OAKLAND, Calif. – The burden was too heavy for the Broncos’ defense to carry against Oakland here Sunday night.

The Broncos’ offensive line was too heavy to carry. The running game was too heavy to carry. The quarterback was too heavy to carry. The offense was too heavy to carry.

On this night, the Broncos’ defense had its own problems, mainly an inability to stop the Raiders’ running game. It was unable to get any turnovers and turn the momentum in a sobering 30-20 beatdown during which Oakland controlled the ball for 41 minutes, 28 seconds.

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An already leaky run defense was shredded for 218 rushing yards on a 5.1 yards per carry average. Each time Denver seemingly had a chance to rally, the Raiders ran right over the Broncos, tearing through arm tackles from an exhausted Broncos’ defense.

“All we wanted to do is stop the run. That was it. And make them pass. We didn’t stop the run,” safety Darian Stewart said. “Their run game is simple. All we had to do was man up and stop it. They ran that (expletive) down our throat. That’s it.” Related Articles November 6, 2016 Denver Broncos lose ugly to Oakland Raiders, fall to third place in AFC West

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Cornerback Chris Harris added: “That’s something we have to fix. It’s been leaky the whole season.”

It didn’t help Denver that its best run stuffer, defensive end Derek Wolfe, left in the third quarter with an elbow injury.

A wounded secondary was also missing two of its top four cornerbacks, Aqib Talib and Kayvon Webster, leaving Raiders quarterback Derek Carr to pick apart the Broncos with backbreaking completions when not drawing pass interference penalties. Cornerback Bradley Roby, subbing for Talib, was Carr’s favorite target to victimize.

Denver’s defense relishes being the identity of the team, and has been counted on to make the big play for the past season and a half. On Sunday night, however, they were overpowered as the upstart Raiders bullied the Super Bowl champions to take over the AFC West lead.

Oakland played like it was their championship, their time, and clearly looked like the AFC West’s best team.

“The AFC West is still up for grabs. We still have a chance to win that,” Harris said. “It’s going to go down to the wire.”

Nothing signified the power shift more than Raiders rookie running back Jalen Richard running through an arm tackle from a clearly gassed T.J. Ward and galloping for a 28-yard gain.

Yet the biggest worries may come on the other side of the ball. Denver does not appear to have anything to rely on with its staggering offense that went three-and-our on its first four possessions. The stagnant, lifeless and predictable first half offense fell into a 13-0 hole it never climbed out of.

For the second straight week, the running game was nowhere to be found. Denver rushed for 33 yards on a 2.8 yards per carry average just a week after head coach Gary Kubiak challenged the team after a similiar dismal showing against San Diego.

“You can’t run the ball if you’re not on the field,” quarterback Trevor Siemian said.

The Broncos had the ball for just 18 minutes and 32 seconds.

“We were on the field too much,” Stewart said. “We gotta be out there. We can’t do nothing about that.”

The Broncos’ defense found it hard to hide their frustration when they were winning. Now, with three losses in five games, it’s becoming obvious the defense may not be enough to carry the team with huge questions on the other side of the ball.