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Published on 09/09/2008 at Tue Sep 09 08:23.
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Eddie Royal, Cutler Dominate to Give Broncos 41-14 Win Over Raiders

Posted Tue Sep 9th by

Eddie Royal vs Raiders

The Broncos handled the absence of wide receiver Brandon Marshall just fine. Quarterback Jay Cutler threw for 299 yards, nearly half to rookie wide receiver Eddie Royal, and running back Michael Pittman rushed for two touchdowns as the Denver Broncos dominated the Oakland Raiders to a 41-14 victory. The Broncos now sit alone atop the AFC West, with a crucial game ahead of them against the reigning division champion San Diego Chargers (0-1).

The player of the day, without a doubt, is Royal, whose NFL debut couldn’t have been stronger. Royal caught 9 receptions for 146 yards and 1 TD to become the NFL’s leading receiver through Week One. He repeatedly shook loudmouth Raiders CB Deangelo Hall off his routes, burning the former Pro Bowler for repeated catches.

Cutler was nearly flawless, finishing with a 137.3 QB rating after tallying 16 completions in 24 attempts for 299 yards and 2 touchdowns. Give credit to the offensive line where it’s due – and it’s definitely due here. Ryan Clady and the boys gave Cutler all day to throw.

The rush offense was dominant as well, earning 142 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Last year, the rush offense only tallied ten rushing touchdowns the entire season. The 2008 Broncos are nearly one third of the way there after one game.

The defense and special teams still appear to have gaping questions and weaknesses. The Raiders averaged 4.8 yards per carry against us, and special teams coverage looked suspect. Monday’s game was about the offense dominating, and they did just that, but those other units will need to step up to round out this team.

More than anything, I left Monday’s game thinking about the impact four young players had on this team – Clady and Ryan Harris on the offensive line, Peyton Hillis at fullback, and Royal at receiver. It’s only their first game, and they played crucial roles in the Broncos offense dominating as it did. Just imagine what the future holds.

  • JP

    4.8 yds per carry, but if it werent for the 42 yd run by Fargas in garbage time they would have held the Raiders to under 100 yds rushing for their whole team. And as far as special teams go, to me it looked like they made the right corrections in the 2nd half because they were stout in both KR and PR coverage.

  • LorDog

    I couldn’t agree more about the four players you mentioned. It’s rare that linemen and fullbacks get much credit but Clady was outstanding and Hillis is going to be special for this team! The Bolts will be a different challenge this week, we’ll have a better feel for the Orange and Blue after this next game.

  • SivNiz

    That’s a good point JP. However I would still like to see our D step it up a bit more on the pass rush. We only had 2 sacks one of which was a big mistake on Russell’s part. I was also bit concerned with all of the dropped balls by wide open receivers. All in all a great way to start the season and huge building block for Sunday’s game.

  • Chris

    I agree. ST made adjustments after the Faiders had some good KR’s and PR’s. They also made adjustments in half time. I am still afraid of our secondary. There were too many times an LB was on a WR. If the Curry would have pulled in two of the three missed long passes, it could have been a different game. Look for the Chargers to potentially expose that Sunday.

    Here’s to Sunday and the Broncos 2-0 baby!!

  • JP

    Here is the bottom line…we are 1 havoc wreaking interior D-Lineman from causing a major shakeup in the AFC power structure. I did see Robertson get in the backfield a few times last night…If he can continue and Thomas can become that man-child many suspect, I see good things for this team. And dont forget, some of those missed passes by Russel were with LBs in coverage. Hopefully Boss Bailey will be able to help that out.

  • flbronc

    all day to throw is in understatement. jay had all week to get rid of the ball. that line dominated for the most part. it was exciting to see that.

    i have to admit my criticism of the royal pick last april shows why i am a player personell moron. give all the credit to the scouts and coaching staff for grabbing this guy. he and marshall on the field at the same time is a scary thought. way to go eddie.

    best line of the night was ditka – ‘He’s spinning him (D. Hall) around like a yo-yo’ that or ‘De’Angelo Hall wants nothing to do with Eddie Royal right now’.

  • dbroncos

    I never expected Eddie to play like he did. That was just amazing, he had DeAngelo Hall so pissed he couldnt do anything.

  • adam

    And to think all the pundits wanted us to take DeShawn Jackson…aka Ashley Lelie and Javon Walker.

    This might be the first case of character over “upside” really paying off!

  • ryan k

    It might be just me but I think the biggest story and thing to get excited about was the O-Line. All I can really say is, incredible.

    It was night and day difference in seeing the line of scrimmage hold and not instantly get pushed into the backfield and/or collapse. Cutler had so much time in the pocket he could have set up a Coleman camper. For a minute I thought I was watching Romo with the Cowboys line. Cutler was given the time to demonstrate that amazing accurate arm. Not to mention that we got to see an O-line reap the rewards of beating the crap out of a D-line for three quarters, so that by the 4th they could just run the ball down their tired throats.

  • Danish Denver-fan!

    flbroncos: “Stupid is as stupid does” also deserves mention. especially if you think Forest Gump.

    I politely request domination renamed DOOMination for all broncotalk purposes.

  • Richard

    This just in : DeAngelo Hall was taken to Pres St. Lukes hospital with second and third degree burns to his buttocks. Asked for comment he said ” It’s just a ROYAL pain”.

    Wow! Eddie! Eddie!

    Now for a little more serious analysis.

    Hillis got a few caries and really moved the pile, better than Pittman.

