Photo by Tony Gonzales
Head Coach Dennis Allen
On the game and if heat was a factor: "I'm not going to use those factors as a crutch. At the end of the day, we have to coach better; we have to play better. They were the better team today. They out-executed us. And we have to do a better job."
On difference between first and second half: "I don't know if there was anything specific. I thought they had a good plan on how they came out and tried to attack us there in the second half. We have to do a better job in the third quarter coming back out after halftime and coming out and playing better in the second half. I thought that was something that kind of got us last week and I thought it creeped up again this week. So we have to do a better job there."
On poor field position: "Hey listen, we haven't helped our offense out by creating field position for them. So we have to do a better job in the other two phases of the game, that's defense and special teams, of stopping them earlier, making them have to punt from backed up on their end of the field. Then we have to execute on special teams in the return game and get some shorter fields for our offense. We have to take the ball away and create some shorter fields for our offense. In this league it's hard to go 80-plus yards on every drive."
On the running game: "Well, we played a real good run team today. So, I'm not going to evaluate the run game and say it's good, it's bad, it's whatever, until we really get a good feel for where we're at. We put two games, so I'm not going to abandon where we're at in the run game. We obviously have to get better there. We have to improve it. And we're going to continue to work and work to improve that."
On RB Reggie Bush: "He made some good runs. He's a good player. He made a few people miss and we have to do a better job of tackling. We'll go back and look at the tape and see exactly where we broke down. Obviously, in the second half, we didn't do a good enough job of containing him and keeping him corralled."
On the cornerbacks: "I think we'll go over the tape and see where we're at. They obviously did a good job of executing and they picked up the match ups that they thought they might have an advantage in and we have to go back to the drawing board and we'll look to see where we can improve for next week."
On the injuries: "Khalif Barnes left the game with a groin. Shawntae Spencer has a foot sprain and Taiwan Jones still has got the ribs and then everything else was mostly bumps and bruises."
On the run defense: "I thought they did a nice job of blocking, but I thought at the end, we didn't tackle as well as we needed to tackle so we're going to go back and look at it and see where we need to make our corrections and we're going to work to get better next week."
On anything encouraging from the game: "I can't think of a lot of things off the top of my head. I think the fact that we came back after that first series where they took the ball down the field and scored, our ability to come back there, and then the rest of the first quarter and the rest of the first half, come out with a lead at halftime, I was pleased with that. But I wasn't pleased with the way we came out in the second half."
On the second half: "I'm not going to say shocking or worst nightmare. I'm going to say we have to execute better. We have to coach better. We have to play better. We have to learn how to finish in all phases of the game."
On whether the team abandoned the run too soon: "I don't think we did. I think we were being effective throwing the football and so I think you have to go with what the game dictates. And so I'm not going to second guess. We did what we felt like we had to do to try to win the football game. It didn't work out."
On if he is still confident in the zone-blocking scheme: "Absolutely. I've seen it work. I believe in it."
QB Carson Palmer
On the offense: "They did a really good job against the run. We've got to take our hats off to them. I don't know what we averaged per run but we kept trying to get it going and kept trying to get it going because that's really what kind of dictates and what gets our offense going. We stuck with it and stuck with it but unfortunately they just did a really good job up front and we weren't able to get the explosive run gains that we wanted."
On the starting field position for the offense: "You'd obviously like to get better field position. We had the one really nice punt return; unfortunately we didn't convert and get seven points out of it. There's going to be days like that and when there's days like that, you have to find ways to score points and we didn't do that today. Offensively we didn't help our defense out by getting them off the field and sustaining longer drives and eating up the clock. We obviously didn't score enough points, it's unacceptable and I put that on my shoulders. I'm the quarterback and it's my job to find ways to get us in the end zone, and I didn't do a good enough job today."
On the heat: "We were tired but so were they. It definitely wasn't a factor; they have to play in it too. They're a little bit more used to it but that's no excuse. We've got to take our hats off to them; they outplayed us, beat us and played better football than we did today. I have a good feeling that we're going to watch that film and realize that we're better than what we put on the field today."
On where to go from here: "We can't have that feeling. We've got to look at ourselves, each and every guy, offense, defense and special teams. That's not a feeling that you can let creep in. You can't look at the statistics; you can't look at what happens to 0-2 teams, we've got to find ways to get wins. Just one win gives you that confidence and gets that bad taste out of your mouth. This team can catch fire; this team's explosive enough to catch fire. It starts with one win and we're looking to do that once we get back home to play in front of our fans."
