OAKLAND, Calif. – In a week that opened with John Elway speaking in a team meeting and ended with the Denver Broncos thumping the Oakland Raiders 41-17 at O.co Coliseum with a five-touchdown day from quarterback Peyton Manning, Elway's hope to have a team that doesn't need Manning "to feel like he has to do everything" was on display.
“I think it’s one of those things when John Elway talks to us, we know he speaks from experience," said cornerback Chris Harris Jr. “I think he just let us know where things stand. It was good and bad, not just bad, but we got routed in New England and we shouldn’t get routed by anybody. [Sunday] we just wanted to get it all back together."
The Broncos defense held the Raiders to 192 yards, with 97 of those yards coming on the Raiders' final possession of the game. The Raiders’ three longest plays of the game came on that drive, and until that possession, the Broncos had allowed just one play for double-digit yardage – a 10-yard Derek Carr pass to James Jones in the first quarter.
Rookie cornerback Bradley Roby made his second interception of the year and T.J. Ward had an interception. The Broncos’ No. 1 run defense feasted on the Raiders’ struggling offense, especially after the Broncos took a 20-10 lead just before halftime.
The Raiders finished with 30 rushing yards on 15 carries. And with safety Quinton Carter ’s return, the Broncos were able to use a dime package (six defensive backs) on long-yardage situations that could muscle up when the Raiders tried to run the ball against it.
Ward moved down to play what was essentially a weakside linebacker spot, next to Brandon Marshall, and Carter played at safety deep. Roby played outside and Harris moved into the slot.
It’s how the Broncos want that grouping to look and how they want it to play.
“We had everybody step up," Miller said. “We didn’t play the way we wanted, the way we know we can last week. We wanted to get it going again; we want to play with no drop-off and that takes all the guys -- offense, defense and special teams."
On offense it was running back C.J. Anderson, who has been the No. 3 back at times this season. With Montee Ball still out and Ronnie Hillman having struggled a bit and looking a bit dinged early – he was jogging for the Broncos trainers behind the bench in the first half – Anderson seized opportunity with 163 total yards.
Will Montgomery started his first game at center for the Broncos and Emmanuel Sanders and Julius Thomas finished with two touchdowns each in the it’s-always-somebody’s-turn passing attack. Sanders did not have a touchdown catch in the Broncos’ first five games; he now has had six in the last four games.
Julius Thomas now has as many touchdown catches (12) as he did all of last season and Demaryius Thomas had his sixth consecutive 100-yard receiving game.
“It takes everybody," Demaryius Thomas said. “We didn’t win last week because we didn’t get enough from everybody; we didn’t do enough to win that game. That’s what we know. We need everybody all the time; it could be anybody’s day."