Elwayless Broncos Top Raiders

John Elway pulled up lame and Bubby Brister's first pass was disastrous. Then Ray Crockett and Bill Romanowski took charge.

Crockett and Romanowski

"The defense was awesome," Brister said. "They came back and saved the day."

The Raiders (1-2) seemingly had the Broncos (3-0) on the ropes, but were hurt by their penchant for penalties and critical mistakes by Jeff George, intercepted twice by Crockett and once by Romanowski after Elway left the game.

Crockett returned his second interception 80 yards for a touchdown with 4:29 remaining to kill the Raiders' comeback attempt.

"Individually, it's gratifying but it's more so as a team," Crockett said. "As a unit, we came together and had to get turnovers. That's what this defense does."

Romanowskiwho shared one of Denver's four sacks' with Glenn Cadrez, said the Broncos were able to pressure George into mistakes.

"He was a little antsy back there," Romanowski said. "When he throws the ball up like that, you have to come down with it."

George's first two turnovers led to touchdown passes by Brister, whose first throw was intercepted by Eric Turner and returned 94 yards for a TD.

Oakland coach Jon Gruden said he isn't worried about George as much as the Broncos' ability to put pressure on him.

"I'm not concerned about Jeff George. We need to be concerned about passing protection and about helping him," Gruden said.

George said he's still adapting to the new offensive system brought in by Gruden, a first-year coach.

"I'll get better," George said. "I'm still learning. We're all still learning, but there's no excuse."

Elway said he hopes the latest injury isn't serious and plans to practice this week.

"It set me back but I don't think it set me back that far. Everything seems to be fine. I'll go out and try to move around," Elway said.

After Romanowski's interception, Brister came back to throw a 3-yard scoring pass to Howard Griffith that snapped a 10-all tie just before halftime. Brister also threw a 13-yard TD pass to Ed McCaffrey with 7:08 left in the third period following Crockett's interception.

Down 24-10, Oakland took advantage of a Denver mistake to narrow the gap. Aaron Wallace recovered Darrien Gordon's fumbled punt at the Denver 11 and George's third-down pass to Rickey Dudley went for an 11-yard score with 3:12 left in the third quarter.

But Terrell Davis, held in check early, ran for two first downs to get Denver out of a hole and the Broncos then got a 35-yard field goal from Jason Elam, his second of the day, with 9:06 left.

Crockett stopped the Raiders' last best scoring chance by stepping in front of Tim Brown for an interception and taking it down the left sideline untouched, high-stepping as he approached the end zone before walking in.

Elway, who strained his right hamstring during the fourth-quarter of last week's 42-23 victory over Dallas, aggravated the injury midway through the second quarter.

Grimacing in pain and limping after completing an off-balance 8-yard throw to Shannon Sharpe, Elway left the field. Brister replaced him and Turner snared his first pass and went nearly the length of the field for a score, giving the Raiders a 10-7 lead.

Brister drove the Broncos to a tying field goal, and Romanowski then put Denver in position to retake the lead. George tried to force a pass to a well-covered Brown and Romanowski, backpedaling in the middle of the field, made a leaping interception and returned it 18 yards to the Raiders' 28.

The Broncos' subsequent drive was aided by an illegl contact penalty on cornerback Eric Allen and an unnecessary roughness call on linebacker Richard Harvey for hitting Rod Smith out of bounds after he made a 12-yard reception. Smith's catch and the penalty advanced the ball to the Oakland 3, and Brister connected with Griffith on the next play.

Oakland penalties also kept alive Denver's first scoring drive, which Elway finished by throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey. The Broncos' 92-yard drive was helped along by a roughing the passer call and two pass interference penalties.

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