{"id":276547,"date":"2025-11-07T04:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T04:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/276547\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T04:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T04:34:09","slug":"raiders-vs-broncos-denvers-defense-smothers-geno-smith-las-vegas-in-ugly-thursday-night-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/276547\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders vs. Broncos: Denver’s defense smothers Geno Smith, Las Vegas in ugly Thursday night win"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to picking the worst game in Thursday night football history, a 2022 game between the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos is the consensus choice. Past-their-prime quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson dueled to a 12-9 Colts win<\/a> with no touchdowns scored. It was awful.<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night tried to make a run at the title.<\/p>\n

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On a windy night in Denver, both teams flailed around for four quarters. Both offenses were awful. Special teams were bad, too. Nothing about the game was pretty.<\/p>\n

The only positive to be said for either side is the Broncos won. They got a field goal in the second half, the only points after halftime, and that held up for a 10-7 win<\/a>. The number of times Broncos fans booed the offense off the field before another punt far outnumbered the highlights from both teams.<\/p>\n

The Broncos are 8-2 after the win, but nobody in Denver should be feeling all that good about how they played. A win is a win, which is the rosiest way to sum up the Broncos\u2019 night.<\/p>\n

Rough 1st half for both teams<\/p>\n

On the Amazon Prime Video<\/a> broadcast, the weather looked fine. It wasn\u2019t snowing or raining. But the weather played a big role in the game.<\/p>\n

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High winds made it tough on both teams. Punting was very difficult; Broncos punter Jeremy Crawshaw almost completely whiffed on a punt and barely hit it with the inside of his foot. Offense was very limited with the wind, though those struggles can\u2019t be completely blamed on the wind.<\/p>\n

Raiders QB Geno Smith took five sacks in the first half for the Raiders. The Broncos rushed for just 24 yards in the first half, and the Raiders\u2019 front isn\u2019t intimidating anyone. Bo Nix was regularly misfiring on his passes. The Broncos took a long time to put together a scoring drive, but finally did in the second quarter. Troy Franklin caught a 7-yard touchdown to tie the game 7-7. Ashton Jeanty had scored for the Raiders in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Neither team had much to be proud about at halftime. It looked like one of those sloppy Thursday night games that everyone complains about. It didn\u2019t get better after halftime.<\/p>\n

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2nd half gets even worse<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 offense tried someone else other than Nix throwing the ball, and that didn\u2019t work out. In the third quarter, the Broncos ran a trick play on a third down. It was a backward lateral to receiver Courtland Sutton, who wanted to pass but couldn\u2019t find anyone downfield once he gathered himself and took a sack for a loss. Broncos kicker Wil Lutz missed short on a 59-yard field goal on the next play. That sequence summed up the follies. The fans booed some more.<\/p>\n

The Broncos defense kept bailing out the offense though. Right after the missed field goal, Jeanty had a pass go right through his hands, it bounced up into the air and linebacker Dondrea Tillman picked it off. The Broncos couldn\u2019t turn that into any points, as they went three-and-out to more boos from the home crowd.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like the Raiders were taking advantage. The Raiders went seven consecutive possessions without a first down, a streak that was the longest in the NFL this season, according to Amazon Prime Video. When they finally broke the streak in the fourth quarter, it had been almost two full quarters of football without a Raiders first down.<\/p>\n

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Smith was limping around, having injured his left leg on a tackle early in the fourth quarter. But after missing two plays, he stayed in the game. When Nix threw an interception, which bounced off Franklin\u2019s arm to Kyu Blu Kelly for Kelly\u2019s second interception, the Raiders took over in Broncos territory with a chance to at least tie the game late. Smith had a shot to be the hero. He could only lead a short drive, which set up a field goal attempt for the tie. Daniel Carlson missed it wide right. Of course.<\/p>\n

The Broncos did enough to put the game away after that missed field goal. They were able to get some first downs and eat up the rest of the clock.<\/p>\n

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There were only three points scored in the second half, but it was enough for a Broncos win. Neither team will want to remember much about Thursday night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Live60 updatesThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:06 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:20 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Bo Nix: 16-of-28 for 150 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions<\/p>\n

JK Dobbins: 18 ryushes for 77 yards<\/p>\n

Geno Smith: 16-for-26 with 143 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception<\/p>\n

Ashton Jeanty: 19 rushes for 60 yards and 1 touchdown, plus a costly drop the led to Smith’s interception<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:19 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Broncos take a nearly unwatchable game in which they simply made fewer mistakes. They are 8-2, while the Raiders are 2-7.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Still Broncos ball on the Raiders 18 as we reach the two-minute warning. This is over barring a miracle.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:12 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Broncos are moving the ball again…<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:06 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Raiders offense doesn’t get a first down and then Daniel Carlson misses wide right from 48 yards out. It’s still Denver in the lead with 4:26 left. Unbelievable, but not the worst development if the goal here is this game ending after the fourth quarter,<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:03 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

And that’s a second interception for Kyu Blu Kelly.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:02 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

A Bo Nix pass bounces off Troy Franklin’s chest and it’s Raiders ball at the Denver 25. At the very least, they are suddenly on the verge of tying this game.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:00 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:00 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 11:00 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:58 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Geno Smith leads the Raiders on their first drive into Denver territory of the second half, but they get stopped at midfield and punt for a touchback. Just 8:35 to go in a miserable game.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:52 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

They didn’t ice the game. The Broncos punt and it’s Raiders ball on their own 10 after a blindside block penalty on the return. On the plus side, Geno Smith is back in.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:46 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Broncos take over on their own 28 after a Raiders punt. They can pretty much ice the game here.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:41 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Geno Smith limps off and Kenny Pickett is in at quarterback for the Raiders.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:41 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

Geno Smith went down awkwardly while scrambling and is now being evaluated for a potential injury.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:34 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Denver offense gets stopped three times in a row but Wil Lutz is good from 32 yards out to take the lead. The way this Raiders offense has looked, that might be enough.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:31 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

The Raiders go three-and-out, mostly thanks to a Geno Smith intentional grounding penalty, and now the punt is blocked! The Broncos have the ball at the Vegas 14 and a prime chance to take the lead for another less-than-dominant win.<\/p>\n

\"JackThu, November 6, 2025 at 10:25 PM EST<\/p>\n

Jack Baer<\/p>\n

An OPI penalty on second down is what really killed that drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to picking the worst game in Thursday night football history, a 2022 game between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4856,15948,14384,1836,29730,147062,1840,147060,96512,14387,3686,29681,147061,1812,43001,349,88753,30170,15945,99,147059,92735,46814,88756,88757],"class_list":["post-276547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-ashton-jeanty","tag-bo-nix","tag-broncos","tag-courtland-sutton","tag-daniel-carlson","tag-denver","tag-denver-post","tag-dondrea-tillman","tag-geno-smith","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jeremy-crawshaw","tag-kyu-blu-kelly","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-matt-ryan","tag-nfl","tag-nik-bonitto","tag-raiders","tag-russell-wilson","tag-sports","tag-the-raiders","tag-thursday-night-football","tag-troy-franklin","tag-wil-lutz","tag-zach-allen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}