They had already failed their standard, impossible as it was.

On the Raiders’ second drive of the game, quarterback Geno Smith zipped a couple of first-down balls into narrow windows in Denver’s defense, and rookie Ashton Jeanty did the rest. He was tough. Tougher than the 11 in throwback Bronco orange early on Thursday night. He popped Talanoa Hufanga in the helmet on his way to the goal line, fell into the end zone for the first red-zone touchdown anyone had scored at Empower Field since Week 8, and a sea of Broncos walked off to the sideline as if they’d been put in time-out.

So at halftime of a 7-7 slopfest, safety Talanoa Hufanga pulled the entire Broncos’ locker room together.

We gotta be better, Hufanga recalled telling them. Everybody.

And he placed the onus squarely on Denve

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