5. The pass rush was an abomination
I don't think this can be overstated. The Denver Broncos pass rush against the Las Vegas Raiders was one of the worst displays of pass rush I have seen in the last 10-plus years, and probably much longer than that, from this franchise.
The team's top four pass rushers off the edge were the main culprits for the lack of pressure on Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo:
Randy Gregory: 0 sacks, 0 QB hits
Jonathon Cooper: 0 sacks, 0 QB hits
Frank Clark: 0 sacks, 0 QB hits
Nik Bonitto: 0 sacks, 0 QB hits
Not great. Oh, how about the team's big-money free agent pickup, Zach Allen? He did have one QB hit in this game. Shoutout to anyone who remembers it happening.
Vance Joseph's defense obviously placed an emphasis on stopping Josh Jacobs in this game, which meant that EDGE guys had to keep contain, but my goodness, Jimmy Garoppolo completed 20-of-26 passes. He had virtually no pressure on him all game. Blitzes didn't get home. The Broncos were somehow credited with three QB hits in this game but there were barely any pass rush plays that made an impact on this game at all.
For the most part, it was up to Denver's coverage units, and they got beat on a few too many critical plays. Specifically, Damarri Mathis got beat too many times. But Mathis might not have gotten beat so many times if it weren't for the pass rush being non-existent. I'm not sure what the Broncos are going to do here but they need to find a way to dial up pressure, and do it fast.
They had three sacks over the final three games last season and have unfortunately picked up where they left off, with zero sacks on Garoppolo in Week 1.