Kyle Orton along with Josh McDaniels as well as a newly dominant defense have all helped to quiet the talk of all the dysfunction during the off season in Denver with 3-0 start to the season.

Orton connected with Brandon Marshall on a touchdown pass, while the Broncos defense kept their second opponent in a row from scoring a touchdown as Denver overwhelmed Oakland on Sunday 23-3.

Orton said, we are happy where we are at. Every week we have been improving.

Denver’s performance starting the season has been much different than their off season. An immediate stir was caused by McDaniels after he came in to replace Mike Shanahan as Denver’s new head coach after Shanahan was fired. McDaniels alienated Jay Cutler, Pro Bowl quarterback, who was then traded to Chicago in exchange for Orton. Then during the preseason McDaniels suspended Marshall.

However, once the season got underway, not much could have gone any better for Denver. During their opening game versus Cincinnati they were able to take advantage of a lucky bounce. They followed this up with very convincing wins versus Cleveland and Oakland.

McDaniels said, there isn’t any vindication here because thee is nothing for us to vindicate.

The Broncos schedule will get a lot tougher playing Dallas next week. However with where they are currently standing, Denver has to be very pleased.

Knowshon Moreno, rookie, rushed for ninety yards and also scored, while Correll Buckhalter had 108 rushing yards in 14 carries for Denver. Matt Prater kicked three field goals to give the Broncos their 10th AFC West opening game victory in a row.

Orton once again played error free football. He went 13 for 23 with a total of 157 yards. In three games, Orton hasn’t thrown any interceptions, which is a big change from Cutler, who is more flashy and last season made a lot more big plays but also a lot more mistakes with his 18 interceptions.

Orton said, I thought the game was clean. We were able to get off to a very good start. Once again we didn’t have any turnovers and we were able to make passing plays when we really needed them. That was the type of formula we had wanted this week. We wee able to execute it.

Denver has only committed one offensive turnover this season. Even that one didn’t wind up hurting the team. After Buckhalter fumbled the ball deep in Denver’s territory, two plays later Darren McFadden fumbled the ball right back to the Broncos.

Brian Dawkins’ fumble recovery was only one of many of the big plays coming from the Broncos’ defense, engineered by Mike Nolan, defensive coordinator. Denver has only allowed 16 points the entire season, and during the last two weeks Elvis Dumervil has had six sacks.

For the second week in a row Oakland’s offense appeared inept. The defense this time wasn’t able to keep the Raiders in contention long enough to give JaMarcus Russell the opportunity to steal the game at the end, like he did in Kansas City last week.

Oakland was held to only 137 yards. It was the second week in a row that they had under 200 yards on offense. Since 1993 it is only the third time the Raiders have had two games in a row like this. The other two came during the 2006 season.

Nnamdi Asomugha, Pro Bowl cornerback said, there are some glaring problems we need to fix, They are in every phase of our game. We don’t really have a good read on just who we are. That is concerning. At this point in the season you do want to know the kind of team that you are.

During the first quarter Russell threw two interceptions. He was the main target for boos throughout the afternoon from frustrated Raiders fans, at least the ones who even bothered showing up. Game attendance was 45,602 with the game being blacked out in the local area.

Russell entered the game with only a 35.2 percent completion rate on his passes. He went 12 for 21 with a total of 61 yards. During the second half he had only one yard passing.

Russell said, I know the guys who are in the locker room are all behind me. The fans seem like they are fed up when they get to that. But if we play like we know we can and get things back on track then it will be a totally different story.

Denver dominated the entire first half, but had only a lead of 13-3. On Denver’s first drive on fourth down and goal from the one yard line, LaMont Jordan got stopped and the Broncos settled for just a field goal late in the first half after getting inside the five yard line.

Denver’s other ten points got set up by Russell interceptions. Russell was intercepted by Renaldo Hill after a goal line stand after Darrius Heyward-Bey got his feet tangled up with his defender and fell. The interception set up a touchdown pass of two yards to Marshall. Andre Goodwin got the second interception, setting up a field goal of 48 yards from Prater.

Notes
The game was broadcast for CBS by Rich Gannon after Oakland attempted to ban their ex quarterback from the production meetings before the game. It was the 100th time the two AFL rivals have met all time, including two games in the playoffs. The Raiders lead 56-42-2.

