Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly from week two loss to Denver
By Kevin Saito
Bad: Second Half Defense
It goes without saying – or at least, it should – that you have to play a full 60 minutes to win in this league. So far, the Raiders have failed to do that.
Las Vegas Raiders
In both weeks, they went into halftime with a lead. In both weeks, the found a way to squander that lead, and lose the game.
Against the Rams, Oakland just came out of the break flat, uninspired, and got steamrolled. Against Denver, it was death by a thousand cuts, and entirely painful to watch. It’s not necessarily that the Raiders defense was bad in the second half against the Broncos, they just weren’t good. And they didn’t come up with the big, timely play when they needed it most.
It is a disturbing trend, to say the least though. And a habit they need to break, like, yesterday.
Against the Broncos, they led for about 59 minutes, and 55 seconds. But, because they failed to generate any offense of note in the second half, putting just the one touchdown on the board, to go along with a turnover on downs, and a punt in their three second half drives, they allowed Denver to hang around, and chip away at the lead.
After pitching a shutout in the first half, the defense then allowed Denver to score on all four of their second half drives – 20 points – while being pushed around for 258 yards in total offense.
Yes, it was hot on the field in Denver – 110 degrees by some counts. And yes, the altitude was no doubt, a factor. The defense was gassed. And part of that is on the offense for not extending drives to give the defense a break.
But, on some plays, you could see there was a lack of effort. And it’s that lack of effort that is, in part, hurting this team. At least, it did against Denver, in a big way.
Whatever the cause, this is an issue Oakland needs to fix immediately. They need to play a full 60 minute game, and stop letting themselves get steamrolled in the second half, otherwise, they’re not going to win many more games than last season’s total number of six.