There’s No Need to Come From Behind Again : Raiders: L.A. gets everything together during the third quarter and avoids a close finish.

While sitting calmly by his locker unwrapping tape from his wrist, middle linebacker Joe Kelly best summed up the Raiders’ second victory in consecutive weeks over the Denver Broncos. “This one wasn’t as climactic, but it feels just as good,” Kelly said in comparing the victory to the Raiders’ comeback against Denver the week before.

“In reality, this means more because it’s just the first step for us. We now have two more steps to go.”

What Kelly and his teammates were referring to was the number of victories the Raiders need to reach Super Bowl XXVIII.

Instead of spotting Denver a 17-point lead, as they did the week before, the Raiders only let the Broncos stay close for a half before shutting them down.

Denver quarterback John Elway passed for 199 yards and three touchdowns as the teams ended the half tied at 21.

“I don’t know what it is, but we just seem to start slow against them,” Raider linebacker Winston Moss said.

“So, we made some good adjustments and played a lot better in the second half again.”

At halftime, the Raiders’ offense did not know what to expect from its defense. All the players knew was that they needed to score in case the defense did not get it together to stop the Broncos’ passing attack.

With a sense of urgency, the Raiders unloaded on Denver in the third quarter for two touchdowns to take a 35-21 lead, and never looked back.

“We did have concern about scoring,” Raider wide receiver Alexander Wright said.

“We knew that we were going to have to score more and move the ball in order to win.”

The Raider defense then felt that it was its turn.

On their first four drives of the second half, the Broncos punted three consecutive times and had their fourth end on an interception by cornerback Torin Dorn.

“We didn’t want to have to come from behind again,” said Moss, who had six tackles. “So, we had to shut them down.”

A key defender for the Raiders was veteran Greg Townsend, who seems to always play his best against the Broncos.

Townsend had two big tackles for losses and a deflected pass that bounced off his face mask.

“Sometimes you just get it going and plays just happen for you,” Townsend said.

“We felt that we were letting our offense down, so it was great for me to make some plays that fall within my responsibilities.”

The Raider defense made its most effective stand of the game when they forced Denver to kick a field goal early in the fourth quarter that cut the Raiders’ lead to 11.

From there, the Raider offense took over with a 10-play, 76-yard drive that took nearly six minutes and was capped by Napoleon McCallum’s third touchdown run of the game.

When Elway and the Broncos got the ball again, they trailed, 42-24, with 6:43 remaining and the game was all but over.

After the game, there weren’t any jumps for joy by the Raiders, only subdued celebration.

“To me, last week’s win was a little bit more exciting, but this was close,” Raider center Don Mosebar said. “After all, if we didn’t win today, we wouldn’t have a game next week.”

The Raiders earned a trip to Buffalo to play the Bills, whom they defeated earlier this season.

“This is what it’s all about,” Kelly said. “Playing to win. Denver’s over with and now we move on to Buffalo.”