If Hue Jackson wants his team to be a bully then he needs to call bully plays. The Raiders came out of the blocks on offense determined to get Jacoby Ford the ball. This led to the Raiders calling a bubble screen for Jacoby Ford on their first play. Jacoby fumbled it.
That is the exact kind of mistake you'd expect from a player that only got a handful of snaps in the preseason due to a broken hand.
The second possession the Raiders came out in the wildcat formation with McFadden as QB. They ran an option right and McFadden pitched to Ford. Ford almost fumbled the pitch. Again, not surprising considering that McFadden and Ford would have had little time to practice this play.
It's not that I don't want the Raiders to ever call these kinds of plays, its just that it'd be nice to see them establish physical dominance first.
Luckily for the Raiders, their defensive line came to play tonight. They were abusing the Broncos offensive line. They stuffed the Broncos following Ford's fumble and held them to a field goal.
The Broncos have found some success with underneath passes, but the Raiders sure tackling has limited the damage.
The Raiders seized control of momentum with a blocked punt, and they began their offense near mid field. They have gone to some good ol' fashioned smash mouth football and are now punishing the Broncos on the ground as the quarter ends with them easily in field goal range.
Their were far too many penalties in this quarter and Stephen Heyer even managed to pick up back to back false starts, but this team is asserting it physical dominance and that bodes well for the rest of the game.