Cutler & Co. Start off strong
![](http://theredzonereport.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/jay_cutler_broncos.jpg)
After an average pre-season the broncos were unexpected as to which form they would enter the season in, but it showed it was the correct form.
Starting the game off, the Broncos ran a playaction bootleg to the left side,
Cutler threw a dart hitting
fullback C. Sapp on a flat route out of the backfield,
Sapp contined up field running over a defender followed by a stiff arm to the Safety,
Sapp continued 90 yards for the
touchdown on the very first play.
The first half were just both teams getting a feeling for each other, Broncos knew the raiders wasn't going to be able to pass the ball on them, stacking the box most of the game to disrupt star rookie
McFadden was a must. Play after play was a run to
McFadden, the Broncos struggled to stop it at first and they strolled down the field only to kick a field goal.
Once the Broncos got the ball back after giving up 3 points,
Cutler threw a beautiful 20 yard floater to
B. Marshall,
Marshall made 2 guys miss and turned it into a 40 yard gain. The next play Oakland came with the pressure,
Cutler panicked and threw a duck to a waiting
N. Asomugha, the Raiders couldn't convert that into anything on offence however, going 3 and out.
When both teams went into the half-time interval, score
7-3 to the Broncos, they both had a feel for what each time was going to try to do. The Broncos were struggling to run the ball against a under-rated Raiders defence, while the Raiders couldn't pass the ball.
When the teams came back out it was the Broncos getting the ball,
Cutler led the team down the field with some great passing, one of which hitting
B. Marshall on a beautiful 15 yard post pattern,
Marshall carried a defender on his back for a extra 7 yards or so. After stalling around the 20 yard line due to the inefficient running game, the Broncos had to resort to kicking the FG to make it
10-7.
The raiders came out looking strong, handing the rock of twice to McFadden twice in a row for 10 yards respectively, they put trust into
Walter to throw one, when rookie free safety
G. Anderson was waiting for the pick, Anderson ran it back around 20 yards.
When
Cutler & Co. Came back out, they were looking to put this game out of reach,
Cutler once again led the team down the field only to again be stalled by the running game,
Cutler threw a beautiful 35 yard bomb to
B. Stokley on that same drive. The special team unit trotted out to make it
13-7.
The raiders came back out, still in the ball game, still with
Walter at the helm of the offence, throwing a pick to
Dre' Bly on the first play of the drive,
Bly continued to make a person miss, carrying that thing like a loaf of bread he returned it 45 yards for a
touchdown.
20-7.
The clock was ticking and the game looked out of reach for Oakland, 20-7 with 1.46 left in the ballgame, when
Walter threw one to
D. Carter, which hit his hands and flew right in to
Dre' Bly for
ANOTHER interception, not returning this one, however.
Denver then ran the clock out.
Final score: 20-3 Denver
Positives:
Cutler looked good, 105.7 passer rating, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and a nice 266 yards, he was 14 for 21 and completed 66 of his passes.
Marshall and Stokley had no problems vs the team with one of if not the best cornerback tandems in the league. Marshall racked up 69 yards on 3 catches, Stokley grabbed 46 yards on 3 catches.
J. Beason was a machine out there, racking up 10 tackles, 1 for a loss and even got a pass deflection.
Our pass defence was great, cornerbacks are doing amazing. Champ Bailey allowed 1 reception for 7 yards, he was thrown at 6 times. Dre' Bly showed why he is a ballhawk.
Our defence was getting pressure, 5 sacks overall. 1 for each player: J. Engelberger, D. Robertson, N. Webster, M. Thomas, E. Dumervil.
Negatives:
Cutler turned it over twice, a fumble and a pick. Not too bad, but can improve.
McFadden ran for 101 yards on us.
We couldn't run the ball. 52 yards between Pittman and Young, on 28 carries overall, terrible. 1.8 avg for each of them.
O-Line needs to improve, however Ruben Brown is back this upcoming game.