Oakland Raiders: 3 Big takeaways from loss vs. Broncos in Week 2

 3. A tale of two halves

It was the best of times it was the worst of times. The Raiders taking on the Broncos was definitely a tale of two halves. The first half was all defense; the second half was all offense.

From the Raiders perspective. The first half was dominated by excellent defense. The defense played well enough to shut down the Broncos rushing attack. This kept the Broncos behind the chains the entire half. As a result, the Raiders defense shut out the Broncos across the first half.

All of this changed come the second half. The Raiders defense came out in the second half and got manhandled by the Broncos. All of a sudden, defensive ends forgot how to hold the off-tackle gap. This would have been fine if they could have remembered how to hold an edge against the run. But the ends did neither.

The Broncos ran the ball off tackle at will during the second half. The rushing success led to a dangerous play action passing game. As a result, the Broncos began putting points on the board closing the scoring gap. But the Raiders offense came alive in the second half as well. The rushing of Marshawn Lynch started to wear down the defense. The Broncos had no choice but to stack the box to stop Lynch. But a stacked box leads to open receivers.

The Raiders were able to get Amari Cooper involved in the passing game. The already prolific Jared Cook contributed. The Raiders even got contributions out of the slot receiver position. Seth Roberts made a spectacular catch for a touchdown. By getting Lynch going, the passing game was able to come alive. This is how good offenses operate. And the Raiders have a good offense.

The two halves were as opposite as can be. But if the Raiders can play complementary football, they could be a dangerous team.