Defensively, we did a lot of good things throughout the game while we were
struggling on offense. Offensively, we had a tough time after the first drive
getting much going. They’re an outstanding defense. Our guys continued to fight
and compete. We made a big play on a fourth down and we were able to go tie the
game. But as we all know, it’s a four quarter game.”
On why there are extended periods in the game offensively when Randy Moss
does not get the ball:
“It’s certainly not by design. Sometimes it is because of what the defense is
doing, and sometimes we struggled there and wanted to come out and see if we
could get some runs going. We ended up not taking advantage of a couple of
situations, and that’s the way it comes up sometimes.”
On Raider defensive penalties that kept Eagle drives alive:
“I think there were penalties on both sides of the ball. That’s part of the
deal. If you’re playing pass coverage, there are some jams, there are bangs.
We’re trying to eliminate them, and I think we’ve done better over the last
couple of weeks. We just have to keep working at it.”
On why Doug Gabriel returned kicks when he stated during the week that he
would not be part of the Raider return game:
“It wasn’t so much in terms of him not being on the return team. We obviously
have Chris Carr who has done a good job on returns and he was the guy who was
there. If both guys were back, depending on the kick, Doug could have ended up
with the ball.”
On whether throwing to tight end Courtney Anderson was part of the
offensive game plan going into the game:
“We would like to keep everyone a part of the game plan. You’ve got five guys
who can go out for passes and we’d like to include everybody. [Philadelphia] is
a big blitz team and there are times when you can’t get your tight end out
because he has to end up in protection. When he got out, we felt there were
plays that he could make. On the first play [a long pass] we thought he could
get that. It looked good all week in practice down in the boundary and he made a
nice catch on it.”
On whether he is worried about kicker Sebastian Janikowski:
“He’s kicked so well through practice and everything we’ve done. He kicked as
good as I’ve ever seen him kick in pre-game. He kicked them medium, short and
long. He was outstanding. Obviously we’d like him to make those kicks, but I
have a lot of confidence in him.”
On whether he felt his team would have the edge in a close game down the
stretch due to the injury suffered by Eagle kicker David Akers:
“When you tie the game up and their field goal kicker is struggling,
obviously we felt that if we could get a stop, it would be to our advantage.”
On why the Raiders have not been able to get the ball to Randy Moss more
often in the red zone:
“It’s a combination of things. We want to get the ball to him. He’s getting
an awful lot of double coverage. The first time when we got down in [the red
zone] when we threw the swing pass to Lamont [Jordan], Randy was doubled. He’s
getting a lot of coverage, but we have to keep looking to find ways to get it to
him.”
On whether the Raiders did not have an answer defensively
for the Eagles’ Brian Westbrook:
“The one thing that you know he is going to do is make plays. He makes plays
against everybody. You try to contain him. There were some times that we did a
good job on him, but there were some times that he got loose.”
On the injury suffered by Charles Woodson:
“Charles got…again you get into the technical terms. Charles got dinged. He
got knocked out, or he got dinged. I don’t know if he was completely knocked
out. He felt fine once he came out. He went back in and he was all over the
field today.”
On what he tells his team after starting the season 0-3:
“Everyone wants to get into those conversations, but the biggest thing for
our team is to keep competing and fighting the way we have. We’ve played three
outstanding football teams. [Philadelphia] is a good football team and you play
them on the road. We’re going to look at this and coach off it. We’re going to
look at the good things we did and at the areas where we need to get better.
What we need to do obviously is to go win a football game. We’ve got good
players and our guys are competing at a high level. Like I said, as this game
went on, it would have been easy to think defensively we’re not going to get a
first down and win this thing. Offensively, we were struggling and it would have
been easy to say we’re not going to get anything going. Obviously our guys
competed throughout the entire game and gave us a chance to win.”
On the play of quarterback Kerry Collins:
“Kerry put together two great drives in the fourth quarter. We miss the field
goal on one, and we go and get the touchdown on the other. He’s a heck of
competitor. He obviously got hot there, and we did a good job with protection.
We handled some of the things that were giving us problems early, and it allowed
us to have a chance.”
On whether he worries about team morale after three consecutive losses:
“We have a lot of young players that are getting better each week. If you’re
in your first, second, third year, and you’re playing a lot of snaps, and you’re
getting better, you have a feeling and you know that there are good things that
are going to happen. The best part about our team is that we have a lot of
veteran guys who know how to compete and who know that it is a 16 game season.
There’s a lot of football, and they know how to get ready each week. That’s what
they’ve done to this point.”
On whether he was concerned that the Raiders did not build more than a
seven-point lead early in the game after a slow start by the Eagles:
“No I wasn’t, because the game is such a long game. No [team] has driven the
ball on [Philadelphia] extraordinarily and no one has got a lot of points on
them early on. Atlanta got 14 in the entire game, and this game kind of started
the way that their game with Atlanta started. You just have to get what you can
when you can. Obviously with the field goals, we’re having some tough luck. The
first one hit the upright, which is as close as you can get to putting it in.
That would have been a 10 point lead, and that was trying to take advantage of
the field position.”
On whether running back Lamont Jordan was running in the correct lanes or
freelancing:
“That was tough going out there today. They hit us with some blitzes right,
and we had some breakdowns. I thought Lamont ran hard.”
On whether Randy Moss asked out of the game during Oakland’s last
offensive series:
“He didn’t ask out. We sent a receiver in for him on a couple of plays. He
made that play on fourth down, and it was as good of a play as you’ll ever see.
He competed and ran deep the next play, and we felt that if we could get him out
for a play or two, it would help him during the rest of the drive.”
On whether it was frustrating to not get the last stop defensively due to
the long distance Philadelphia had to drive because of the injury to kicker
David Akers:
“It’s frustrating no matter how far they have to go. We were doing everything
we could and we had a mix of things that we did. Obviously we played some tight
man because they almost hit two deep balls on us in that drive. It was very
competitive. You’re not going to sit there and play all man and say that we’re
not going to give them the short play. We had a mix in there in terms of trying
to keep things changed up. Obviously in those situations late in the game it’s
hard to get pass rush. A couple of times we got some good pass rush, and there
were some times when he had some opportunities to hang onto the ball a long
time. “