Broncos 41 Raiders 14: Oakland Has No Answer for Eddie Royal

Total domination. Jay Cutler and Eddie Royal did everything and anything they wanted last night/this morning, and the Raiders' defense had no answer for any of it as the Broncos rolled, 41-14, to close out week one action.

Cutler completed 16-of-24 passes for 299 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Royal, a rookie, hauled in nine passes for 146 yards. He also ran the ball twice for nine yards, returned three kicks for 30 yards, recovered his own fumble and even attempted a pass. It was his night, and nobody was stopping him.

The Oakland defense was terrible, missing tackles and watching, almost helplessly, as Broncos receivers ran through the field wide open and uncontested all night. As a team, the Raiders were guilty of five personal foul penalties, including two from the always composed DeAngelo Hall on the same defensive series in the first half.

The San Francisco Chronicle's David White offered up this in his somewhat depressing recap of the nights action:

The Raiders had five personal fouls, with Hall saying he "always gets the short end of the stick."
"The world thinks I'm a bad guy now," Hall said. "It's just a tough break."

Speaking of Hall, how about the best cornerback tandem in the NFL?

Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler threw at Nnamdi Asomugha twice. The rest of the time, Cutler picked on Hall. He completed nine passes for 146 yards to rookie Eddie Royal - with at least five of those coming on Hall's watch.

"We just didn't look good at all, and that starts with me," Hall said.

If there's a positive in all of that mess for the Raiders, it's that the offense actually showed some signs of promise in the second half. Sure, the game was already out of hand, but JaMarcus Russell made some plays, and the running game was strong all night with Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden.

Russell did miss badly on a couple of throws in the first half, and he had to deal with a terrible drop from Ronald Curry on what would have been a huge play in the second quarter, but he finished 17-of-26 for 180 yards and a pair of scores in the fourth quarter. So, they've got that going for them.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-09-2008 @ 12:08PM

heri said...

how embarrassing to lose like that on monday night football. ive been a raider fan all my life and saw nothing that shows marked improvement over the last few years. with all the money al davis spent in the offseason!?!? tommy kelly looked like crap and deangelo hall is gonna be laughing all the way to the bank, but should be embarrassed for the rest of his life after the way eddie royal made him look. flat out, raiders are horrible, again.

9-09-2008 @ 12:45PM

James! said...

Not again, but still horrible....

9-09-2008 @ 1:13PM

Spoonman said...

Thanks for the draft picks. Enjoy your nightmare.

-Atlanta

9-09-2008 @ 1:40PM

Aticus said...

If Jay Cutler can tear apart D.Hall that bad, I can't wait for week 7 when Brett Favre beats him every down :-)

-Aticus (NYJ fan), http://www.paladintales.blogspot.com

9-13-2008 @ 2:26PM

ROBERT said...

WHAT GAMES DID YOU WATCH. BRETT IS MY FAVORITE QB:HOW EVER THE JETS WILL BE EMBARRASED JUST AS THE RAIDERS WERE IN WEEK 7 HOPEFULLY BRETT WILL RETIRE AGAIN BEFORE THEN.

9-09-2008 @ 1:50PM

Larry said...

To all you non Bronco/Raider fans this may confuse you, but what happen to the smash mouth football Denver & Oakland use to play. I am a tattoo on right shoulder Bronco fan, but I sure miss the good ole days, when you weren't worried if the raiders could cover the spread, you wondered who would be able to play next week.
I use to hate Al Davis, now just feel sorry for him.

9-09-2008 @ 4:31PM

georgej1291 said...

DeAngelo Hall should be cut along with Gibril wilson. Just apoor performance from them both. The run defense was not bad but the pass defense was another story. The defensive line must put some pressure on the quarterback in order to help the defensive backs. Our running game will be just fine. I still believe that we can win 10 games.

9-09-2008 @ 5:30PM

MCSTANSICAL said...

Possibly the worst organization in sports. Time for Al to pack it in. It's not 1976 anymore.

9-09-2008 @ 8:20PM

Wunderlich said...

A STAR IS BORN!! EDDIE ROYAL PLAYS HIS FIRST NFL GAME, AND LEADS THE NFL IN RECEPTION YARDAGE. WHERE ARE THE SPORTS HEADLINES?! WE'VE BECOME A NATION OF WHINERS AND HAS-BEENS. FORGET BRADY, FORGET FAVRE. CUTLER HAD A QB RATING OF 137 IN NFL WEEK ONE. HE IS GOING TO LIGHT UP THE SCOREBOARD THIS YEAR..THE ONLY THING MORE PATHETIC THAN THE RAIDERS AT THIS POINT ARE THE NATIONAL SPORTS WRITERS...

9-13-2008 @ 2:34PM

ROBERT CAMPAIN said...

FINALLY APERSON (WETHERA BRONCO FAN OR NOT) OBVIOUSLY YOU KNOW FOOTBALL MIKE SHANNAHAN KNOWS HOW TO DRAFT THEY SEEM TO FORGET A 6TH ROUND PICK NAMED TERRELL DAVIS.