What players and coaches are saying ahead of Raiders versus Broncos in Week 17

The 2019 regular season finale is upon us as the Raiders travel to Mile High to take on the division rival, Denver Broncos. The Raiders are still alive in the playoff hunt and need a win first and foremost to keep their hopes alive.

Let’s see what players and coaches are saying ahead of the Week 17 match up.

Raiders

Jon Gruden on the Broncos improvements as of late:

“They played good defense all year, they played good defense, very good defense all season. I think what they’ve done is find a tight end that can be dominant, Fant has really come on, Courtland Sutton has really emerged as a good player. And I think the young quarterback Drew Lock has really energized their offense. He’s made some tight window throws, some really ridiculously impressive throws and I think it’s a combination of all three phases of their team playing pretty darn good.”

Derek Carr on not scoreboard watching during Sunday’s game:

“Yeah, I mean honestly even this last week, I didn’t know until after the game, we were still in it. You know, I wasn’t checking scores. I try not to look up at anything. You know, it just gets your mind on something you don’t need. Doesn’t matter at that moment, right? Because if we don’t win, nothing matters. So we just gotta make sure we take care of business.”

Broncos

Courtland Sutton on the rivalry between the Raiders and Broncos:

“Yeah, you know it’s interesting. Last year I really didn’t understand the hype behind the divisional games. I knew they were important obviously, but I didn’t understand the true hatred that a lot of the Broncos fans have for out division rivals, until this year. Ya’ll know how I feel about the Chiefs, I don’t like them. The Chargers are the Chargers, and we are 0-2 in the last two games versus the Raiders and we need to take care of that so they know in order for us to claim our spot in the AFC side of the bracket we have to take care of our division. And that means the Chiefs, Chargers, and Raiders are teams we must beat on a consistent basis.”

Von Miller on how to slow down Derek Carr and the Raiders offense:

“You gotta’ get a great rush and tight coverage. That’s basically what you need for any good quarterback. We want to have a great rush and tight coverage and I feel like if we can do that and plus stop the run, they been running the ball pretty well. So got to be able to stop the run, play tight coverage and rush the quarterback. If we are able to do all that stuff then I think we will be alright.”