The Raiders had a chaotic week thanks to Jon Gruden’s resignation as their head coach, but they’ve been able to focus on football Sunday and they’ve done that well enough to take a lead into halftime of their Week Six matchup with the Broncos.
Wide receiver Henry Ruggs scored on a long pass from Derek Carr to cap the team’s first drive and Daniel Carlson added a field goal later in the first quarter to put them up 10-7 after a Broncos touchdown. Neither team found much offensive success for most of the half, but the Raiders got hot just before the break.
Carr went 4-of-4 for 82 yards after a late Broncos punt, including a 31-yard pass to running back Kenyan Drake that put the Raiders up 17-7 on the way into the locker room.
Carr is 13-of-19 for 210 yards overall and the Broncos defense will need to find a way to knock him off his rhythm in the second half of the game. They’ll also need quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to be sharper when they have the ball.
Bridgewater is 12-of-17 for 99 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. One of his incompletions came on a deep ball to Courtland Sutton that would have been a walk-in touchdown if Bridgewater had been able to deliver the kind of precise passes that led to both Raiders touchdowns.
The Raiders have also gotten 2.5 sacks from Maxx Crosby, so the Broncos have a lot to shore up if they’re going to get back into this game.