The Las Vegas Raiders are locked in a tough AFC West battle against the Denver Broncos in the Mile High City, with Pete Carroll's team looking to get some positive momentum going.
And for the Raiders to do that, one would imagine that star tight end Brock Bowers, who is coming off a 127-yard, three-touchdown game last week, would be central to anything the offense does well.
But in a rather odd scenario, Bowers didn't get involved at all with the Raiders early on.
Bowers only had one target from Geno Smith, who went 7 of 8 for 43 yards in the first quarter, but Brock didn't have a say in proceedings as the Raiders dominated early and finished the first quarter up 7-0.
We imagine that it won't last too long because the Raiders know that if they are to cause an upset, Bowers is going to need to get rolling at some point, but it didn't happen in the first quarter.
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Raiders need to get Bowers involved
Just one target in the first quarter isn't ideal, but with running back Aston Jeanty rushing for 30 yards and a touchdown from his eight carries, the Raiders are leaning on the run game in Denver, and it worked to a treat in the first quarter.
But if the Raiders are to maintain the rage, the passing game is going to have to do some heavy lifting, and that is where Bowers, Michael Meyers, Tre Tucker, and Tyler Lockett are going to have to step up in a big way.
In particular, Bowers, who destroyed the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, needs to get rolling. We saw what the Broncos did to Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson a few weeks ago, allowing no receptions, so the Broncos might be doing something similar here.
Either way, Bowers needs to get cooking in Denver.
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