‘He can make all the throws, these are the games you look forward to’ and more of what players and coaches are saying ahead of Raiders, Packers in week seven

Coming off the bye week, the Raiders travel to Lambeau Field to take on the 5-1 Green Bay Packers. The Raiders have some momentum going coming off back to back road wins versus the Colts and the Bears.

The Raiders currently are 3-2, second place in the division, and with the injury to Patrick Mahomes, have a golden opportunity to make things very interesting within the division.

Both teams are dealing with injuries, the Packers have multiple wide receivers that are banged up including Davante Adams who was ruled out. For the Raiders Tyrell Williams is out and Trent Brown is doubtful.

A key to the game will be how the Raiders offensive tackles handle the pass rush of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith. Both Smith’s rank top five in the league in sacks.

Now let’s see what coaches and players are saying heading into the week seven matchup.

Raiders Defensive Coordinator Paul Guenther, on facing Aaron Rodgers.

“Well he can make all the throws, he gets them in and out runs and passes, he can move around the pocket good, and he can make all the throws from different platforms. It’s fun going against guys like this, you know he’s one of the best at doing it, so these are the kinds of games you look forward to.”

Raiders Quarterback Derek Carr, on the Packers defense.

“Obviously his (Pettine) scheme is awesome. They’ve done a great job with Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, Kenny Clark, their guys on the backend, linebackers, they’re all playing great football. When we go out there it’s going to be a tough, physical football game. It’s going to be tough, they’re a great team with great coaches.”

Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur, on his impressions of the Raiders defense.

“Yeah, I think they’ve done a really nice job, especially the last couple of weeks against Chicago, Indianapolis. Just a sound football team, that plays extremely hard. I’ve got a lot of respect for Paul Guenther, I’ve known him, I know he comes from the Mike Zimmer tree and I think again, it’s sound, fundamental football and he’s got his guys playing really, really hard.

Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine, on some of the things the Raiders are doing on offense.

“I mean they ran the ball well, it was a good mixture, with Coach Gruden it’s a solid mix of he always wants to have old school fundamentals and be able to line up, when they need to line up and run the ball down hill they’ll be able to do it. But at the same time they are doing a lot of things that are cutting edge in the league as well that forces defenses to think and process and make sure that their eyes are in the right place.