FS Charles Woodson makes a touchdown-saving tackle by diving over one Jaguar to get another. Photo by Tony Gonzales
Head Coach Dennis Allen
On the game: Just to start off, updates on the injuries – Tyvon Branch injured his ankle. That looks to be a significant injury. We'll find out more later. And then Lucas Nix injures his ankle also so that doesn't seem to be as significant, but we'll see how that goes. As far as the game is concerned, listen, I'm excited and happy we won the football game. I thought we did do some good things in the game. I thought we were able to run the ball very efficiently on offense and we were able to move the football. I thought defensively we were able to hold them from being able to run the football and I thought we did some good things in pass coverage. We were able to get after the quarterback a little bit, especially as the game went on. So there was obviously some things we did in the game. There's a lot of things we have to get cleaned up. Overall, I thought it was sloppy. I don't think it was up to the standard that we want and there's a lot of things we have to continue to work on to continue to get better at and improve on. With that being said, I'm excited about the fact that we won the football game and we'll go in and make the corrections tomorrow. I'll open it up to questions.
On scoring on the first possession: I thought that was huge. I think our defense going out there and stepping up and forcing a three-and-out on the first series of the game and then we come back and get the punt return that set us up in good field position. And then for our offense to go right down the field and convert that into points, I think that was a big momentum builder, a big confidence builder, for our football team. That's something that we talk a lot about is trying to start fast and we were able to do that today.
On RB Darren McFadden: I think Darren had a good day with the exception of the fumble there at the end of the game; that's something that can't happen. He knows that. But I thought he was able to run the ball effectively. I believe he had three runs of over 20 yards and that's the way the running game operates. You're going to get a lot of two, three, four-yard runs and then you're going to be able to pop one. That's what we were able to do today and we had a couple opportunities to get him on the safety and we had some been gainers.
On QB Terrelle Pryor protecting the ball: I think he did protect the ball, which was a positive. I think, I'll have to go back and look at the tape as far as exactly how his decision making was, but listen, that's always going to be a key for us is to make sure we protect the football and make sure we don't turn the ball over. We only had one in the game and that came at the very end of the game, so our ability to protect the football as the game goes on is critical to our success.
On the defense: I think every week the game is going to play out differently every week. I think you go into a game and you kind of have an idea of what you think the game might go like and then you have to be able to adjust as the game goes on. I thought our coaches did a nice job of executing the game plan, putting the right game plan in, putting our players in position to have some success and I thought the players overall did a good job of executing the game plan.
On FS Charles Woodson touchdown-saving tackle: Huge. When you get down in the red zone, it's all about making them kick field goals and your ability to score touchdowns so I think we were 1-for-2 on defense making them have to kick field goals. And Charles made an exceptional play right there. I think any time you see a guy like Charles Woodson play as long as he has in the league and play with the level he's played for him to make an effort play like that really gives the whole team, and the defense in particular, a lot of momentum. I thought it was a great play. We were able to hold them to a field goal. We were able to keep the game, for most of the game, we were able to keep it as a two-score game, which I thought was critical.
On importance of Pryor getting a win: I think it's huge to get a win. But not just him. This football team needed to win a football game. So that does a lot for the confidence of this football team. Now we have to build on it. Each individual has to build on it. I think any time you win in this league, it's all about building the confidence for your football team.
On concerns with the offense: We have to convert third downs. Again, I thought third downs wasn't good enough. Offensively, we have to be able to convert third downs so we can keep drives alive and keep the chains moving. Obviously, red zone offense, we have to be able to score touchdowns when we get an opportunity to get down there. I believe we were down there five times in the game today and we were only able to get one touchdown out of that. So we have to be better there in the red zone. Then obviously defensively, with exception of third down, I thought we played well.
On Pryor: Listen, everything we do with Terrelle is a growing process. That's what you deal with, with young players. He happens to play a position that there's a lot of learning that's involved. Every play that he plays, every snap he takes, is a learning experience for him. There were some good things he did in the game. There's some things we need to work on, but that's part of football. That's what we have to do.
