The Denver Broncos go into the second quarter up 3-0 over the Las Vegas Raiders, but Vegas is threatening.
The Denver Broncos won the opening coin toss and elected to defer possession to the second half to bring out the Las Vegas Raiders offense to start the game. With Zach Allen out, the Broncos defensive line started with D.J. Jones, Malcolm Roach, and John Franklin-Myers.
A botched snap to start the game for Gardner Minshew led to a second and 13. A Quick pass to Brock Bowers gained that a little more back to bring up the game’s first third down. A wide open Jakobi Meyers on third and six led to a big gain to midfield.
Two plays later on third and three, Minshew threw to Bowers who was blanketed by Pat Surtain to force the Raiders punt.
Bo Nix and the Broncos offense took the field from their own 11 yard line for their first drive of the game. A deep throw to Troy Franklin fell well short. Nix found Devaughn Vele wide open for a 23-yard strike on the next play to get themselves out of the shadow of their own end zone.
After a batted pass, Javonte Williams made a nice run inside for nine yards that was called by a Mike McGlinchey holding call. A Williams run for seven yards setup a third and 13 where Nix found Courtland Sutton over the middle out near midfield for another first down. Two plays later they were again faced with a third and long. Needing nine yards, Nix looked for Lil’Jordan Humphrey where the pass was nearly intercepted. Denver would punt it away.
From their own eight yard line, the Raiders offense went absolutely nowhere and would punt it right back from out of their own end zone.
Jaleel McLaughlin got into the action on the first play of the Broncos next drive with an 11 yard gain on first down. He added another good run, but yet another Mike McGlinchey holding call brought it back. Those kinds of penalties would kill drives immediately in years past, but with Bo Nix it seems to be different. On first and 20, Nix fired a bullet to Franklin for 26 yards and an immediate first down into Raiders territory.
Jaleel McLaughlin again with the cutback took off for a huge run for 18 yards into the red zone. Although he was injured on the play and limped off the field.
From the Raiders 14 yard line, Bo Nix rolled out to find his tight end Adam Trautman for a three yard gain on first down. Then a pitch to Javonte Williams was read perfectly for a four yard loss to bring up third and 11. Mike McGlinchey struck again with a false start to make it even worse on third down. That was finally a penalty that Bo Nix could not overcome and the Broncos would kick the field goal.
Broncos 3, Raiders 0.
A 59-yard kickoff return by the Raiders breathed some life into the home team as the first quarter wound to a close.
Starting from the Broncos 40-yard line, the Raiders needed just one play to get fully into field goal range. The first quarter came to an end with the Raiders getting a first down just inside the 20 yard line.