The Denver Broncos [not-so-special teams unit set them back](/denver-broncos-news/162976/broncos-country-evenly-divided-on-special-teams-issues) to their own nine yard line to start the second half with a holding penalty.
A false start penalty added to the negative yardage. From their own four yard line, JK Dobbins would gain two yards on first down. That would predictably lead to another three-and-out for the Broncos offense — their fifth of the game. Jeremy Crawshaw would get a decent punt off from his own end zone. The 54-yard punt would also include a 10 yard holding penalty on the Las Vegas Raiders to help flip the field position even more.
Ashton Jeanty got things going a little on first and second down gaining eight yards, but on third and two, Geno Smith sailed a ball to an open Tyler Lockett who had beaten Riley Moss on a quick out. The punt was at least manageable compared to previous punts with the Broncos taking over at their own 15 yard line.
Denver got back to basics with JK Dobbins on first down and a nice gain. Two plays later Bo Nix would pick up the first down on a quarterback sneak. Then a swing pass to Adam Prentice would go for 13 yards. Another Dobbins run would gain seven yards on first down as the offense finally began to find some rhythm. On a third and one, Dobbins took a pitch outside and gained another 10 yards into Raiders territory.
RJ Harvey got into the action on a seven yard catch and run on the next play, then after a false start he would take an inside hand off for a nifty run to bring up a third and one. A little trickery went down with a backwards pass to Courtland Sutton, but the play was busted and Sutton took a loss on the play. The 59-yard field goal hung in the air and fell short in the end zone.
On the very first play for the Raiders, Geno Smith’s pass bounced off the receivers hand into the hands of Dondrea Tillman to give the Broncos the ball back immediately.
Yet another offensive pass interference call pushed the Broncos back even further. They could have been in field goal range, but that penalty would make it unmanageable. The punt went into the end zone to give the Raiders the ball back at the 20.
The Broncos defense completely smothered the next possession, though, and the Raiders were punting quickly after a three-and-out. JL Skinner would make it through the line to block the punt to give the Broncos the ball in the red zone.
The third quarter would end with a fourth down and field goal attempt to give them the lead.
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