On when Nix hurt his ankle: I'm not sure exactly when he hurt the ankle, but obviously, with some of the struggles, we decided to get him out of the game, so we went that direction.
On kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns: Listen, when you're playing good defense, taking the points, that's what you need to do. You need to take the points, but it was frustrating that we weren't able to get touchdowns. That's what our goal is to be every week is to get down there and when we get there, we need to score touchdowns. So yeah, that was disappointing, but obviously, I thought our defense was playing well, so to take the three points in those situations and keep the game at least to a two-score game was, I thought, the key to winning that game.
On beating a team people will say 'isn't very good:' Listen, we won a football game and that's all we can go out and try to do on a week-in and week-out basis. So I was proud of our football team for winning the game.
On 9.0 sacks in two games: I think it's just a combination of rush and coverage. I think there's some times where we do a pretty nice job in coverage and give our guys an opportunity to get to the quarterback. We try to be multiple and send several different guys in different directions and then I think our rush has continued to improve. I think guys have continued to get better at rushing the quarterback.
On S Usama Young: He brings some experience in the defense, some versatility. He's a guy I have a lot of knowledge of and a lot of experience with. We said from the very beginning that we felt good about our safety position, that we had some depth there. We had some guys that could play safety in the National Football League. So, anytime you have a guy that goes down, you have to some other guys step up and I thought he did a nice job of stepping up today, as well as Brandian Ross today.
QB Terrelle Pryor
On his performance: I feel like I did my job [with] the plays that were called in. I did my job and we got a W. I'm very happy about it. We got out healthy and we have a big opponent coming up so our mind's on that now.
On whether having no turnovers was a point of emphasis: Yeah, the key was no turnovers. We ended up having one on the fumble at the end that could've maybe cost us, but I thought we ran the ball well. Overall rushing, D-Mac [RB Darren McFadden] had a great day, a couple other guys busted open, especially [FB] Marcel [Reece] when he got the first touchdown. We had a great running day today.
On the difficulty of getting the passing game going: There weren't a lot of opportunities for throwing the ball today. The defense was playing well, we were shutting the Jaguars offense down and we were running the ball well so as a quarterback I didn't have a lot of opportunities, but at the end of the day we got a win. We're 1-1 and that's all that really matters to me. On to the next one and we're looking forward to going to Denver.
On the Jaguars' defense scheming to stop him as a runner: Absolutely. That's why D-Mac probably had 120-something yards, and then our other running back busted out, so that's why I believe he had a great day. Guys were over-shifting big-time on me. The offensive lineman, I can't forget those guys, they blocked well. Obviously we have to clean up a lot of things – I have to clean up a lot of things, as an offense we have to clean up some things, but we got a win.
On whether he takes anything away from his first NFL win as a starter: No. I'm ready to go play Denver.
On trying not to take too many hits: I try not to take too many hits. I don't want to. I got down a few times today when I knew that they had me – not giving up, but just saying I'm about to take a hit and just go play the next down.
On starting at home for the first time: I had a great day. It felt good to get out here in front of the home crowd, [inaudible]. It was great and like I said, at the end of the day we got a win. I'm just looking forward to starting up on Denver and getting ready to play those guys.
On settling for field goals: Obviously you have to love field goals, but I don't like them. I don't like field goals at all. Definitely, it helps you win the game [but] you guys understand where I'm coming from, we want to score touchdowns; that's our goal, always score touchdowns. But we have a great kicker, he finished the game for us [and] scored a lot of points so we're definitely fortunate for that, too."
RB Darren McFadden
On the victory: It was very important; we want to just keep going and keep building on the win.
On the running game: The coaches had a lot of faith in me; they put the ball in my hands and let me run with it. Give credit to the offensive line, they did a great job today.* *I love being able to run downhill. I feel like I'm a downhill runner and it's something that this offense allows me to do.
