Graney: Offense betrays defense in Raiders’ loss to Broncos

DENVER — It was during the first half of Thursday night’s game when former Raiders offensive lineman Richie Incognito tweeted the following: “Offensive play-calling is a joke.”

Hmm. Wonder as to which team he was referring.

The Raiders wasted a supreme defensive effort in a 10-7 loss to the Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.

They did enough on one side of the ball to win and snap the Broncos’ six-game win streak.

They again didn’t offer enough on the other side.

Granted, there isn’t a better defense in the NFL than Denver’s. It’s stout from linemen to secondary and those in between. And it was even playing without its best player, cornerback Patrick Surtain II.

But the Raiders yet again couldn’t provide the slightest of consistent sparks offensively. This is the third game this season they have failed to reach double-digit scoring.

At one point, they went seven straight possessions without a first down. It’s the longest stretch in the NFL this season.

Injuries mount

It’s not a team that can run the ball even with a healthy line. But when you’re already playing without injured left tackle Kolton Miller, then lose guards Jackson Powers-Johnson and Dylan Parham to ankle injuries, well, forget about it.

Powers-Johnson looks as if he might be out for a while. Parham tried to go but couldn’t. And so the Raiders ran for 74 yards on 25 carries. And so Smith was sacked six times.

It’s one reason they didn’t (couldn’t?) throw downfield often. One reason Smith targeted star tight end Brock Bowers just three times, even though coach Pete Carroll said the calls were there more for Bowers to receive opportunities.

If so, nobody saw them.

“We came into this game with the thought we were going against a terrific team who was at home and on a roll and on Thursday night,” Carroll said. “I made it a point to our guys that this was a great opportunity to go in there and handle all of that.”

They couldn’t. Not by scoring seven points. Not with another below-average outing from quarterback Geno Smith (16 of 26 for 143 yards and an interception).

“It’s usually darkest before the dawn,” Smith said.

Oh, it’s dark, all right. When exactly is dawn?

Smith injured a quad on the first play of the fourth quarter, left for a few plays and returned. But he was hobbling. He wasn’t right. And he still continued playing.

“He wanted back in there,” Carroll said. “He wanted to finish in the worst way. He tried.”

Whether he should have is up for debate.

This isn’t: As bad as the offense has been, and we’re talking awful some weeks, it isn’t getting any help from special teams.

In this realm, what in the world has happened to Daniel Carlson?

You must remember recent seasons when the team’s kicker was one of the few consistent players on the team. Not right now.

Carlson missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt — in altitude, mind you — with 4:26 remaining and the Broncos clinging to that three-point lead.

This, after Carlson had a would-be game-winning field goal against the Bears blocked and missed an extra point in Sunday’s one-point overtime loss to the Jaguars.

‘The freaking hoop’

“He has to kick that,” Carroll said about Thursday’s miss. “I know it kills him not to. He wants to make every one of those. But he has to kick that one.”

This was Carroll on Wednesday regarding Carlson: “Well, the ball’s just got to go through the freaking hoop. We just got to make them. That’s all there is to it. We really trust in him and believe in him and are counting on him to come through. The ball will go a mile up here in this place in Denver.”

And still, it went wide right.

The Raiders also had a punt blocked that led to the decisive field goal. They’re just killing themselves in so many ways.

The defense stepped up Thursday. It was nails. The offense and special teams again weren’t. That’s how you get to 2-7. That’s how you keep losing games.

That’s where this season is. Continuing to go nowhere.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.