JaMarcus Russell, on one of his career’s most miserable days, got not only a win but also his name put in the history book for the Oakland Raiders.

The former No. 1 pick from the 2007 draft, missed high, low and everywhere else in between, completing just 7 out of 24 passes for a total of 109 yards. However when he really needed to Russell was able to focus and engineer a scoring drive of 69 yards during the final two minutes of the game to give the Raiders a very improbable 13-10 win over the error prone Chiefs.

Kansas City out gained Oakland 409 to 166 yards, and Russell became only the second quarterback since 2007 to attempt over 20 passes with a completion rate of less than thirty percent and still get the win.

It was the first time in the fifty year history of the Raiders that they got a win after allowing over 400 yards while gaining less than 200 yard themselves.

Darren McFadden, who scored the game winning 5 yard touchdown with just 1:07 left in the game said, it was a struggle from the first all the way through the fourth quarter until the final two or three minutes left to play.

It is probably one of our strangest wins. However, a win is a win.

Making his long-awaited debut for Kansas City following a month long knee injury, Cassel gave Kansas City a lead in the game when he connected on a touchdown of 29 yards to Dwayne Bowe with just 2:38 left to play. Cassel threw for 241 yards in the game.

The victory by Oakland didn’t seem improbable to Todd Haley, Kansas City coach.

Haley said, when you incur nine penalties, turn the ball over twice, and a few other lapses, you will not win most of those times. We did not get the result that we wanted. We will be a smart team. Getting nine penalties and a few other things does not reflect having a smart team. We will bet back and work because here we will have a smart team.

Tom Cable did agree that it was strange as it comes.

Oakland’s coach said, it is about as poor offensively as you can play and still somehow find a way in the end to win the game.

Cassel clearly outplayed Russell. However, Russell didn’t have any interceptions and Cassel had two, both winding up in the arms of Michael Huff, defensive back for the Raiders.

Cassel said, things happened throughout the game, whether on special teams, offense or defense that we hurt our team with. Oakland did a great job and were able to make plays when it really counted. That is why they are going home with a win.

Russell connected with Louis Murphy on a 19 yard pass and hit Todd Watkins with a 28 yard pass on the touchdown drive of nine plays. Then McFadden on a pitch play ran around the Chief defense on the right side untouched to score.

Cassel, after missing the opening game of the season due to an injured left knee, connected on a key pass on third down during the 72 yard, nine play drive that gave Kansas City their only second half lead.

Kansas City crowded the line daring Russell to beat the Chiefs’ defense with his arm. Up until the last drive it seemed that Russell was determined to make their strategy work. Going into the fourth quarter, Russell only had 35 passing yards, with the Raiders having only 77 total offensive yards while the Chiefs had 313 yards.

However, a slew of mistakes by the Chiefs, including their nine penalties totaling 70 yards along with atrocious management of the clock and two field goals from Sebastian Janikowski gave the Raiders a 6-3 lead.

Another key play on the winning drive for Oakland was the roughing call against Wallace Gilberry. While Russell was lying on the ground, Gilberry fell on him.

Haley said, the personal foul penalty got them right off the hook when we were in the position to put them into a tough position. In the end they made the plays.

Brandon Flowers, the No. 1 cornerback for the Chiefs, returned to action after missing nearly a month due to an injured shoulder. However, he made one of the Kansas City mistakes during the first half when he allowed an apparent interception to slip through his hands.

Flowers had nothing out in front but open field and would have most likely been able to waltz right into their end zone.

Flowers said, all losses hurt. This loss really kills us.

Unfazed by yet another deficit in the fourth quarter, Philip Rivers entered the huddle poised and ready to prove why he was the Chargers $93 million man.

The Chargers quarterback was able to answer two Raiders go-ahead scores with two drives for touchdowns while the game winner was scored by Darren Sproles on a run from 5 yards with just 18 seconds to go in the game to provide San Diego with their 12th win in a row over Oakland on Monday night, 24-20.

This win might have been the hardest one yet. With just 2:34 left to play JaMarcus Russell had provided the Raiders with a lead of 20-17 on a touchdown pass of 57 yards to the rookie Louis Murphy. However Rivers, despite having a pair of backup linemen on the field, led the Chargers calmly down field to score the winning touchdown.