On the run game: "It's the same thing as with our record. You can't look at those stats and say okay, we're not going to run the ball anymore. We're going to continue to run the ball because that's where the big plays in this offense come from. They come off the running game and Darren's a guy that can score from anywhere on the field. We realize that and defenses realize that so we're not going to abandon it whatsoever. We're going to continue to work at it, we're going to continue to get better at it and he's going to get his chances because he's obviously a special talent and we're going to get him his opportunities."
On if zone-blocking scheme is right for McFadden: "I totally think so. You can't look at these two games. He's right for any system, it really doesn't matter. The way he blocks and what he can do in the protection in the system, he's perfect for it. With his ability to just put his foot in the ground and get vertical, that's what his offense is built on. We'll continue to get better up front because it's one of those things where you don't just have it. You don't just install a bunch of plays and get really good at cut blocking and giving him those cutback lanes. It's something that we have to continue to work at and we will and we'll get better at it each practice. I believe he's 100 percent the right guy for this system."
RB Darren McFadden
On the game: "They [Miami Dolphins] did a great job today. You have to give those guys full credit. They did a great job today. For us we have to try and stay on schedule and get in third-and-short situations and stay out of those third-and-long situations."
On the running game: "They have a good front seven and they were getting after it today. Running the ball was something that we needed to do and they stopped us from doing it."
On the cross-country travel: "I don't think it affected us. We're football players. Whether it's a night game, morning game, whatever, we've got to be ready to play and we just weren't ready to play today."
WR Denarius Moore
On the game game: "For starters I think we need to work more on the first and second downs just like coach said, coming in at halftime. Just being able to compete ourselves."
On if weather and travel were factors: "Man, you can't look at it like that. At the end of the day it's 11 guys lined up against each other, playing football. That's all we know how to do and we just got to come out and compete."
On improvements for next week: "Working on the first and second downs and then always third downs make sure we convert and then if the offense is…I mean if the defense is clicking, the offense got to click too, just come together as a team and get this thing rolling."
WR Darrius Heyward-Bey
On the game: "They executed and we didn't. Simple as that. We've got to stop their running game and we've got to run the ball."
On the Raiders running game: "They would bring the safety down in the box and we just need to execute. Simple as that. We've got to go in there and we've got to block people. We've got to run the ball well. We've got to throw the ball well. We've got to execute."
On big plays: "Oh yeah. You always want big plays. You always want to have explosive gains. That's football. You're going to have short gains and long gains and we the big ones come up you have to execute. We did half the time and the other time we didn't."
TE Brandon Myers
On the game: "We just didn't score touchdowns. We didn't move the ball."
On things to work on for next week: "We just got to establish the run. Our whole offense is based around the run. So, we got to get there, fill in the holes and make some plays."
On what to take away from the game: "We just got to stay together as a team. Keep grinding, it's a long season. It sounds cliché but we just have to stick together."
DT Tommy Kelly
On the game: "We left our game in the locker room, it's as simple as that, it's just embarrassing, I didn't see this coming, the way we practiced all week, I didn't see this coming. The way we started in the first half, I didn't foresee 35 at the end of the game, I'm thinking they're going to have seven."
On Reggie Bush: "We didn't tackle, we left that in the locker room too, we just let him run loose."
On the team's effort: "No we didn't give up, it's just embarrassing, it's the same plays that we did in practice, we just didn't execute, they made the plays, it's just as simple as that"
On this team: "This is different, because we're a whole lot better than we were when we went 2-14 and 4-12, I think we have a way better team. We're more talented, we have better younger talented players, but you have to be able to produce on Sunday and we aren't."
On bouncing back next week: "This isn't going to break me, I've been on a 2-14 team. The main thing is correcting your mistakes personally before you worry about the team and start to point the finger. I have to check what I am doing wrong to help the team; everybody has to pull their weight."
On if heat was a factor: "The heat doesn't affect me; you got to think they are playing in the same heat too, they got to deal with it too, it's hot but it isn't that hot. I use to play in the SEC; it doesn't get hotter than that, an 11 a.m. kickoff. It doesn't affect me; it shouldn't with all the water fans and Gatorade we get on the sideline."
DE Matt Shaughnessy
On the game: "I mean, there were plays that happened and we needed to make plays that we needed to and we didn't. You know, that's how football is."
On what they can build on for next week: "It's just adversity and you just got to rise through it. You know, sometimes the chips don't fall where you want them and you just got to get back up and play again."
SS Tyvon Branch
On things to build on for next week: "We have a lot to do. We have a lot to watch on film and make some corrections."
On what they need to improve: "We need to work on everything. We have to improve everywhere."
On if the long trip and heat were factors: "No, it was a part of the game. They play in the same weather we are playing in. So it was just a part of the game."
