Oakland Raiders Blow Opportunity to Take over AFC West

Denver Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow has taken a beating in the press the last few weeks.

On Sunday Tebow and the Broncos defeated the Oakland Raiders 38-24 in Oakland.  Tebow didn't say, "I told you so," he just took his 2-1 record as a starter in 2011, put it in his pocket and flew back to Denver with the Broncos only one game out of first place in the AFC West.

Tebow was as modest and honest as ever after the game.  "Honestly, it doesn't necessarily matter too much how you drew it up, as long as you get this feeling at the end, because that's pretty special," Tebow said.

Tebow had arguably his best game as a starter this season with two touchdown passes against no interceptions and 117 yards on the ground. The Broncos added an option play similar to what Tebow ran in college. The new wrinkle had the Raiders on their heels just about every time the Broncos called that play.

Broncos running back Willis McGahee did his part as well, with 20 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns, including a 60-yarder.

The Raiders' first drive was a three-and-out with Carson Palmer trying and failing to hook up with wideout Denarius Moore twice on first and third down.  Trying to find Moore and failing would be a trend that lasted all game, as No. 17 was targeted 12 times while only hauling in four balls.

The Raiders started off the scoring with a seven-play, 23-yard drive capped off by a 48-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski.

The Broncos answered with a five-play, 65-yard scoring drive.  The drive was all Tebow, as No. 15 gained 32 yards on the aforementioned quarterback option around the left side that fooled everyone. Tebow capped off the drive with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker, putting the Broncos up 7-3.

Palmer threw his first touchdown as a Raider on an 11-yard pass to running back Michael Bush.  The drive took three plays going 14 yards, which was aided by a Broncos miscue. On 4th-and-11 on their own 15-yard line, Broncos punter Britton Colquitt lined up to punt and mishandled the snap and picked it up and flung it down field.  After an ineligible receiver downfield penalty, the Raiders took over on the Denver's 14-yard-line, which led to the Bush touchdown.

In the second quarter Palmer threw an interception as a ball intended for Moore was intercepted by Champ Bailey on Denver's 41-yard line.

Denver was unable to capitalize and had to punt the ball back to Oakland.  Palmer made up for the mistake with a 40-yard dart over the middle to Marcel Reece for Palmer's second touchdown of the game, giving the Raiders a 17-7 lead.

Trailing 17-7 at half-time, the Broncos received the ball to open the half and marched down the field on a nine-play, 80-yard drive that was finished off with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Tebow to wideout Eddie Royal to cut the Raiders' lead to three.

The Raiders answered with an eight-play, 80-yard drive of their own, which gave Palmer his third TD pass of the game;,an 18-yard foot-tapping touchdown to Jacoby Ford in the corner of the end zone, putting the Raiders on top 24-14.

Palmer would finish the day with three touchdowns and 332 yards with three interceptions.

The game turned late in the third quarter on an interception by Carson Palmer intended once again for Moore.  Denver was able to take full advantage with a 60-yard touchdown run up the middle by McGahee as time expired in the third quarter, tying the game at 24 apiece.

With 5:53 left in the game, Royal returned a Shane Lechler punt 85 yards for a touchdown to make it 31-24.  That would be all the Broncos would need.  McGahee added seven more on a 24-yard run with 1:53 left in the game.

The Raiders let a golden opportunity slip away on Sunday.  The Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers both lost, leaving first place in the AFC west theirs for the taking.  With the loss the division remains a traffic jam with only one game separating the entire division.

The Raiders have no time to dwell on the Denver loss. Oakland has to get right back to work on Thursday night in San Diego as it takes on the Chargers in its third AFC West tilt in as many games.

"We got a short week, we can't wallow about it.  Everybody else in the division lost, other than Denver, they beat us," Raiders head coach Hue Jackson said.  "So it's a jammed-pack division, we head to San Diego and it's going to be a big game."

Quotes for this article were taken from the Oakland Raiders press conference by Gean May on Nov. 6.