Las Vegas Raiders head coach Rich Bisaccia greets Denver Broncos fans at Empower Field in Denver just before game time on Sun Oct 17, 2021 Bisaccia’s first game as head coach for the Raiders since Jon Gruden’s resignation.

Raiders come out energized shut down Broncos 34-24.

By Rich Perez

Las Vegas Raiders beat writer

The Las Vegas Raiders (4-2) came out truly inspired today and beat the Denver Broncos (3-3) 34-24 in a game that really was never close at all at Empower Field Stadium in Denver on Sunday. David Carr started the scoring with Henry Ruggs to make it seven nothing very quickly in the opening drive. Teddy Bridgewater came right back and scored for the Broncos to tie the game but… it was never close right after that, as the defense took over for the Raiders.

The Broncos attempted a fourth quarter come back if you can call it that down 31-10 at 11:16 Bridgewater threw for a 12 yard pass to receiver Courtland Sutter. Denver cut the lead to 31-17. At 7:57 Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson booted a 30 yard field goal to make it 34-17. The Broncos last score of the afternoon at the final 1:12 when quarterback Noah Fant caught a Bridgewater four yard pass for the Broncos ten point win.

The Las Vegas defensive line dominated today as Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater struggled all day from pressure out on him all game long. Primarily from Max Crosby. The Raiders looked inspired to play well for the new coach and to show the world that they were focused once again on winning football games. Bridgewater threw 35-49 for 334 yards, three touchdowns and was picked off three times.

Carr threw 18-27, 341 yards, and two touchdowns. Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake both carried for a touchdown for the Raiders. The Raiders scored ten in the second quarter and 14 in the third quarter for the bulk of their offense. This being Raiders head coach Rich Bisaccia’s first game at the helm since the resignation of Jon Gruden said things flowed well on the way to his first Raiders victory as head coach “The best part for me was to get on the grass,” Bisaccia said. “The worst part for me was figuring out the headset. Once you get on the field and the game goes, a lot of our responsibilities were the same. There was really good dialogue” with his coordinators.”

Next week the Raiders take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Las Vegas in what should be an interesting game against the up-and-coming team lead by QB Jalen Hurts.