Raiders in rhythm: Garoppolo clicks in Las Vegas debut to down Denver

By Case Keefer (contact)

Monday, Sept. 11, 2023 | 2 a.m.

The Raiders’ bus was loaded and ready to depart Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday evening but missing one key passenger.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was the last player left in the visiting locker room, having not started his postgame media session until more than an hour after the conclusion of the Raiders’ 17-16 victory over the Broncos. Part of the reason for the delay was that immediately after the game, Garoppolo traversed a large part of the space and chatted up a number of teammates.

If there was any lingering doubt about whether the rest of the Raiders would immediately take to the franchise’s first new starting quarterback in nearly a decade, it’s now extinguished. Las Vegas defeated Denver by establishing a lethal rhythm to start and end the season opener, and the conductor of it all was Garoppolo.

“Just the way he plays the game, (Garoppolo) goes in, makes his reads, he’s very poised,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “He commands the huddle every time we’re in it, and the moment is never too big. He’s definitely got my respect.”

Garoppolo started the procession of post-game conversations with Jacobs, stopping him with an embrace as he walked into the locker room following a television interview. The pair have only been around each other for a couple weeks, after Jacobs missed most of training camp in a contract dispute, but the running back already feels a tight kinship with his quarterback.

Top receiver Davante Adams was another Raider singing Garoppolo’s praises after the victory. Jacobs’ and Adams’ seals of approval are especially meaningful because there was some speculation they were unhappy with how the search for a new quarterback went this offseason.

No Raiders seem to question the decision anymore, not after Garoppolo improved to 41-17 as an NFL starter in the regular season with the victory in his silver and black debut.

“He’s won a lot of games in this league,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said. “I think the guys in the locker room know who they have and what this guy can do, how competitive he is. He’s a good leader. He just does what it takes to win.”

Garoppolo led the Raiders to a season-opening touchdown drive for the first time since 2019 to start the game, and then managed a game-winning one late in the fourth quarter. Both touchdowns came on short passes to fellow free-agent acquisition Jakobi Meyers, who racked up 81 yards on nine receptions.

Garoppolo wound up completing 20 of 26 passes for 200 yards.

He also surprisingly picked up 11 rushing yards — a total he only reached once last season with the 49ers — including an eight-yard scamper to seal the victory on a third-and-7 play at the end of the fourth quarter.

“The running just kind of happened,” Garoppolo said. “I didn’t plan for it. They rushed past me, and the opportunity was there, so I saw the first-down marker and had to get it.”

That mentality continually fired up the Raiders’ sideline, though McDaniels would surely prefer Garoppolo take fewer hits. Denver linebacker Josey Jewell teed off on Garoppolo on the aforementioned run, and it might have only been the third hardest knock the quarterback took on the day.

He had to come out and be evaluated, despite his protest, right before his first touchdown pass when Denver safety Justin Simmons made helmet-to-helmet contact to draw a flag on a scramble. Garoppolo also saw the left foot he had surgically repaired less than six months ago get trapped under a defender and roll at one point.

But he kept shaking off all the dings.

“He’s a dog,” edge rusher Maxx Crosby said. “In the big moments, he stepped up. And it goes vice versa: the defense, when we needed a stop, we stepped up.”

Las Vegas’ defense struggled early against new Denver coach Sean Payton’s celebrated play-scripting, allowing Russell Wilson to match Garoppolo’s touchdown pass with a 5-yard strike to Lil’Jordan Humphrey on the Broncos’ first drive. But kicker Will Lutz fatefully missed the extra point, which would prove costly in the end. 

Wilson also found the end zone on his team’s third drive, with a similar pass to Courtland Sutton in the back of the end zone to give Denver a 13-10 edge heading into halftime.

“We didn’t panic,” Crosby said. “We didn’t start freaking out. It was like, ‘OK, we know what we need to do. Just stay calm, keep doing our job and beat the man in front of us.’ I feel like we did that.”

Denver only posted three points in the second half on a 24-yard field goal from Lutz after he missed a 55-yarder, and that score really wasn’t on the Raiders’ defense. It was on their special teams, as the early fourth-quarter drive extended when Luke Masterson roughed punter Riley Dixon for an automatic first down.

Las Vegas seemed to be unraveling during the stretch, as it was fresh off an offensive possession that reached the 1-yard line but came away with no points. Garoppolo fumbled the snap from center Andre James on first-and-goal from the 1, and then the Raiders got an illegal formation penalty.

On third-and-goal from the six, Garoppolo tried to force a pass to running back Ameer Abdullah that Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton deflected and safety Kareem Jackson intercepted.      

“The pick was terrible, a stupid decision,” Garoppolo said. “You’ve got to take the points there, throw it away when nothing is there. I thought mental toughness set in and we stuck with it. (My teammates) believed in me, and I appreciate them for that.”

Adams said that “showing that type of toughness and resolve after throwing a pick in that situation where you need points, that’s what we need from one of our leaders.” Adams had a relatively quiet game with six catches for 66 yards and felt like he could have done more.

But he was comforted that Garoppolo felt the same way, as he shared that the quarterback grabbed him after one play and apologized for not hitting him when he was open.

“That, to me, is like arguing with your girl and she says, ‘I’m sorry,’ and ‘Alright, let’s watch a movie and now we’re good.’ There’s no need to act pissed off the rest of the night. It makes it real easy to grow with somebody, and go and try to continue to win.”

Adams’ longest reception of the afternoon came in the game-winning possession, when Garoppolo found him on an 18-yard out route to start the six-play, 60-yard drive that lasted only two minutes, 20 seconds before the score. Garoppolo then completed each of his next three passes — two to Meyers and one that required tight end Austin Hooper to stretch out for a memorable catch — to reach the end zone.

The final drive where the Raiders were able to run out the clock was just as important but featured a scary, pivotal moment when Meyers appeared to be knocked out on a helmet-to-helmet hit by Jackson. Meyers was short on the third-down reception, but the shot he took drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to result in a first down.

He walked around without trouble in the Raiders’ locker room after the game but was not available for interviews while in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Garoppolo spoke enough for him and glowed about the way the Raiders “stuck together” en route to taking the top spot in the AFC West standings through the first week.

All three other teams in the division lost. The Raiders face a tough task in making it two in a row at Buffalo on Sunday following a week of practice at the Greenbriar resort in West Virginia. But they’re confident they have the right guy leading the way.

“We’re just getting started, but you can feel we’re off to a good start,” Garoppolo said. “1-0 feels good, but we’ll regroup this week, lick our wounds, and we’re moving on to Buffalo.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or