Quarterback Derek Carr held his weekly press conference at the team's Alameda, Calif., facility Wednesday afternoon before the team hit the practice field in preparation for their Week 9 showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here are the highlights from his media session.
Carr spoke about the challenges of the Steelers defense.
"They're very multiple, bring different looks, different pressures, different coverages, try and mix it up. Try and confuse you as a quarterback, all those good things. It'll be exciting. They're very talented. They have talent everywhere. They have Pro Bowlers. They have a lot of young talent, too. It'll be a good competitive game, be physical."
Everything the Raiders do offensively begins with the line.
"Those guys are what make us go. I told them at the beginning of the year, I would always reiterate it in OTAs, minicamp, all that, we're going to go as y'all go. Let's make sure we're working hard today. Just like they showed vs. New York, we're going to go as they go. If they give Latavius [Murray] a seam, he's going to hit it. They give me time to throw, I'll find a way to give it to someone who's a lot faster than me to have the ball in their hands. They've been doing a great job."
He spoke about the team's success against the blitz.
"You know it's something that we put a lot of effort and work into it, so I don't know if surprised would be the word I would use. It's something that we definitely want to make sure we have a hand on. It's definitely something that we want to make sure we can handle because as I've learned through past experiences from me not even playing, but watching other people play, you can't complete balls when you're on your back."
Sunday's game is important, but Carr isn't ready to call it a "defining moment."
"It's hard to say defining moment. Those are easier to say when you look back on them. But right now for us, they're obviously so talented. They obviously have playmakers on the whole defensive side of the football. It's going to be a tough contest, just like this last week was, just like the week before and all of that. For us, we just look at it as we have to take care of this week. We can't think of it as just a bigger moment or smaller moment. For us it's just we have the Pittsburgh Steelers at their place and that's never easy for anybody."
Winning is special when you do it in the Silver and Black.
"I can tell just on this side of the bridge, there's always been that expectancy, that wait. People have just been waiting for it to burst. As soon as you start winning football games, I've talked to 'C-Wood' [Charles Woodson] so many times, he said when you win here, it's like no other place. He's done a lot of winning. A lot of winning at different places. You can start to see that around town. You can start to see it when you go out to eat. You can start to see it when you're at the gas station. You just see it man, and it's cool to be a part of."
