Raiders at Broncos Week 4 Recap: Raiders 6, Broncos 37

Oakland was only 4 points behind the Broncos going into the second half, just 4 points. The score was 10-6 Denver but in a blink of the eye the Broncos had taken total control. The Raiders were unable to accomplish anything positive while everything the Broncos tried worked. This was the worst loss out of the 3 for the Raiders by far in my opinion because it came after the offense had seemed to get in tune with each other against Pitt. By the end of the 3rd quarter the score was a grisly 31-6 and the game was all over. The Broncos would tack on 6 more points in the 4th quarter to win 37-6.

Raider Nation right now should be concerned about Darren McFadden in this ZBS. They already were concerned but it is now defcon 4. The offensive line didn't do him any favors but still 13 carries for 34 yards and a 2.6 ypc average is unacceptable. DMC looks more like the bust he appeared to be in his first couple years than the all world running back he was while in action last year. The biggest change is the system, which is back to what it was when McFadden was a rookie. DMC might claim he fits the ZBS but everything about his play in it screams otherwise.

Carson Palmer doesn't get a free pass either. It was a whole lot worse than Palmer's stats appear to be. He finished the game completing 19 of 34 passes for 202 yards but it doesn't say that they were 1 of 12 on 3rd downs. One of those 3rd downs was an easy INT that was dropped by the Denver DB. Carson only managed to lead the team to 12 first downs total in this game, compared to 26 for the Broncos.

The cornerback situation is so ghastly that I don't know enough superlatives to describe the awfulness. How does Pat Lee still not understand that you can not give a 10 yard cushion on 3rd and short? I'm not sure if there even is any answer to the cornerback woes out there but something has to give. I sincerely hope that if Shawntae Spencer is not back after this much needed bye week that the Raiders front office makes some phone calls to find somebody new. Either we need to trade for a worthy cornerback or this season is going to be very frustrating.

The rest of the defense was terrible as well, it wasn't just the secondary. The defense gave up 503 yards from scrimmage, 10-16 3rd down conversions, and got exactly ZERO sacks. The special teams wasn't anything special either considering another punt was blocked. It was only the 2nd block of Lechler's career and both happened this year. The Raiders managed to fail in every aspect of this game. The final result was a blowout loss and the end of a 4 game winning streak at Mile High Stadium.

The good news out of all this is that we do get 2 weeks to fix things because of the bye week. After this game in Denver its obvious to everyone that there is a ton to fix. More bad news about this debacle is that we all have to stew about this loss for 2 weeks now. Maybe the Raiders will have another new face or two when they come back to the field against Atlanta. That is obviously just speculation but something needs to change here. The Raiders season can't handle many more losses. It especially can not handle any more blowouts like this one. The Raiders are 1-3 right now, but after a game like this it feels a lot worse than that.