The Las Vegas Raiders lost the opening coin toss and the Denver Broncos chose to defer possession to the second half. It would be Geno Smith versus the Broncos defense to start the game.
They would open up the game with an inside run by Ashton Jeanty who was immediately stopped for a short loss by Talanoa Hufanga. After a quick completion, the Raiders were faced with a third and six where Smith would get a completion into Tyler Lockett who gained just enough for the first down. Smith would scramble for another first down a few plays later to get Las Vegas across midfield on their opening drive.
They would come close to gaining another first down, but on a third and a short three, Zach Allen would fight his way through to get the sack on Smith. The sack would push them out of fringe field goal range too.
The ensuing punt would pin the Broncos at their own two yard line.
On first down, the Broncos played it safe from the shadow of their own end zone with an inside handoff to JK Dobbins who plowed through the line for a solid six yard gain on first down. He would another two yards on an outside toss to bring up third and short. Maxx Crosby would make the run stuff on third and short to bring Dobbins down a yard shy of the first down marker for a quick three-and-out for the Broncos lackluster offense.
A terrible punt by Jeremy Crawshaw — easily his worst punt of the year — gave the ball back to the Raiders at the 41-yard line.
An Alex Singleton stuff of Jeanty on first down and a batted pass at the line by Zach Allen brought up a third and long for the Raiders. Geno Smith would get a pass off under pressure to a running back out in the flat who was able to streak to the first down marker to get themselves into field goal range.
The Raiders were winning at the line of scrimmage and behind the legs of Ashton Jeanty would score the game’s first points on a six yard touchdown run to take the early lead.
Naturally, the Broncos would respond with another quick three-and-out to give the ball right back to the Raiders. A penalty on the punt return pushed the Raiders back to their own 22 yard line. However, they were dominating in the trenches and were not having trouble getting good yardage.
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