Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen welcome us to Mile High for this high-stakes showdown between the Broncos and Raiders. It's sunny but another cold day in Denver, 36 degrees and snow 20 miles away. The opening graphic shows us that the Broncos have won 18 of their last 20 games at home, so now the Broncos have to play with the jinx.
The Raiders punt on the opening drive and the Broncos respond with 16 play, 77 yard drive in which they are 5-for-5 on third down and use 10 minutes of game clock. Elway connects with James Wright for a 5-yard touchdown, which makes it 10 straight times that the Broncos have scored (nine of them touchdowns) when inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Elway completes all four of his third down passes for 45 yards and scrambles for the fifth. It seems like the Broncos are firing on all cylinders.
However, Elway is intercepted on each of the next two Denver drives. The Raiders move the ball to the Denver 8 after the second turnover, but Marc Wilson is intercepted by Dennis Smith in the end zone to end the threat.
A second Wilson interception with five and a half minutes left in the half, leads to another long Broncos drive. This one covers 71 yards and ends with Sammy Winder scoring from a yard out to put the Broncos up 14-0 with 30 seconds left in the first half. By this point the sunshine has disappeared behind clouds and darkness is beginning to fall.
The Raiders have the ball at their own 15 after kickoff. Wilson fumbles the snap on what looks like a pass play and the Broncos recover, giving them an opportunity to go up three scores at halftime. The end of half strategy seems like it was much different in the 80s. In that same situation today, they're almost certainly just running out the clock.
Elway immediately looks to the end zone for Clarence Kay. It’s incomplete but the Broncos are penalized 10 yards. On the second play Elway is intercepted but it is nullified by a Raiders penalty. So it's still a 1st-and-15 from the LA 18 but only three seconds remain in the half. Rich Karlis comes out for a makeable 35-yard field goal. But he’s wide right and the golden opportunity is gone.
The Broncos receive the second half kickoff and again we have a recitation of their third-quarter struggles. They have scored only 39 points in the third quarter for the entire season - an average of 3 points per game. Two streaks are ongoing - no third quarter points in their last six games and no third quarter touchdowns in their last eight games.
Nothing is going to change on this day. The Broncos go three-and-out, have a punt nearly blocked, and surrender a big 22-yard return. The Raiders respond with a Wilson to Todd Christensen touchdown and the Broncos lead is cut in half.
Elway then throws his third interception of the game and the Raiders again get deep in Denver territory. On a 3rd and 5 from the 15, Marcus Allen breaks free for a touchdown and the game is all tied up.
The Broncos begin to move the ball as the third quarter concludes, but on the first play of the fourth quarter, Elway is dropped on 2nd and 8 from the Raider 34, and they wind up punting again.
The Broncos get a break when Dennis Smith gets his second interception of the game, giving them a short field at their own 44 with 11 minutes to go. But that opportunity is lost when Elway is trapped by Stacy Toran and called in the grasp for an 18-yard loss.
They bring up the stakes for the Broncos and Raiders in this particular game. They don't go into as much detail as I'm about to except to say that the Broncos are hurt far more by a loss in this game than the Raiders.
Essentially, five AFC East/West teams are in contention for four playoff spots. Miami, New England, and the NY Jets all won earlier in the day and are
tied atop the AFC East at 10-4. Either the Broncos or Raiders will go to
10-4 with a win and move into sole possession of the AFC West lead.
The Raiders have beaten both the Jets and New England earlier in the season so they already have the tiebreaker advantage over either of those teams. With a win, they will also own the tiebreaker over the Broncos.
A loss for the Broncos would mean they lose tiebreakers to all four teams. In addition to the two defeats at the hands of the Raiders, they also lost to the Dolphins back in September. They haven’t played the Jets or Patriots but trail both teams in key tiebreakers.
Absent head-to-head matchups, the first tiebreaker would be best conference record. The Jets stand at 8-3, the Patriots are 7-3, and the Broncos would be 6-4 with a loss. At best, the Broncos end up still tied with one or both of the other teams at season's end.
That would mean it shifts to the next tiebreaker - common opponents, of which there are four (Dolphins, Colts, Seahawks, Raiders). The Jets are 4-2 against those teams. The Patriots are 4-1 with a game remaining against Miami. A second loss to the Raiders would cause the Broncos fall to 2-3 with a game remaining against Seattle. They’ll lose this tiebreaker regardless of how the remainder of the season plays out.
It boils down to this - a Broncos loss to the Raiders means they will need to win their final two games and hope that one of the other four teams lose their final two games.
With five minutes remaining, things are not looking good. The Raiders are on the Denver 14, poised to take the lead. However, Wilson throws it right into the hands of Dennis Smith. It’s Wilson’s fourth interception of the game, and this is his third time being victimized by Smith.
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| Dennis Smith after his third interception |
After a 17-yard Elway to Watson completion, the Broncos have it on their 40. Enough with the gloom and doom. Here comes the Mile High Magic….right?
Wrong. Three more plays and another punt.
The Raiders again cross midfield, this time with less than a minute to go. Dick informs us that Chris Bahr is one course away from his law degree which is somehow relevant to the playoff race. On third down, Wilson has Christensen open near the 20, but he can’t pull it down. The Raiders punt and we’re on to overtime. It’s the third consecutive game between these two teams that has gone to overtime.
Barney Chavous goes out for the overtime coin toss. He’s playing his 180th game as a Bronco, a team record. Raiders call heads, it's tails. The Broncos take the ball to start, but the snow is coming down now and they’ll going into the wind.
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| Dan Reeves in the elements |
Both teams go three and out twice to start the overtime. The Broncos start their third drive deep in their own end. Elway is pressured and sacked by Howie Long on the first play. He fumbles and Greg Townsend recovers for the Raiders at the 8. They don’t hesitate and immediately send out soon-to-be lawyer Chris Bahr. He kicks it through to give the Raiders the win and puts the Broncos' playoff hopes on life support.
Neither quarterback had a very good day. Wilson threw four interceptions and lost a fumble and Elway had three passes intercepted in addition to the fumble.
The difference may have been the Broncos failing to score after the Raider fumble at the end of the first half. A 21-0 or 17-0 halftime lead may have been too much for LA to overcome on a cold day.
Also Marcus Allen, with 25 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown, probably swung the game in the Raiders' favor. He was in the midst of his finest season, one that ended in league MVP honors. It's easy to forget how good he was early in his career. Meanwhile the Broncos have a banged up Sammy Winder and rookie Steve Sewell teaming up with Nathan Poole, just signed off the street after two years out of the game. The Broncos averaged only 3.0 yards a rush in this game.
