LB Sio Moore tackles the ball carrier and LB Khalil Mack is there to clean it up. Photo by Tony Gonzales
Head Coach Dennis Allen
On the game: "Disappointed in the way that we played. I thought we'd come out and be sharper than that, execute better than that. The penalties really were the big story of the game. We started out offensively in the first drive of the game, we had 5-yard penalties and then all of a sudden, we're behind the sticks. The very next drive out, we get another penalty, which backs us up again and really put us in some tough down-and-distance situations that we weren't able to overcome. Offensively, I thought we had too many opportunities where we had a chance to make a play and we were unable to make the play, specifically in the passing game. Defensively, really, again, penalties, third downs were the issue. Again, the penalties, most of those occurred on third-down situations where we had an opportunity to get off the field, where we had defensive holding or illegal contact, which is a point of emphasis with the league this year, so we've got to get that cleaned up. There were some positives in the game. I thought our guys came back and fought late in the game. We were able to move the ball a little bit. I was pleased with some of the things I saw later in the game defensively – basically after the first couple of series, we were able to keep them scoreless the rest of the game, so I thought that was a positive. At times, I thought we could run the ball pretty well. I was pleased with some of the things I saw in the running game. Obviously, it was nice to see Darren [McFadden] get an explosive run there early in the game. I thought Latavius Murray ran the ball fairly well. There are some positives there that we can take and continue to work with, but obviously we have a long, long way to go as a football team to be the type of team we want to be. But I'm sure our guys will continue to work. We'll continue to work. We're going to continue to work and we'll get better as a football team.
On Matt Schaub: "I thought he was put in some tough situations. We had a mistake on the first third down of the game, which turned out to be an incompletion and we've got to execute better there and we have to put ourselves in more manageable situations. We can't start the game off with a couple of penalties and put ourselves in first-and-long, second-and-long type of situations. I thought overall the execution wasn't good enough."
On if penalties are due to being first preseason game: "It's hard to tell without seeing the tape. A lot of these penalties were penalties that occurred during the play, but the ones that, obviously, we've got to totally clean up are the ones that happen…the pre-snap penalties that put us in bad situations. I'll go back, look at the tape, find out exactly what happened on each individual play and have a better assessment after that."
On Derek Carr:"I thought he did some good things in the game. I think he made some rookie mistakes out there, but I thought overall there were some positives to build from. Again, we'll go back and look and see exactly how he played and being able to make the corrections and help him get better, but I thought for the first time out, I thought he was okay."
On concerns with the first team defense:"No, they made some plays. Hopefully, we'll add a few things to the game plan next week and do a couple of different things. I thought we were able to get after the quarterback and get some pressure on the quarterback and I thought, in the second drive, we had the opportunity to get off the field and we had, I believe, a defensive holding call that continued that drive. I thought the biggest thing was the third down penalties that kept drives alive."
On lack of discipline: "We had the officials out last week and there really was very few penalties called when they were out there last week, so it's not something that's been an issue throughout training camp. But obviously the way it was officiated, there was a few more penalties."
On decision to go for two after TD: "That's a situation where you're in the preseason, you're trying to work on some things and we just signed the kicker last night and we had a field goal blocked already, so when you're in that situation in the preseason, I think it's a great opportunity to work on some two-point plays and different things."
On young players that made an impression: "Again, I'll have to look at the tape before I want to really kind of single some guys out. What I thought is I thought they played hard. I thought they played aggressive. For the most part, I was pleased with the tackling in the game. I thought we tackled pretty well. I know there was one…I kind of think of one missed tackle to start of the second half of the game, but really that's the only one that stands out in my mind. I thought the tackling was pretty crisp. I thought the guys flew around and I thought they executed pretty well in the second half of the game."
On dropped passes:"That's what I was saying earlier – we had opportunities to make plays that we weren't able to make, and some in critical situations. When you have the opportunity to make the play, guys have to step up and they have to make the play, whether it's receivers catching, linemen blocking, or defenders making a play in the passing game, because we don't get a lot of opportunities in this league. So you have to make the most out of all your opportunities and there was plenty of plays on the field to be had, but we didn't make enough of them."
