Sports

The uniforms were pretty. The game was not.

In Thursday night's Week 10 opener, the Raiders and Broncos had more penalties than first downs.

Each team had 11 penalties. Each team had 10 first downs.

Via Bill Smith of NextGenStats, that's only the second time it has happened since 1950. The other such outcome occurred when the Buccaneers played the Seahawks in 1976, the year both teams were expansion franchises.

On Thursday night, both teams also had more penalties than points. Denver won, 10-7.

The win moves the Broncos to 8-2. The loss drops the Raiders to 2-7.

The Broncos defense and special teams made sure the Broncos offense didn't need a fifth comeback of this season. It's a good thing, because the Broncos offense didn't do much all night.

The Broncos' only touchdown came on a five-play, 53-yard drive after the defense forced the Raiders to turn it over on downs, and their only field goal came after JL Skinner blocked A.J. Cole's punt with his facemask and Tyler Badie recovered at the Las Vegas 12. The Broncos ran out the clock with a 10-play, 48-yard drive that ended with kneel-downs in the red zone.

The Broncos won their 10th home game in a row, holding off the Raiders 10-7.

Denver improved to 8-2 with a seventh consecutive win, while Las Vegas fell to 2-7.

It was anything but impressive.

The Broncos had only 220 yards. They didn't have their initial first down until 5:50 remained in the first half. They had eight three-and-outs, seven punts, 11 penalties, missed a field goal and threw two interceptions. They were 5-for-15 on third down and 1-for-3 in the red zone.

Still, the Broncos were better than the Raiders.

The Raiders had a 32-yard run by Ashton Jeanty to the Denver 30 called back by a holding call on Jack Bech; they had a 31-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown by Tre Tucker negated by an offensive pass interference penalty on Dont’e Thornton Jr.; and, on the Raiders' final possession, Daniel Carlson missed a 48-yard field goal that 4:26 left that would have tied it.

Geno Smith was injured on the first play of the fourth quarter but missed only two plays. He hobbled through a left quad injury and finished 16-of-26 for 143 yards and an interception.

The Broncos sacked Smith six times, with Nik Bonitto getting 1.5, and Dondre Tillman had the interception of Smith.

Brock Bowers had only one catch for 31 yards, and Jeanty had 19 carries for 60 yards.

Nix completed 16 of 28 passes for 150 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. J.K. Dobbins had 18 carries for 77 yards.