As the Oakland Raiders get ready to head to Denver to face the Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, let's find out what the Orange Crush has to say about facing the Silver and Black.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR WADE PHILLIPS
"In honor of Star Wars, [Former Raiders CB] Lester Hayes before Super Bowl 18 declared that he was the only Jedi in the NFL and I think he was because he had like 13 interceptions. He played for the Raiders, went to Texas A&M and also Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, Texas. There's my guy."
CORNERBACK CHRIS HARRIS JR.
On if the Raiders offense is always a threat
"Oh, yeah. They can be streaky. That's something that you don't want to let them get hot, let them get confident and we try to stop that early in the first quarter. We try to get up early, be able to get up on them and shut that streakiness out."
On making sure to not overlook Oakland
"It's in the AFC West. We treat all of these games like a championship game. It's the same way that we approached San Diego. There's no let up here. We know that every game is a playoff game. If we want the playoffs to go through Denver, we know we have to win the rest."
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CORNERBACK AQIB TALIB**
On Raiders QB Derek Carr
"He had a lot of confidence the first time that we played him. There's not a lot of change. I think might have won one more game. I don't really know, but they're playing good as an offense and as team. They were playing good when we saw them the first time and they're continuing that. They're still playing good."
On facing Raiders WRs Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree
"They're good receivers. Good tandem receivers bring different stuff to the table. They're both good receivers and they're playing at a high level right now."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK
On what he's seen from Raiders QB Derek Carr in his second season
"You can tell he's obviously got a lot more snaps under his belt. He's been really big in some games this year. I don't know yardage-wise—I want to say maybe he's in the top six or seven guys throwing the ball as far as yardage goes. [He is] very capable, becoming a really good player. They spread the field. [Raiders Offensive Coordinator] Billy [Musgrave] is running basically the Philly stuff. They're all over the place. It creates a lot of matchup problems for us."
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RUNNING BACK C.J. ANDERSON**
On being motivated to play the Raiders
"It's the team I grew up on and the team that I liked and you have an opportunity to play them. They have a lot of history, it's good and it will be fun to play them this weekend."
On breaking out against Oakland last season
"I think I played them well at home last year, too. I'm just going to keep pushing it. You try to have a team that's your favorite to play and this is one of them."
On struggling to run the ball against Oakland in Week 5
"Yeah, that's on us, but I think we've gotten a lot better from there. I think that was the fourth or fifth week of the season. We were just learning the system and still trying to get it in. I think now we've executed the last few weeks better, so we should be fine."
QUARTERBACK BROCK OSWEILER
On if playing the Raiders at home will be a cool moment "Without question. You're talking about cool NFL moments. I think every day in the National Football League is a pretty cool day. I'm living my lifelong dream every single day no matter who I'm playing, whether we're out there practicing or in the weight room. To play the Oakland Raiders at home, obviously they're a very storied franchise. There's tons of history. Like I said, I'm expecting a great effort from them. They played us extremely tough last time. We were in a dog fight with them. I expect the same thing on Sunday and I'm sure the game will come down to the fourth quarter."
