RAIDERS HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 27, 2020

JG: Happy to answer any questions I can.

Q. Jon, three turnovers, six penalties. Just some trips to the red zone that didn't come away with points. Seemed like that seemed to be the big part of the game, it seemed like, from where we were, sir?

JG: I don't know about all that. There's no question we fumbled the ball in the red zone. We missed a field goal that we should make. You know, we can't stop the run in the second half. There are some issues that add up to a loss. Proud of our team for fighting. We're missing a lot of key players, lost some more today. I do like the effort, and looking forward to getting out of here and going back to Vegas. Congratulations to New England.

Q. Can you talk about the run defense? How much of that is focused so much on Cam that their running backs maybe had some more room to run than usual?

JG: You know, when you hand the ball off and there's nobody there, it's a lot more than that. I give Cam credit, give the Patriots credit. We gotta take a good look at what happened on those plays. Obviously we did some tackles and we had a couple players out of their gap, and not against the New England Patriots, not against anybody.

Q. That field goal that you had late in the game right around the 11-minute mark, I think it was, was there any consideration about maybe going for it on that one?

JG: We made it 23-13. We pinned them back. We had them second and long. We have a penalty in our secondary. No, there wasn't. It was a two-possession game, and I don't regret it.

Q. You just talked about the effort. Is there anything about this team compared to the last two that you're confident they'll bounce back and show resilience next week and put this behind them?

JG: Yeah. We gotta get a good-looking medical report, see who's going to be able to play. But I like our team. Showed at times today. I wasn't perfect either. I made plenty of mistakes, but I do like the team. I like the way they hustle; I like the way they finish. We just gotta play better in some key situations.

Q. What were the Patriots doing against Darren Waller that made it difficult for him to make plays this week after the big week that he had last week?

JG: We have a lot of good receivers. We didn't come in here today to target Waller every play. Credit New England; they had a nice game plan. They got pressure on the quarterback a few times. We had Waller open. The film was out there for everybody to look at, but New England did a nice job. They did a better job than we did today.

Q. With so many injuries coming into this game and then during the game, can you make too much of a loss? Don't you have to keep it in perspective with a 16-game season?

JG: Yeah, I mean it's hard, no doubt. We lose Brian Edwards today. We've already lost Tyrell Williams. We've lost Ruggs, two right tackles and our left guard, our middle linebacker. We're in our second game. You start to wonder what the hell is going on, but this is the National Football League. It's for mentally tough men. We're all professionals. We're all getting paid. We if we need some young guys to step up, so be it.

Q. You guys don't get a first down until early on in the fourth quarter. What was the biggest issue on your guys' third down efficiency?

JG: I think we were one for seven. I think a lot of that had to do with their third and eights. We got pressure on the quarterback, I believe. Credit New England. You know, you get behind in the sticks. You have a lot of third downs against the Patriots, they've proven over the years they're pretty good. They got a lot of talented secondary people.

QUARTERBACK DEREK CARR

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 27, 2020

Q. Derek, a frustrating loss given it was a tight game. Sure shot yourselves in the foot a few times. How frustrating was that part of it?

DC: Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean situationally the game was frustrating. I think obviously they won the turnover thing, and they won in the situations. Obviously on third down, all that good stuff. So it was frustrating, but at the same time we come in at halftime, you know, after -- man, we went two-minute, we spread them out, we went down the field, and at halftime we felt good about it. And then coming out, obviously it got away from us.

Q. Derek, a couple of the guys have talked about this. What about this specific team makes you confident next week you can put this aside and kind of face the adversity of this week by going onto next week?

DC: Oh, yeah. I mean we're always confident. What did you expect, for New England to roll over after what happened last week? They're going to come in here guns blazing. Coach said all week, they're going to play their best game, and we better bring ours. And we didn't play our best game. And we still made it a game. We still ran the ball efficiently. We still threw it when we could, when we wanted to, where we wanted to when they didn't take certain things away. I mean we loved the plan. So there's a lot of confidence there. We just didn't end up with the win.

