Las Vegas Raiders: Week 1 surprises against the Denver Broncos

The Las Vegas Raiders got a nice win against a divisional opponent to start the season. While there were a few things the Raiders did great there were a few that fell flat. Jimmy Garoppolo looked comfortable in his new role while the defense played a hard-fought game.

Jakobi Meyers looked like one of the best free agent pick ups in the offseason as he was the main target in the red zone for the Raiders.

The Defense had a hard time as they struggled in against the new look Broncos with Sean Payton at the helm. The Broncos offense seemed to move the ball well and Tyree Wilson looked slow and out of place in his debut after the Chandler Jones fiasco last week.

Davante Adams was covered very well with Patrick Surtain II and Garoppolo went to Meyers most of the day as they two connected for the only two Raiders touchdowns in the game. Josh Jacobs also had a tough game as he rushed for only 48 yards on 19 touches for a 2.53 YPC average.

Raiders played well behind Jimmy Garoppolo

Garoppolo led the passing charge with 200 yards passing and had a high completion percentage of 20/26. One surprise with Nate Hobbs who had two key tackles for loss and piled up 6 total tackles and 2 TFLs.

Overall, both teams were evenly matched as the Raiders gained one more yard over the Broncos at 261 total yards but the Raiders averaged 5 yards per play and the Broncos averaged 4 yards per play. The Raiders threw a pick that the Broncos could not capitalize on for the win.

Denver also held the ball for nearly 5 more minutes at 33 minutes to the Raiders 27 minutes.

The Raiders played well enough to win, but if they had played a much better team such as the Bills or the Cowboys they would not have won this game. Wilson needs to get off the ball faster, Josh McDaniels needs to get Adams open more, and Hunter Renfrow needs to be involved in the passing game.

The Raiders' secondary was very good at getting on the ball and attacking but was not good in coverage as the linebackers were consistently beaten in play-action as well as in the running game. The same issues that plagued the Raiders last season have popped up in this game and early in the season.

Overall, the Raiders got the win, but there are things they need to improve on before they take on the Bills this weekend in New York.