Raiders routed in opener

<p>OAKLAND — Few expected the young-and-unproven Raiders to bolt from the gates and shred the AFC West in 2008. But did anyone envision this?</p><p>Those old nemeses, the Denver Broncos, came to town, supposedly heading downhill as the Raiders begin to ascend. But it looked like the same old mismatch of the previous five years. The Broncos dominated on both sides of the ball and waltzed away with a 34-14 victory.</p><p>It was the sixth consecutive opening-week loss for the Raiders, and the past three have all been at home.</p><p>The Raiders’ big weakness — or at least their big question mark — coming into the season was their run defense. But it was primarily the pass defense that looked overmatched Monday. Dazzling rookie Eddie Royal beat DeAngelo Hall repeatedly. And Hall wasn’t the only one having trouble.</p><p>Safety Gibril Wilson was toasted on Jay Cutler’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Royal in the first quarter. And linebacker Kirk Morrison, perhaps expecting deep help, wound up a good five yards behind tight end Tony Scheffler on a play in the second quarter; Scheffler wound up gaining 72 yards on the play, setting up Matt Prater’s 26-yard field goal.</p><p>On Denver’s first drive of the second half, it was free safety Michael Huff’s turn to come up empty. Darrell Jackson — whom 49ers fans will remember primarily for dropped passes — got open near the Raiders’ sideline, and Cutler found him around the 20-yard line. Huff had raced over, but missed the tackle, and Jackson took it in for a touchdown that padded the Broncos’ lead to 24-0.</p><p>The pass rush was a big part of the problem. Cutler rarely looked uncomfortable in the pocket as he kept the Raiders off-balance with those staples of Mike Shanahan’s offense, play-action fakes and bootlegs. The quarterback was 12 of 18 for 202 yards in the first half alone, and he could have done better; Cutler short-hopped several receivers during the game.</p><p>Meanwhile, Oakland offense repeatedly self-destructed.</p><p>The Raiders moved to the Denver 7-yard line on their first drive, largely on the ground. But on third-and-goal, JaMarcus Russell let the ball slip from his hand on a pump-fake, and it rolled on the ground before Broncos defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban pounced on it.</p><p>Early in the second quarter, Russell executed a nice play-action fake and tossed a potential first-down pass to Ronald Curry. The receiver had to reach high for the pass, but should have caught it; the ball sailed through his hands. Later that quarter, the team botched a double-reverse and lost 15 yards.</p><p>By the time Raiders offensive linemen were whistled for penalties on back-to-back plays in the third quarter — personal foul on Paul McQuistan, who replaced the injured Kwame Harris at left tackle, and false start on Cornell Green — the boos were cascading in the Coliseum.</p><p>Perhaps most troubling was the Raiders’ wholehearted loss of cool. Hall was committed 15-yard roughing penalties on the same second-quarter drive — spinning Royal out of bounds and, a few plays later, spearing him while on the ground. Paul McQuistan, who relieved the injured Kwame Harris at left tackle, and Wilson also were hit with flags for unsportsmanlike conduct. Defensive end Jay Richardson incurred a 15-yarder of his own for facemasking.</p><p>The Raiders did finally gain some self-respect late in the game. A drive that began toward the end of the third quarter and flowed into the fourth seemed to bog down inside the Denver 10-yard line. But on fourth-and-goal from the 7, Russell lofted a timing pass to Lelie, who leaped over Karl Payman for a touchdown.</p><p>Russell hit another scoring pass with 1:34 left, this one on a slant to Curry, capping a 78-yard drive.</p><p>But even those accomplishments were drowned out by the Broncos, who sandwiched a pair of touchdowns in between the Raiders’. Michael Pittman scored his second rushing touchdown of the night on the latter drive.</p><p>When the night finally ended, the Raiders had almost nothing to be optimistic about.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.</p>