Q. No excuses, obviously, but a lot of injured players. You're missing quite a few offensive linemen.

DC: You know me, no excuse, man. Blame me. I'm used to it.

Q. Derek, I mean, obviously what people are talking about is the fact that Darren Waller didn't get a lot of targets in this game. Was it something that the Patriots were doing, and if so, what was that?

DC: Yeah, I mean yes -- yes and no. I mean there was one play -- there was one play I missed him on, but they did a good job of making it look like a double when they weren't doubling him. You know what I'm saying? They do a good job, man. And you don't have three seconds to is he really doubling, you gotta play the game fast. You gotta make your decisions. And I owned up on that. I said hey, man, I missed you on that. That was my fault. But besides that, there was times when he was in certain spots they'd drop underneath him. When he was in other spots they'd double him, check to this, or check to that. There was -- that's what they try and do, and you saw Hunter have a big day. With this team you gotta figure out they're playing in situational football, third downs and red zone especially who they're going to try and double, who they're going to take away, and obviously you know where most of our targets usually go.

Q. You said Monday night something to the effect of Belichick has already got a day's head start on me. When you look at this game and you see the game you came off, the cross-country flight. From a distance you could say, man, looked like this was coming, but I assume you guys don't think that way.

DC: Yeah, you know I can't look at it that way. Again, our plan was great. I thought they had some plays, we had some plays, and it was close. It was fight, man. They'd take something away, I'd have to throw it away or run and try and scramble, but then we'd get what we wanted and we'd hit it. So the plan and all that stuff was good. It's the turnovers, man. The first turnover they make it look like man, they play zone. We get the exact -- coffee called a perfect play. Josh made a perfect read. I went to throw it to him, and I got hit from the other side, which happens. And then the other turnover, Josh down in the red zone, obviously he doesn't fumble the ball a lot, man. He wants that one back. And then the fumble down when we were backed up, I went to step up, again, they played the zone. I went to step up and go through my read, had a little pressure to my left -- or to my right, tried to step up. Then as I was getting hit, man, I just tried to get the ball out of the end zone so we didn't have a safety, but then I ended up fumbling because the second guy hit it out. So I sit there and say, yeah, I mean they won the game and they took it over in the second half, but I feel confident in what we came in with. It was never a moment where I was like, man, they just have our number, man, they just got us. They got us on a couple, but we threw it and ran it very efficiently and how we wanted to, and especially with the shots we were able to hit.

Q. Derek, I know hindsight is 20/20, but with that field goal you had in the fourth quarter, looking back do you wish maybe you guys went for it in that moment?

DC: I think with the way -- I think it was 11:50 something left, 12 something. I can't remember the number exactly. But the way our defense was playing, we felt great, to be honest. We're like, yeah, let's get the points. We should get some more possessions here, and then they were able to run off some pretty big runs. And that's football, and that's not -- has nothing to do with me or the decision to kick it or go for it, that's not even up to me, man.

Q. My colleagues have referenced the short week and all of that. But with so many injuries and so many guys down, I know you're not going to make excuses, but it is a realistic thing. You just can't make more of one loss than it is in a 16-game season. Correct?

DC: Oh, yeah. Gosh, no. Especially if we went out there, and you know, we weren't able to do one single thing right, then there's a problem, then we gotta go, what's going on. Everyone took a turn today. We lost the turnover battle, and we lost the situational battle. That's all it is. And it's one game. If we're going to blow up everything after the good things that we've done after one game, then this ain't for some of those people, you know what I'm saying? Like we are just fine. We're going to be fine, and we better have a good week of practice, because we gotta another playoff team coming to our stadium. They smell blood in the water. Well, we gotta be ready to fight for that.

