Latavius Murray had already celebrated two touchdowns, so letting right tackle Austin Howard spike the ball after the third one was a friendly thing to do. If the game had gone on longer, every lineman might have gotten a turn.
The most impressive part of the Raiders’ 30-20 win last night over the Broncos was the way they handled the defensive front, running for 218 yards on 43 carries.
“We ran the same play about 20 times, right at them,” left tackle Donald Penn said, via Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. “They knew what was coming. We just had to execute, and we did.
“It’s a great feeling. That’s what you call imposing your will on people. They’re a great defensive front and we’re a good offensive line that has to keep getting better.”
Now, they spent plenty of money to bring in free agents Kelechi Osemele, Austin Howard and Rodney Hudson, while keeping Donald Penn. But it’s good to see that invested paying off.
“I’m certainly proud of our front,” Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said. “We’ve committed to being a physical team. [Tonight] was a great opportunity to illustrate that.”
With the core of skill-position players they have, getting that kind of blocking could make them a problem for a lot of teams in the AFC, including the teams at the top of the conference.
