Falling into an 0-2 hole, like the Las Vegas Raiders have, can create a sense of panic for an NFL team. The odds of making the playoffs drop dramatically and are far from in your favor, so job security becomes an issue around the building and everyone feels the pressure of being in “win-now” mode, even though it’s early in the season.
With the Raiders falling into that situation, the team’s sense of urgency was a hot topic of discussion during Wednesday’s press conference as both head coach Josh McDaniels and quarterback Derek Carr were asked about it.
Q: Josh, you hear the phrase, “There’s a lot of football to be played.” Are you a “sense of urgency guy” immediately in Week 1, and if they were 2-0 would you always want to play with a sense of urgency?
McDaniels: “It doesn’t change. Every week really is the same to us. I think that’s just the best way for us to approach each week. To me, if I change that, I would basically be telling my football team that this week is more important than last week, or what have you, and they’re all important. Every day is important. I think it’s important for us to be consistent and try to learn from the things we haven’t done well. Whether we won or lost, there’s going to be a lot of lessons to learn. Nobody plays a perfect football game, that’s almost impossible to think of. We have the same urgency that we’ve had. We know what we have to do better and what we’re trying to accomplish here. It’s going to take a lot of mental toughness this week to go there on the road against a really good football team and grind it out. But that’s what we’re getting ready to do here this week and practice and prepare the way we need to prepare to play.”
And Carr relayed his coach’s message, saying that McDaniels has been pushing the urgency essentially since taking the job.
Q: Is there a greater sense of urgency following the two losses?
Carr: ”I think if I’m honest, the way that Josh [McDaniels] and everyone in this building has made our mindsets and the way we do it is, win or lose, it’s going to hurt, we’re going to correct it and we’re going to work. Even on good days at camp, bad days at camp, we came in and did the same thing every day. He really tries to make it because he’s coached in some of the biggest games, he’s been around it. He knows that that’s the process on how to do it. And so, he’s just teaching us that there’s no heightened sense of anything. It should always be heightened. And he has really put that pressure on. I really mean it; he’s really put that pressure on us since day one. Like OTAs, I mean day one, we’re learning the system, he’s correcting us and teaching us like we’ve been in it eight years. But we immediately found out that this is the standard. So, if I’m honest, we came in and he’s the exact same Josh [McDaniels] and he expects the same thing at practice and all those kinds of things, honestly.”
In other Raiders links:
- Injury report: center Andre James and defensive tackle Bilal Nichols were back at practice in a limited capacity but wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, linebacker Denzel Perryman and safety Tre’von Moehrig remain out.
- What’s going on with Chandler Jones: a film breakdown to explain why the pass rusher hasn’t been productive yet this season and highlight a few things he’s done well.
- Carr finding groove in new offense?: “I feel so much more comfortable than I did, like, a month ago,” said Carr, via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
- Davante Adams reflects on last week’s loss: “Part of it is just keeping that mindset, never getting comfortable, just thinking zero-zero. Especially at half,” via Raiders Wire.
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