5 major problems for Denver Broncos after brutal loss to Raiders

4. Vertical passing game was non-existent

The Denver Broncos won the battle for time of possession in this game 32:08-27:52. That's not a substantial difference, but there is something worth noting there -- Josh Jacobs was held in check all throughout this game.

The All-Pro back finished with just 48 yards on 19 carries, 2.5 yards per carry. His long run of the game was only for seven yards. What does that mean? Well, for one thing, it means the Raiders won their matchups in the passing game, but to me, it also means that the Broncos played too much small ball, and it cost them. Javonte Williams had six targets in the passing game. Samaje Perine had four targets. The Broncos got the ball out quickly most of the night, and just under a third of Wilson's targets went to his backs.

There was no vertical passing game to really speak of all night, and the Broncos needed some shot plays in the second half of this game. Let's look at some shots they did take or that they tried to take and what happened.

Courtland Sutton appeared to have beaten a defender downfield on a play, and he drew a flag for one of the Broncos' longest plays of the day. Marvin Mims drew an illegal contact on a play in which Russell Wilson fumbled the ball away, another massive play for the Broncos' offense. The biggest passing play of the game would have been a catch and run by Phillip Dorsett but he didn't have enough awareness of the sideline, and had one foot out of bounds with no defenders around him at all, eliminating a huge play.

The biggest plays of the game for the Broncos offensively were arguably just penalties by the Raiders. We saw no shot plays to Marvin Mims in this game, which was a surprise.

As conservative as Jimmy Garoppolo seemed to be in this game, he averaged 7.7 yards per throw while Russ averaged 5.2. That's far too conservative and I think it ultimately cost the Broncos in the second half of a game where they had the momentum, they were winning time of possession, and they did a good job keeping the Raiders' run game at bay.