    The Ryan Brothers were outstanding on the Oline. Ditka’s comment about Cutler’s uniform not needing laundering was great.

    Few if any fans have been commenting on what a terrific game Marcus Thomas had. I counted 5 times I saw him in the backfield in Russell’s face. Sure liked to see that.

    Amother thing not mentioned at all this weekend is: Tom Brady is out for the season. ESPN ( Exceptionally Specious Promotional Nutcases)should be the recipient of the Joe Theisman award for showing the play he was injuried on over and over and over again. I stopped counting after the 14th replay. DISGUSTING. Makes you wonder if they had an audio track of him screaming in pain, how many times we would be forced to listen to it? As a fan I want the Broncos to win, but as a person I don’t want to see ANY players injured, with the possible exception of Laryngitis striking Phillis Rivers.

  • OC Bronco

    I will always enjoy any win against the Raiders but I will reserve judgment on the team until after the Chargers game. The pressure Phillips and Merriman can put on the QB when compared to that of the sorry-ass Raiders will likely be completely different. Not to mention offensively SD’s offense is better at every single position than the Raiders.
    That being said I was very impressed with the Ryans and can’t wait to see the Beast (is that what we are going with?). And on the field with Royal at the same time will be even sweeter. Maybe Champ will have the opportunity to make a play as well!!

  • http://www.Cosmicweather.com Kelly Phipps

    I was ecstatic when they drafted Royal, and drafted him for both my Madden Franchise and my Fantasy Team. He won my first fantasy game, and dominated the NFL as a rookie receiver. He is going to be a serious threat all year with those quick cuts that make corners fall down. Can’t wait to see him run his first punt or kickoff back! We’ve got our own little fast Hester now. Watch out!

  • Quicksilver

    Royal is a better overall player than hester, we will see how the PR goes but as a receiver he is already light years ahead of hester.

  • Andrew

    As a Hokie fan… Eddie is a better person than a football player…and if you noticed he is a fantastic football player. VT gets plenty of kids like him, unfortunately all we ever hear about are the Vicks and D-Halls…who are currently reaping what they have sowed.
    In my experience Mr. Royal seems to play better against good competition and when the game is on the line. Congrats on a great pick Denver fans.

  • kerry

    the biggest story was both lines of ours. the D-line was getting very good pressure and collapsing the pocket well and stopping the run. the O-line was as solid as ever. Harris and Clady were inpenetrable. Weigmann played excellent.kind of makes you wonder if Nalen will come right back and jump in immediately. although Nalen is a better run blocker.

  • BH

    On the point about being an impact DL away by JP, isn’t Albert Haynesworth going to be a FA after this year? Seems like he would like to go to a winning team with a 4-3 defense. Be great to get him and draft the best MLB in the draft (not sure who that will be). I guess that I am showing my concern about our defense. SD will be a much better measuring stick. Our offensive line play really makes me like our chances. I didn’t get to seet it, but supposedly Carolina’s OL faired pretty well in the first half against the Chargers. It is fun to win convincingly again (hopefully it will continue).

  • Bobby

    i don’t know if anyone has mentioned this but Andre Hall still played after finding out his mom had died a few hours earlier. He played an excellent game, rushing 10 times for 61 yards.

  • HogBlog

    To your points…I never had a doubt about Hillis from the minute his draft was announced. He missed a Cutler pass, but did you see how he just blew the LB’s away on runs! His hands may be his best asset. Watch for him to play a more integral role in coming games!

    OMG…Who saw Royal coming? I didnt. This tandem could be scary. However, Im still wandering why Young was demoted to #2 or #3. Hall was the starter! When Torain gets back, I wonder what will happen?

    Geez, if Alridge had not been hurt, we may have seen him emerge as our K/P return specialist…Dude’s got skilz!

  • 96isgone

    Let’s don’t get too caried away here. It WAS the Raiders. And as we heard alot of this off-season, Kiffin doesn’t have much say into the personell. The “Team of the Eighties” is just horrifically bad, and probably won’t get any better til about three or four years after Satan….er, I mean Al Davis passes on.

    The Broncos looked pretty good, but the competition might be the worst team in the NFL. Cutler continued his preseason excellence, as did Royal (as I’ve said before here, he was a great 2nd round pick). Both lines looked good, and the offense as a whole moved the ball easily against arguably one of the worst defenses in the League. The Raiders did move the ball early running and that concerns me with San Diego up next, ’cause the runng attack of San Diego is a different thing then the Raiders. The pass pressure the defense got on the Raiders was due in large part to the facts that: 1) Riaders O-line sucks at pass protection, Raiders got behind and had to pass, and the Raiders quit.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Joe

    Having played against the horrible raiders or not, a beating is a beating. We got to see all excellence that will be coming this season!! Royal stepped up and had an amazing game, against both of the corners, who are considered a top pair in the league. And the best part about it, Royal was their biggest worry of the night as far as passing goes. There was no B-Marsh out there to take all the attention from the corners and safeties. And we saw exactly what Royal can and will do, and every bronco fan has to be very pleased!!! So in other words, only imagine what our offense is going to be bringing against San Diego at INVESCO!!!! With B-Marsh in and Merriman out, we have the advantage. Theres no way that San Diego can cover both Marshall and Royal, and also have to worry about Tony Sheffler, Darrel Jackson, and Brandon Stokley. And to even top all of this, we have a running game from hell. Were stacked at RB, and together they are amazing. San Diego is in for a looooong game if we can play like we did!!!!! GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!