The Oakland Raiders took on the Denver Broncos in their final game of the regular season, needing a win to have a slim chance at making the postseason. The Tennessee Titans ended up earning a victory in their game, eliminating the Raiders from postseason contention, although it didn’t matter as they fell to the Broncos, 16-15.
The Raiders will finish 2019 at 7-9 after and up-and-down year in their final season before moving to Las Vegas.
First Quarter
Oakland looked good to start as they quickly worked the ball down field on their opening drive. As they neared the endzone, however, their momentum was stopped as Derek Carr missed on a deep pass to a wide open Hunter Renfrow in the end zone on third down.Daniel Carlson then missed the field goal attempt so the Raiders came away empty handed.
The Raiders defense did not allow the Broncos to do much on their first drive as rookie quarterback Drew Lock was sacked on third down, forcing Denver to punt it away.
Following that, the Raiders came out and converted on a 75-yard pass to Darren Waller with the tight end showing off some athleticism.
Second Quarter
Unfortunately, once again being within scoring range, the Raiders could find the end zone. Carlson trotted out to kick the 23-yard field goal, giving his team a 3-0 lead. The Broncos responded with a field goal on their next drive though to tie the game.
Despite another drive with multiple first down passes, the Raiders once again had trouble getting in the end zone. With Josh Jacobs sitting out with his shoulder injury, the Raiders had very limited run options throughout the game.
Although Carr seemed to convert on a touchdown pass to Renfrow, the officiating crew said the ball did not break the plane after a review. The Raiders then failed to run the ball in with Alec Ingold on fourth down despite appearing to cross the plane.
The Raiders misfortune continued as they quickly turned the ball over on their final drive of the first half after a catch by Marcell Ateman was stripped away by Denver. With under two minutes remaining, the Broncos wasted no time marching down the field and scoring the first touchdown of the game, taking a 10-3 lead at halftime.
Third Quarter
Oakland’s offense continued to falter in the second half, being forced into a three-and-out to start things off. The Raiders defense responded, however, forcing one of their own.
Although the Broncos offense was not much better than the Raiders, they did find their way within field goal range and converted on another kick to extend their lead to 13-3 going into the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The Broncos kicked and converted on yet another field goal in the first seconds of the fourth to make it 16-3. The Raiders were finally able to move the ball downfield, but once again were forced to settle for a field goal after Carr was sacked. They had nine minutes from that point to try and come up with a win, trailing 16-6.
Oakland came up with a big turnover on a fumble, and then Carr connected to Renfrow for a deep pass, who then broke a couple of tackles and pitched it to Ateman for a few more yards. Of course, to bring things back to balance, Carr was called for intentional grounding on his next pass attempt. Oakland was able to get within field goal range again, converting on their third of the game to bring the score to 16-9 in favor of the Broncos.
Denver left the door open as they missed a field goal from the Raiders’ 47-yard line. The Raiders were out of timeouts with less than two minutes remaining but were still able to get down to the 3-yard line after an amazing catch by Renfrow. On third down, the Raiders finally converted on a touchdown to bring themselves within one point. Unfortunately, they went for the two-point conversion and a misplaced pass by Carr was batted down by the Broncos, ending the Raiders season and their time in Oakland.