On his big runs: A couple plays they left the middle wide open and I was able to get up-and-down and get some big runs out of it.
On the read-option: It's going to open up a whole lot for the running back because you have to keep an eye on Terrelle [Pryor] also, and once you go out on the end and leave the middle open, its good for the running back.
FS Charles Woodson
On playing younger than his age: God's gift to me was to be able to play football, and I can play football. I'm at the age where as long as my body feels good I can go out there and play football. I don't think it's really about showing anybody anything, it's just going out there and trying to help the team win in any way I can.
On tackle of Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew: You know, sometimes you have to leave your feet. He was trying to stretch the play outside and it looked like he was slowing down and wasn't going to be able to get the corner and I just wanted to get to him.
On returning to the Raiders: It felt good. Anytime you can put the jersey on, uniform on, and go out there and play alongside your teammates and go out and play tough, that's what it's all about. It was fun. It felt good putting the two four back on; it was something special.
On importance of getting first win: Exactly that, it's one win. There's bigger fish out there. We have a tough one coming up. I took a glance at the score coming in after our game and it looks like Denver put up a lot of points again. We have to get over this one pretty quickly and get on our film and see how Denver's going to try to attack us as a team next week on a big stage. We have to get over this one.
On overall defensive performance: I think it was good. For us today, we were on the field first. We got out there, we kicked the ball off and we were able to get out there and get our plays out of the way early. We did start fast; guys from the first whistle flew around… Guys played good football today.
On the team's response to tackle of Maurice Jones-Drew: You're going to need plays like that throughout the season. I think early on, watching Mike Jenkins come up on [Maurice] Jones-Drew in the flats, that got me fired up.
On coming out for a play in the first half: I tackled a guy and he just landed on top of me and knocked the wind out of me for a minute. It was one of those situations where you really don't know if I was going to catch a rib or something. I came out but it settled down so I went back into the game.
On if he feels the team is now onto something: We're on to playing good, hard football, that's all we can ask of everybody. I think today, for the most part, we did our jobs as a team collectively…and that's a step in the right direction.
On pregame introductions: I'm used to coming out near the Black Hole my first round with the Raiders, so it was fun coming out there, being the last guy and hearing the fans roar when they say your name. It was fun to get back out there in front of Raider Nation and it's especially good when you can get a win.
On playing in front of the Raider fans once again: It was fun. Come out and play good football, the fans are behind you. You make plays and they get loud and that just makes it all the more rewarding when your fans are yelling and screaming because they're happy about your performance. That was fun for us today.
LB Sio Moore
On stopping the Jacksonville run:It feels good because that's the first thing we addressed, I'm glad to see we stopped them early.
On starting the game fast: Well we wanted to come out and start fast, that was our biggest thing and really getting after them and stopping the run and making the team one dimensional. The biggest thing is making a team one-dimensional and we came out and executed.
On being able to bring different looks and blitzes: It's fun when you get to pin your ears back. Everybody came with a lot of energy.
S Usama Young
On the victory: It felt good, first off, to go out and get a win. Throughout the preseason that's what we've strived to do, get a win. Last week it felt like we should have come out with it. It's going to take a few plays and we made those plays today. Still close, but got that W, so it felt good.
On Tyvon Branch injury: It's tough, man. He's a great player. I talked to him at the half. You never want to see one of your guys go down. I'm going to hit him up as soon as I get up out of here; hopefully he's not too bad, but a player like that always hurts. He's been playing at a high level for a while and with that, somebody's got to step up.
On defensive style of play: We like to mix it up and keep the quarterback and everyone on the offense on their heels. With our defense we move around a lot, we've got a lot of pressures; we've got some guys that rush a lot, some guys back out in the zone, and people moving around. That often keeps them confused, so as a defense we like to have those moving pieces and then once the ball snaps they don't know where we're coming from.
