SI

Raiders-Broncos ‘Thursday Night Football’ Clash Breaks Out Into One-Sided Punter War

Stephen Douglas

Jeremy Crawshaw had a rough first half against the Raiders.
Jeremy Crawshaw had a rough first half against the Raiders. / Prime via @MySportsUpdate
In this story:

It was the best of punts, it was the worst of punts. It was Broncos and Raiders on Thursday Night Football.

Las Vegas punter AJ Cole and Denver punter Jeremy Crawshaw met at Mile High Stadium on a very windy night in Week 10 and the early results were ... notable.

The Raiders ended their first drive of the game with Cole punting the ball into the coffin corner to force the Broncos to start their first drive from the 2-yard line. The Broncos promptly went three-and-out with Crawshaw shanking his kick. The ball went out of bounds at the 41 for what was recorded as a 30-yard punt.

The Raiders promptly took advantage of the short field and took a 7–0 lead on an Ashton Jeanty touchdown run.

On Denver's next possession, Crawshaw had a normal 51-yard punt. By the time he punted the third time, half of the crowd was getting restless. When he kicked another one off the side of his foot for 36 yards he was met with boos as he jogged off the field.

Things got so bad Pat McAfee had to express his concern.

To make his night seem that much worse, Cole dropped another punt inside the 5-yard line and saw it take a hard right turn somehow go out of bounds inside the 1-yard line.

To his credit, Crawshaw rebounded to kick one of his own out at the 1-yard line on his fourth punt of the half. Somehow, after punting four times and Bo Nix throwing an interception the Broncos were able to go into halftime tied 7-7.

Blame the punters.

UPDATE: In the second half Cole had a punt blocked.

More NFL on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

Home/NFL