The Denver Broncos responded to their defeat to the New England Patriots last week as they thrashed the Oakland Raiders 41-17 in their AFC West clash this evening.
The Raiders started the game well as Peyton Manning threw the ball deep for Emmanuel Sanders, but was intercepted by DJ Hayden. Their offense failed to score a touchdown, although they did take the lead through a 41-yard field goal from Sebastian Janikowski.
Denver responded with a drive to the goal line of the home side, but they failed to find the endzone, as Brandon McManus fired through the posts from 20 yards to tie the scores. McManus added another field goal at the start of the second quarter as the Broncos' offense continued to struggle.
Oakland took the lead in the match when Manning threw his second interception of the game as Justin Tuck blocked his pass and managed to catch the rebound. Derek Carr then threw a strike to Brice Butler at the back of the endzone for the touchdown.
The Broncos retook the lead just before the break when they capitalised on a mistake by Carr when he was picked off by Bradley Roby. Manning then threw a swing pass to CJ Anderson, who pulled off an incredible play to beat several tacklers and run in for a 51-yard score.
Just before the break, the visitors extended their advantage when Manning threw deep down the right sideline for Sanders, who went above his man to make a diving catch for a 32-yard touchdown.
The Broncos pushed further ahead in the second half courtesy of poor play by Carr as he threw the ball to his offensive lineman Khalif Barnes, who fumbled inside his 20-yard line. The visitors gathered the ball and allowed Manning to fire a strike to Julius Thomas for a touchdown.
John Fox's side continued their dominance on a fourth down play when Manning threw on the run after faking the handoff to Anderson. He found Thomas wide open for the score and the tight end ran all the way into the endzone untouched for the 32-yard touchdown.
The Broncos put the game beyond doubt when Manning threw his fifth touchdown pass of the game, drilling the ball to Sanders over the middle of the endzone to secure their victory and move to 7-2 in their season, despite a late score from the Raiders as Carr found Mychal Rivera for a touchdown.
Simon Sinclair