Rivers said, one thing that I do know is that there isn’t any team in this league that can practice as much with 2 minute situations as we do. It’s different executing that in Oakland than at Murphy Canyon Road. I just said, we have done this already a million times. We just need three. Let’s go score.

On the Chargers winning drive, Rivers went 6 for 7 for a total of 79 yards before the crowd was silenced by Sproles with his run down the middle. It was the 11th loss in a row for the Raiders in prime time. Considering how close Oakland came to winning, this might have been the most painful defeat of all.

Cornell Green, offensive lineman for the Raiders, let the frustration out for Oakland with an outburst laced with expletives while leaving the field as he screamed that San Diego was lucky for getting the win.

Tom Cable, Raiders coach said, the bottom line is we played our guts out but did not finish the game.

Early fourth quarter the Raiders took a lead of 13-10 on a field goal from 35 yards by Sebastian Janikowski. Rivers then drove San Diego down field and on a touchdown pass of 15 yards to Vincent Jackson to give the Chargers the lead. The fourth down pass from Russell to Murphy appeared that it would give the Raiders a decisive end to two different losing streaks. It ended up being just a footnote to their league leading 73rd lost game since the 2003 season.

For a majority of the night, San Diego’s offense appeared to be over matched against the Raiders defense and recently acquired Richard Seymour. During the third quarter injuries to Louis Vasquez, guard, and Nick Hardwick, center, made it even tougher for the Chargers to move the ball. Rivers got so frustrated that he committed a personal foul which thwarted one of their drives.

However the final two drives were why San Diego last month granted Rivers the six year $38 million contract extension. He went 24 for 36 on a total of 252 yards and played his best at the times when it counted the most.

Norv Turner, Chargers coach said, people like talking about quarterbacks who can handle pressure and can respond to lead their teams when they are behind. He has continuously done it and in some very tough situations just like tonight. It is great getting the win here.

With his one pass over to Murphy, Russell almost overcame his rough night. Russell went 12 for 30 for a total of 208 yards with two interceptions that included one that was in desperation following the touchdown by Sproles.

The Raiders received a huge lift from Seymour, who only arrived two days ago from New England and hadn’t gone through even one full practice with the team yet. During the first half Seymour sacked Rivers two times, helping the Raiders keep LaDainian Tomlinson, longtime nemesis, in check.

Coming into this game, Tomlinson was average 119 rushing yards per game versus the Raiders. He only managed to get 55 yards in 13 carries, while rolling his ankle. However Sproles was able to help out with his two very long kickoff returns, along with 43 yards on five catches as well as scoring the winning touchdown.

Nnamdi Asomugha, Pro Bowl cornerback for the Raiders said, with the beginning and last two drives it seemed like two entirely different games. We were good on run and pass, but during the fourth quarter is when we had a few breakdowns. That is what hurt us.

During the first half Oakland dominated play. They out gained San Diego 217 to 74 yards. However, due to two turnovers along with a replay review which went against the Raiders, the score was still tied 10-10.

The offensive line was able to create holes, allowing Michael Bush and Darren McFadden to run the football down field during the opening drive. However Russell threw a pass on San Diego’s 25 yard line that was intercepted by Quentin Jammer.

During their second drive, Oakland was able to finish the job. Russell connected with Zach Miller on a pass of 30 yards to set up a 4 yard run by Bush. During the next drive McFadden fumbled the football, which set up a 1 yard run by Tomlinson to tie the score. It was the 20th rushing touchdown of Tomlinson’s career against the Raiders.

A replay review near the end of the first half went against Oakland. An apparent touchdown pass of 19 yards over to Murphy got overturned when it was ruled that the football got loose as Murphy hit the ground. The Raiders had to settle for a field goal of 37 yards from Janikowski with just 40 seconds to go in the first half.

Carl Cheffers, referee, told a reporter after the game that by the definition in the rule book that the player has to maintain possession of the football as he is going to the ground during the entire act of catching the ball. In this particular case, the ball hitting the ground means he lost possession. So it was incomplete.

The ensuing kickoff was returned 59 yards by Sproles, which set up a field goal of 47 yards by Nate Kaeding on the first half’s final play.

Notes
The first quarter fumble by Tomlinson was his first fumble since October 22, 2006 versus the Chiefs. Michael Huff, former first round draft pick, had a fumble recovery and interception for Oakland. It matched the total from his entire first three seasons.