QB Matt Schaub
On the game: "Overall, we were pretty sloppy. We hurt ourselves with a lot of penalties, put ourselves in long yardage situations and it's tough to win that way. We have to really look hard at the mistakes and clean those up because they are things that we can control, especially pre-snap issues. We need to iron those out if we want to be the type of team we want to be."
On offense staying on schedule: "Absolutely, that's what you want to do, bottom line. You want to stay on schedule and keep third downs manageable. You don't want to hurt yourself and put yourself behind the sticks, when you do that you make it harder on yourself. If you can stay ahead of it and keep the playbook open when it's third and less than five you can run the football, you can mix in all of your different passes down the field it keeps the defense off balance. I definitely see us in that regard, but all of the while you want to run the football and get some big plays down the field."
On dropped passes: "We will have to look at it. We will have to talk to guys. It might have been. I can't answer that individually. It lets guys know, hey, we're not on the practice field anymore. The lights are on, we need to go out and play. This is the first opportunity for us to form our identity for the season. We went out and we didn't play near to our expectations or our standard. We need to go back and figure out how to play that way next week." On taking positives from training camp:"Absolutely, it's a starting point. Obviously, there's things that we definitely need to clean up and get better at and we are going to do that. What we did tonight, hurting ourselves, doesn't diminish what we've done and put into training camp so far. We're just going to go back to work."
QB Derek Carr
On first professional game: "It was everything I thought it would be. It was a lot of fun. No, no. Oh no, there weren't any nerves. The nerves stopped a long time ago."
On if he felt comfortable in the game: "It did. It really did. I just try to challenge myself a lot too. I want to continue to get better at those little things. Those things matter. The quicker you can get in and out of the huddle, the more time you have on the clock to see what's going on. Like I said, I have a lot to work on, but from that aspect I liked what we did, and I just got to keep growing and getting better at it."
On if he watches how Schaub operates: "Absolutely. I know my job here is to come in and compete and learn from Matt. That's my job, so I went out and competed as hard I can. I watch him every single day; I bug him all the time with questions, because I want to win games. I want to do those kinds of things. I know it's going to be a process for me. I'm in a great situation here, and I'm really happy for that."
TE Brian Leonhardt
On friends and family at the game:"I had a lot of friends and family at the game. It was nice because some of them have never seen me play football before. My parents were there and they have never seen me play in the NFL before so that was really nice to have them there."
On the season: "Training camp is going well. Definitely made a lot of improvements, coaches have been noticing it so that's the number one thing to get as many improvements as you can as quickly as possible so that's definitely has been a good point for me."
On injury to TE David Ausberry and TE competition: "Things like that happen, injuries happen it's just football and you have to take it and do as well as you can with it. If opportunities like that arrive, I just have to grab a hold of it and do as well as I can and just keep working to improve."
On the tight end room: "Of course we are really close. I mean we work together and these guys have been together for the entire year last year. My closest friends on the team are obviously the tight ends. We are competing for a spot on the roster, but we are here to help each other and just to get everyone to do the best that they can to put the Raiders in the best position to win."
On playing for the Raiders: "It's awesome, you know there is an entreaty with the Oakland Raiders and what they stand for and it's really fun to be apart of that legendary kind of team."
On playing in the NFL:"It's a big time commitment; I would say that's the biggest thing that's just the biggest difference. It's 24 hours a day all day. It's long days long weekends, no days off really."
LB Khalil Mack
On if he feels better after playing first game:"No doubt. Part of it is that it is kind of a relief to be out there. Get out there and get back to playing football, but at the same time still some sense of wanting to get better."
On settling in: "I mean you could say I settled in, but even then from a preparation standpoint it's a new coordinator here. It's different personnel. So looking at Cleveland film to get ready for Minnesota, it's a twist, but even then I got better today. I got better today. Learned a lot of things."
