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Broncos rally to edge Raiders, 20-19 in hottest-ever home game

The Denver Broncos overcame a lackluster first half to pull off a last-minute victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Credit: Isaiah J. Downing, USA TODAY Sports

DENVER — Boy, was it hot.

How hot was it? It was almost as hot as Case Keenum gets when his back is to the wall.

After the Broncos' quarterback and his offense turned in a lethargic, scoreless first half performance, Keenum rallied the Broncos to 20 second-half points and a 20-19 win against the Oakland Raiders here Sunday on a toasty mid-September Sunday afternoon at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.

The Broncos are now 2-0, having won both games at home despite trailing in the fourth quarter. They play at Baltimore against the 1-1 Ravens next week.

"It's big,'' said Broncos tight end Jake Butt, who had four catches for 48 yards. "I think we have the best home-field advantage in all of sports. Playing at a mile high, it's tough. When I first came here last year, it took me a few weeks to get used to this altitude. We should never lose at home. It's big for us to stay undefeated.''

The Raiders are 0-2.

"A tough loss,'' said Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who left his cushy color commentator job for Monday Night Football for heartaches like this. "I'm really proud of our team. We had opportunities, I think, to come out of here with a win. I credit Denver.''

With his Broncos down, 19-17, and getting the ball at his own 20 at the 2-minute warning, Keenum's big drive started with a holding penalty. Now it's first-and-10 and his own 10. A 21-yard completion to Emmanuel Sanders got the Broncos started in the forward direction.

Later in the drive, Keenum hit Tim Patrick with a 26-yard completion in the final seconds. With no timeouts and 18 seconds remaining when the play started, Patrick made a curious decision after catching a hook pattern by running inside. But before he could be tackled, he cut out and made it to the sidelines at the 18-yard line to stop the clock with 10 seconds remaining.

Brandon McManus went out and made a 36-yard field goal to stun the Raiders, who were up all game.

Credit: Isaiah J. Downing, USA TODAY Sports

"I thought the offensive line did an incredible job on that last drive,'' Keenum said. "We just needed time. And we talked about it all during the offseason, we're talking about the 2 minute. We talk about it all during the week, we were talking about 2 minute. We just need time and downs, They brought the kitchen sink at us. There was pressure after pressure after pressure. The O-line just played their guts out and some guys made some plays down the field and it was fun to watch.''

When Patrick cut inside, "Everybody was shook?'' he said.

More like hearts stopped. Turns out, he did exactly as he had been programmed. Each week, late in the week, Broncos' coach Vance Joseph holds a "Football 101" session. It's all about game situations -- clock management, when to use timeouts, when to get out of bounds, when to save the timeouts and spike it, when to challenge, up by six, down by three. The players are quizzed on it.

As Joseph gathered the team in the victorious locker room, several players were heard saying, "Football 101, Football 101.'' This 20-19 win, as it turned out was textbook, Football 101. Including the Patrick play.

"Case kept saying we're going to spike it in the huddle.'' Patrick said. "So I knew I could get the yards. Once I turned up the field I had seen there was no one there so I bee-lined it for the sideline. First cut in, I was thinking getting yards. At that point you try to get as many yards as you reasonably can so time doesn't run off and you spike it and win the game.''

The first half never got to Football 101. Favored by nearly a touchdown going into the game, the Broncos were trailing the Raiders, 12-0 at halftime.

"At halftime, it wasn't good,'' Joseph said. "They played good football in the first half and we didn't. In the second half, we thought, offensively, we had to get more aggressive.''

Momentum switched in the Broncos' favor thanks to a dropped pass by Raiders' fullback Keith Smith. He dropped it on a fourth-and-1 play in the fourth quarter from the Broncos' 34 and the Raiders leading, 19-10. Catch the ball in the open -- and it hit Smith in his hands -- and the Raiders may have been in position to put the game away.

Instead, Keenum followed by leading the Broncos on a touchdown drive, which he finished with a fourth down quarterback sneak for a 1-yard score.

"I should have caught it,'' Smith told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“We had a great play call,'' Carr said. "We had him open and I had to throw it quick before his eyes were fully ready because of the pressure and you know we just didn’t connect on it. Again, he will be thinking about that, I’ll be thinking about that obviously the whole plane ride home."

The temperature at kickoff was 92 degrees, making it the hottest home game in Broncos' history. The previous record was 91 degrees, set three times, most recently in September 2010 against Seattle.

What a game for the history books. Realizing they needed to pick it up if they wanted to avoid an upset, the Broncos scored on their opening drive of the second half. A 21-yard pass from Keenum to Emmanuel Sanders got the drive started and runs by Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman kept it moving.

Freeman capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge.

The Raiders responded with a far-too-easy, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with Derek Carr throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass to Seth Roberts.

It could have been much worse for the Broncos.

Through the first quarter and 3 minutes of the second, the Broncos were thoroughly outplayed. The Raiders had 7 first downs and 124 yards in total offense. The Broncos had three, three-and-outs in their first three possessions.

The Broncos were lucky to only be down 6-0, as for all of Carr’s early stats – 11 of 12 for 90 yards – the Raiders’ quarterback couldn’t stick it in the end zone against Denver’s defense. Veteran placekicker Mike Nugent accounted for the scoring, with field goals of 26 and 46 yards.

Carr finished the game an incredible 29 of 32, although for a relatively modest 288 yards and one touchdown. And he would have been 30 of 32 had Smith not dropped the ball.

The Broncos were in scoring position at the 11-minute mark of the second quarter when rookie tailback Phillip Lindsay shot through the middle, made a cut and raced 53 yards to the Oakland 22.

However, on third down from the Raiders’ 18, Keenum was intercepted at the 1-yard line by Rashaan Melvin.

It was Keenum’s fourth interception of the young season. The Raiders tacked on a touchdown late in the first half with Carr and tight end Jared Cook connecting on two, 20-yard plays. Oakland running back Marshawn Lynch finished off the 75-yard drive with a 1-yard, leaping touchdown.

However, in a play that wound up becoming the difference in a one-point game, Shaq Barrett blocked the extra point.

"Coach always say you never know what play is going to be the game-winning play,'' Barrett said. "So you have to play every play like that.''

The Broncos lost right tackle Jared Veldheer to a concussion in the second half.

Lindsay finished with 107 yards rushing on 14 carries. He is the first undrafted player in NFL history to eclipse 100 yards from scrimmage (rushing and receiving) in each of his first two NFL games.

"I am just playing football,'' Lindsay said. "That's it. I am just playing football for our team. I don't think of things like that.''

Keenum finished 19 of 35 for 222 yards. His stats, though, don't measure his acute competitiveness.

"We've got a great locker room in there,'' Keenum said, when asked about his knack for pulling out games late. "There are some incredible guys that never quit. Never quit. I love that about them. We have great, great chemistry going right now with those guys. ... When you put in a lot of investment in the offseason and training camp and working hard, you get to pull on that investment when the pressure turns on and the heat turns up.''

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