DENVER — The Denver Broncos aren’t collecting many style points but as long as they keep racking up more points than their opponents on the scoreboard, they don’t care how ugly it looks.
“We’ve got to clean up some of the penalties. We’ve got to clean up the execution and that is an ongoing thing that probably never ends,” coach Sean Payton said after the Broncos squeaked past the reeling Las Vegas Raiders 10-7 on Thursday night.
“You search for that Shangri-La. Right now, you know, we’re sitting at eight wins. I think we’re the only team sitting there.”
They are.
At 8-2, they own the NFL’s best record even though they didn’t look anything like a top team on a windy night in the Rocky Mountains — save for their defense, which sacked Geno Smith a half-dozen times in pushing the Broncos’ season total to 46, more than any team’s had in its first 10 games since at least 1990.
Because of that defense, Denver won its seventh straight game, the team’s longest winning streak in a decade, and extended its home winning streak to 10.
“Yeah, we’ve got to do better,” quarterback Bo Nix said after throwing for just 150 yards with two interceptions to go with a touchdown pass. “At some point 10 points ain’t going to be enough. We’ve got to score more. … We’ve got to find some juice somewhere.”
Nix didn’t pull out his usual fourth-quarter heroics and drew the wrath of the sellout crowd: “I’ve been booed before and I’ll be booed again.”
The Broncos collected more penalties (11) than first downs (10) and had seven three-and-outs in 13 possessions.
But Denver’s defense didn’t allow a first down over seven straight Raiders drives and came up with a turnover on downs, an interception and a blocked punt.
Las Vegas’ last drive ended in a missed field goal that would have tied it.
The Raiders, who just traded away top receiver Jakobi Meyers, fell to 2-7.
J.L. Skinner set up the winning field goal by blocking AJ Cole’s punt with his facemask late in the third quarter.
“I’m glad his face was there,” linebacker Alex Singleton said.
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Skinner said he didn’t realize he blocked the punt with his facemask until “I saw my visor and it had the mark of the ball on it. A heads-up play for sure, a head-butt play, honestly, is what I say.”
Skinner’s block set up Denver’s struggling offense at the Las Vegas 12, but the Broncos lost 2 yards on three plays and Wil Lutz nailed a 32-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in the third quarter to break a 7-all tie.
Cornerback Kyu Blue Kelly’s second interception set up the Raiders at the Denver 45-yard line in the waning minutes, but Daniel Carlson was wide right on a 48-yard field-goal try with 4:26 remaining.
Carlson has had a rough season.
His game-winning field-goal attempt against the Bears was blocked in Week 4 and he missed an extra point last week in a one-point loss to Jacksonville.
“He’s got to kick better,” Raiders coach Pete Carroll said. “I know it kills him, too. He wants to make every one of those.”
The Broncos chewed up the rest of the clock with a methodical drive at last and ending up taking kneel-downs in victory formation inside the Raiders 20-yard line after Las Vegas ran out of timeouts.
The game was a typical Thursday night flag-fest with neither team able to get into an offensive rhythm.
A steady stream of players — including Smith — retreated to the sidelines and the blue tent to have injuries checked out.
The Broncos’ trend of slow starts continued as they managed just 6 yards in six first-quarter snaps and trailed 7-0 after allowing Ashton Jeanty’s 4-yard touchdown run.
The Broncos finally got a first down on their fifth possession when J.K. Dobbins scampered for a 13-yard gain on first down.
Four plays later, Nix found Troy Franklin for an 11-yard touchdown to tie it at 7.
Smith briefly left the game after getting tripped up by Nik Bonitto and smothered by Malcolm Roach. Raiders backup Kenny Pickett threw one incompletion before Smith returned, but he limped into the locker room and appeared to be in some discomfort.
“He wanted to go back in, and he wanted to finish the game for his team,” Carroll said. “He got whacked in the quad; he has a quad bruise. That’s his fight.
“To fight against these guys like that the whole night long and have a chance to tie the game up, and then what would have happened next?” Carroll mused. “I don’t know, I think we would have won.”
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