ADDITIONAL PLAYERS

Maxx Crosby, DE

(On not stopping the ground game)

"I think it was just discipline, staying in our gaps and not trying to do too much. You know it goes for the whole defense, we have to be in the gap and do our job. Make tackles and we are not doing a good enough job of that right now"

(On how the loss affects the team)

"I don't know it is hard to say, it is super early in the season. We are trying to gel right now, we thought this was a really winnable game. We were in a good situation and we just didn't come through. We just have to get better, there is no excuse."

(On the short week)

"No, there is no excuse, we have done it before and won games on short weeks. There is no excuse and we were in that game and we let it slip away. We can't do that because they are a super-disciplined team and they got the better of us today. We just have to keep chipping away and get better."

Josh Jacobs, RB

(On if the Raiders feel like they left some points on the board)

"Yeah definitely. We had a couple of drives where we moved the ball very well. We have got to just work on our red-zone execution and try not to beat ourselves in certain situations."

(On the biggest issue in the red zone)

"Fundamentals. They are a great team; they converted on all of our turnovers just about. We have just got to come in and fix the little things. Whether it is communicating for the tackle to block the end, or things like that. Just communication, discipline, and fundamentals. We have just got to come out and do that better next week."

(On the lost fumble)

"I think about it more after the game. During the game, I just go to the next play. I play the next play and try to give all my effort each play. This week I am going to come in and practice and just make sure I over emphasize protecting the ball. It is definitely a learning experience."

Foster Moreau, TE

(On the frustrations of the outcome)

"Yeah, you know, you cannot expect to win too many football games turning the ball over as many times as we did today. You have just got to get back out there for practice. We have a really good game coming up against the Bills. You have got to get in the red zone, you have got to score points. We were doing it all last week. We have got to learn how to win around here. We have got to focus on the week at hand, the game at hand, and try to be 1-0 every week."

(On if he feels an increased responsibility when Darren Waller does not get many targets)

"Absolutely not. At the end of the day I am only as good as my brother. If I am called upon to make a play, that is great I am ready for it. We have just got to do our jobs at the end of the day. If you target me on a couple of passes today, I have just got to come down with them. I am only as good as my teammates. I am only as good as Derek [Carr], I am only as good as the protection. You have got to make a play when the ball is thrown to you. No added pressure, nothing like that."

(On if the Raiders need to learn how to face adversity)

"Absolutely. I think we are a team that has faced a lot of adversity so far. We have been coming out on top. Today was not a day, obviously, that was a result we wanted. We are going to come back and we are going to put together a great game plan, have a great week of practice, and give it all our all to win against the Bills."

Hunter Renfrow, WR

(On bouncing back after a loss)

"That is the thing you have to love about the NFL, as opposed to college. You lose one game in college and you can't go and win the national championship, right? In the NFL, you can lose five or six games and still go to the Super Bowl. We get another shot next week against a really good team in the [Buffalo] Bills at our place and hopefully we can continue to play well there and move on to the next one."

(On the mistakes)

"It is frustrating, but also we are encouraged to know we if we don't make those mistakes it puts in a better chance to be competitive. We know it is everything we have done, I think they made some great plays obviously but if we control what we can control and go out there and take care of the ball, protect the quarterback and make some catches, we will have a good chance of winning. I think it is definitely frustrating but at the same time, we are excited about this upcoming week, make corrections and we get to play in six-and-a-half more days. It is encouraging."

(On the reception at the goal line)

"We were in our two-minute drill, we got the ball right back before the half so we didn't have much time. We hit some big plays to set us up. That's a play we have been working on all year. It just so happens that it came open, and Dereck [Carr], he hit me down the sideline. I knew I wasn't in, I knew as soon as I got up, and I told Nelly [Nelson Agholor] I was short. It was good to get Foster [Moreau] the touchdown. I think it was 13-10 at that point and I think it was a one possession game going into the half, so we had some momentum. We just had to a better job on executing on it."