LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The Broncos dispatched the Raiders handedly 24-17 Sunday in Vegas, earning an important tiebreaker in a potential battle for the AFC’s No. 1 seed with the New England Patriots. Here’s The Denver Post’s report card from the win.
OFFENSE — A
Sean Payton’s game plan Sunday was multifaceted yet ruthlessly simple, as his personnel-shifting ways paid off. Eleven different Broncos had a catch against the Raiders, as Bo Nix went 31-of-38 in a precise game simply taking what the Vegas defense was giving him.
Payton, too, threw in some interesting wrinkles with a three-back system of RJ Harvey, Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie, the latter of whom had rarely been seen all season except for third-down situations. Denver didn’t turn the ball over and dinked and dunked Vegas to death, and received the best game of Harvey’s young career, as the 24-year-old rookie is rounding into a full-fledged three-down back. Nothing explosive happened Sunday on this end, as the longest offensive play of the day went for 18 yards. But nothing explosive was needed.
Broncos Four Downs: R.J. A-OK. Rookie R.J. Harvey delivers breakout game in Denver’s blue-collar victory.
DEFENSE — A-
Vance Joseph went into November’s Thursday night matchup against Las Vegas with a simple mission statement: don’t let Raiders tight end Brock Bowers get going, and dare Vegas to run the ball. It worked, as Bowers caught just one pass on three targets and the Raiders — as they haven’t all year — couldn’t much run the ball.
On Sunday, though, Joseph mixed up his game plan to start and took several pages out of Payton’s playbook. Denver’s defense threw an array of shifting personnel at the Raiders on their first drive, with cornerback Jahdae Barron starting the game at safety for a snap and reserve P.J. Locke nearly entering for one package before being called back. It didn’t really work, as Vegas quarterback Geno Smith marched down and dropped a TD pass to Bowers on the Broncos’ head on their opening drive.
Surprise: Joseph tightened it up from there. Vegas didn’t score again until garbage time, when practice-squad WR Shedrick Jackson hauled in a 25-yard TD. The Broncos went back to more simple principles, and recorded three first-half sacks to stuff any Raiders momentum. The standard for this unit has climbed so high that this was a fairly pedestrian performance here.
SPECIAL TEAMS — A
For all his All-Pro return brilliance through the first couple games of his career, Marvin Mims Jr. had never once recorded a punt-return touchdown. Seriously. And he hadn’t seen the end zone off a kick or a punt since Sept. 24, 2023, with a kick-return TD in his third NFL game that went wholly overshadowed by a historic 70-20 loss to the Dolphins.
His magic took center stage on Sunday in Vegas, though. Mims caught a punt in the second quarter and disappeared into a crowd of Raiders. Somehow, he emerged unscathed — and flew down the left sideline with nothing but green grass ahead of him, scampering into the end zone for a 48-yard touchdown and the first punt score of his career.
It was game-opening for Denver after a back-and-forth start, and that’s enough for top marks here. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw pinned the Raiders at the 5-yard-line on one boot, too.
COACHING — A
The most obvious sign that the Broncos won Sunday’s game on pure coaching alone was the time of possession. Denver put this game away with a grueling 19-play, 85-yard fourth-quarter drive that lasted 10 minutes and 17 seconds, ending in a field goal that left absolutely no fourth-quarter hope for the Raiders.
It was a top-of-the-line demonstration in game management, as Payton didn’t stray from what worked all game: quick reads by Nix to open receivers underneath and some effective between-the-tackles running by Harvey. In total, the Broncos straight-up doubled the Raiders in time of possession Sunday. That was the difference.
