that performance, Lindsay becomes the only undrafted free agent in NFL history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons to start his career. This team began the season wanting some “Thunder and Lightning” in the backfield with Lindsay and fellow second-year pro Royce Freeman. That plan fell to the wayside and since the team’s Week 10 bye, Lindsay has received more than 70 percent of the team’s carries.
Fangio was pleased with Lindsay’s performance after the game.
“Very (impressed). That’s a helluva accomplishment. It’s also not a very good accomplishment for all the people that bypasses him in the draft,” Fangio quipped.
One has to wonder if the team will feed Lindsay the ball more in the future. He’s not a third-down back, yet some are concerned that he couldn’t take the wear-and-tear of a true featured back in the NFL. Lindsay is a great local story and a key piece of this young core that will take the Broncos into the 2020 season and beyond.
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The Bad
This may have been the final game for some long-time fan favorites on the Broncos roster. The NFL is a business and at times (much of the time) it can be a bit cold-blooded. That’s why players like Chris Harris Jr., Derek Wolfe and Justin Simmons may not be in orange and blue come the start of the new league year.
All of the players mentioned above are key unrestricted free agents for the Broncos in 2020. Harris and Wolfe are older players and two of the few remaining from when the team won Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season. The Broncos may want to get a look at younger players, but these two veterans showed they could still play at a high level in 2019. Add in a lack of talent in free agency and the Broncos may want to try to keep these two.
Simmons is a player the team has prioritized signing before he hits the open market in March. The two sides have been negotiating a new contract for some time now, but little progress has been made. In fact, they are not close enough for Simmons to even be alerted by his agent that something is coming up. Hopefully, the Broncos can find an offer that is mutually agreeable for both sides or else the team may have to place the franchise tag on the young safety.
After the game, Von Miller commented on his emotions to think this might have been the last game playing with Harris.
“We’re going to get Chris Harris (back). John Elway does a great job of getting people. We’ve got Will Parks, Derek Wolfe and Justin Simmons. This is Elway’s season. Whenever he gets ready to play, we already know what he can do, so we’ll be ready to go next year,” Miller emphasized.
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The Ugly
In Week 1, Raiders tight end Darren Waller had his first breakout game in the NFL. Since then, Waller has proven to be one of the best tight ends in the league. Before Sunday, Waller was the second tight end in the NFL in receiving yards only behind Chiefs superstar Travis Kelce. On Sunday, Waller had a huge game – gaining more than 100 yards receiving in the first quarter alone!
The Broncos changed their coverage on the talented young tight end after that, and he finished the game with six catches for 107 yards. After the game, Fangio revealed how the team was able to bottle up Waller after his big first quarter.
“A couple of things – we gave him attention to try and help that. Other thing that doesn’t show up in the stat box is Von (Miller) was really good in the game. Then, they started keeping (Waller) in to chip him. Von having a good game rushing the passer affected the passing game because they kept needing 83 in to help with protection,” Fangio revealed.
The Broncos have many things to fix moving forward. In a division that features Kelce, Waller and Chargers tight end Hunter Henry, they need to get much better at defending the position.
