DENVER _ It was hard to tell which team was playing for nothing and which one had a division title on the line.
The Oakland Raiders played their worst game of the season Sunday in ways that couldn't be blamed on their now fragile quarterback position and were blown out by the Denver Broncos, 24-6.
With the Kansas City Chiefs beating the San Diego Chargers, the AFC West title goes to the Chiefs and the Raiders (12-4) drop to the fifth seed in the playoffs and will have to go on the road next weekend to face the Houston Texans (9-7) in the Wild Card round. The Raiders beat the Texans 27-20 on Nov. 21 in Mexico City.
Playing without Derek Carr as the starting quarterback for the first time since he was drafted in 2014, the Raiders saw Matt McGloin struggle and then get knocked out of the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury.
That forced rookie Connor Cook, active on game day for the first time in his NFL career, to enter with 1:44 to play in the second quarter. He showed some signs of promise, but plenty of signs of a quarterback making his NFL debut.
Ultimately, the way the Raiders defense played it may not have mattered who the quarterback was. Against a Broncos team that scored just 23 points the past three games _ all losses _ to see its playoffs hopes evaporate, Denver exceeded that by the middle of the third quarter in a truly deflating outing for the Raiders.
KEY MOMENTS
_ Even in the loss, Cook made a few plays that shows the fourth-round pick _ a player the Raiders traded up to draft _ has something. He threw his first NFL touchdown pass, a thing-of-beauty 32-yarder to Amari Cooper. The pass was perfect and Cooper then made a terrific play on the sideline to stay in bounds and dive to touch the pylon. Cook, of course, showed signs of being a rookie making his debut. Trailing 24-6 in the fourth quarter, he overthrew tight end Mychal Rivera and was intercepted by Justin Simmons with 5:59 to go and that ended any chance of a comeback.
_ Cook's first series at the end of the first half saw him complete 2 of 3 passes, with the one incomplete a drop by tight end Clive Walford. The Raiders got the ball to start the second half trailing 17-0 and DeAndre Washington broke a 20-yard run and Cook completed a 13-yard pass to Michael Crabtree to get into Denver territory for the first time. And then on that first snap from the Broncos side of the field, Cook was sacked by Shane Ray and fumbled, with Adam Gotsis recovering for Denver. The Broncos turned that into a touchdown that made it 24-0.
_ It was an the injury to McGloin's shoulder that forced him out of the game. But he also experienced a rough afternoon even before hurting his shoulder when Jared Crick hit him late and was called for roughing the passer. That fourth and final series starting with him dropping back on first down. Cooper shook Denver cornerback Aqib Talib and the Raiders had to be thinking touchdown. But McGloin's pass was well beyond Cooper and off target and it was a big missed opportunity. Two plays later, McGloin took that late hit. He stayed in for the rest of the drive, but he had his shoulder looked at on the sideline as Cook began to warm up and that was it for McGloin, who finished having completed 6 of 11 passes for 21 yards..
_ The Broncos carved up the Raiders on their first drive. David Amerson had a couple missed tackles, plus a face-masking penalty to give Denver new life after a third-and-2 incompletion. Devontae Booker went untouched for an 11-yard touchdown drive. The Broncos scored again on their third drive, with Justin Forsett bouncing off two tacklers on his way to a 64-yard gain that set up a field goal. The ugly defensive performance continued late in the second quarter when Siemian threw a short pass that Booker took 43 yards for a touchdown.
IMPACT PLAYERS
_ Trevor Siemian, Broncos quarterback: The talk during the week was of getting some reps for rookie Paxton Lynch, but Siemian kept him on the sidelines with a solid performance. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 206 yards.
_ Devontae Booker, Broncos running back: Booker opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run and had the 43-yard scoring reception.
_ Von Miller, Broncos outside linebacker: Miller didn't have a sack, but he forced a fumble by Johnny Holton when the Raiders tried to run an end-around with the speedy rookie.
_ Brynden Trawick, Raiders safety: It was hard to find positives on the Raiders side, but Trawick _ normally just a special teams players _ was pressed into defensive duty when Nate Allen went out with a concussion and Keith McGill was awful. Trawick, who hadn't played a snap of defense this season, had nine tackles and his first career interception.
