It was Jon Alston, who opened as the starting strongside linebacker in addition to his duties as a core special teams player. Alston, carrying his helmet by the facemask, made all the highlight shows.

"I was rushing the punter and my helmet got knocked off," Alston said. "Just because you lose your helmet doesn't mean you're not in the play. So I just picked it up and took off. I kept my head on a swivel so I didn't get knocked out."

--LB Thomas Howard, regarded as one of the swiftest and best pass defending linebackers in the NFL, had gone 12 games without an interception before stealing a Jay Cutler pass in the fourth quarter to set up the Raiders' final touchdown.

He was conspicuous on a pair of plays earlier in the game for roughing-the-passer penalties against Cutler. To be generous, they were borderline.

Interim coach Tom Cable said he isn't allowed to comment on officiating but couldn't help himself, calling them "ridiculous."

Howard simply put them out of his mind. The second one was Oakland's only penalty of the second half after the Raiders had nine for 75 yards in the first half.

"It's part of the game. The official has to make a call, and it doesn't matter if I don't think it's the right call," Howard said. "You play through it. We didn't lose our composure, we didn't get upset. We just had to live with it, go back out there and play some more football."

--It's been a tough season for RB Justin Fargas, who missed time with a groin injury and had yet to have a 100-yard game this season before helping the Raiders finish off the Broncos in the fourth quarter with 67 yards on 10 carries. He ended the day with 107 yards on 24 attempts.

The Raiders kept the ball for 19:10 of the second half and more than 11 minutes in the fourth quarter, grinding out the win.

"You could see we were taking the fight out of them toward the end there," Fargas said. "They knew we had control of the game, and credit goes to the guys up front. They were challenged during the week, and they rose to the challenge."