Defensive End Khalil Mack
The Oakland Raiders pulled out an impressive win over the Denver Broncos Sunday night, as they defeated their AFC West rival 30-20. Heading into the matchup the division foes both owned a 6-2 record, but the Silver and Black proved they're hungry to win. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was fired up Sunday night and Raider Nation certainly made its presence known. Following their defeat, members of the Broncos conveyed their thoughts about the outcome of the game.
Here's a look at what the opponents are saying.
Broncos Head Coach Gary Kubiak
**Kubiak paid his respects to the Raiders and commended them on an all-around solid performance.
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"First off, hats off to Jack [Del Rio] and the Raiders. They played extremely well tonight. They're a really good football team. For us personally, across the board, we weren't good enough. We lost the field position battle all night long. Special teams, offensive, got a horrible start, four three-and-outs. Then we made some big plays defensively. We played really good early in the game and then we gave up 220 plus yards rushing. That's the team not playing good enough to win and that's what I just told the players."
He shared that the Raiders are a good team across the board and are a tough opponent to face.
"There's a lot of football left to play, but we have to play a hell of a lot better when we play. That team's really, really good and we knew that coming in. We didn't find out tonight. We knew that coming in. They got a really good football team and we've got to improve ourselves."
Kubiak talked about the Raiders defense and how their pass rushers can present problems.
"Well, they're very athletic and like I said, their edges are what give you a lot of problems from an offensive standpoint and we needed to protect those edges and handle it. If you look at it from a pass protection standpoint our guys probably battled as good as they could battle going against those guys."
Cornerback Bradley Roby
Roby made it clear that the Broncos defense can't give up over 200 rushing yards and be successful.
"Like I said, they run the ball well anytime you can run the ball for over 200 yards, you control the game that's basically what they did and when they passed, we didn't do a great job tackling so we just have to get better at that."
Safety T.J. Ward
**Ward expressed that it was a tough loss for the team and that the team was outplayed.
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"Yeah it was a rough one. When you spend that much emotion and energy for a win, and you come out on the other end, it's tough but that's the league."
He stated that the team lost in all three phases of the game and weren't able to execute.
"We lost in all three phases. Coach told us offense, defense, special team, we didn't play good enough. When you don't play good enough as a team, you take L's."
Linebacker Demarcus Ware
Ware complimented Raiders quarterback Derek Carr for staying calm in the pocket and his ability to make plays.
"He's [Carr] a good quarterback. He played really well. He was stringing out plays. He made sure the offense was poised and making plays."
He doesn't believe the Raiders are a different team, but thinks they've grown as players and are more confident now.
"I think it is the same team, but the confidence has gone up. They are playing really well, and not doing the things that get them beat; penalties and turnovers, and the defense is playing really well. They're not turning the ball over."
**Quarterback Trevor Siemian
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Siemian gave credit to the Raiders for their performance Sunday night and thought they played well.
"Hats off to Oakland. I thought they did a heck of a job. We knew they had a bunch of great players across the board, so I thought they did a good job, played really well, and they definitely made more plays than us."
He talked about what it was like playing in front of Raider Nation and what the atmosphere was like.
"I think it was great energy. Obviously the crowd got up for this one, and we knew that going in, that they would be excited…but that's just something you've got to deal with on the road. I'm sure we'll have a few more games like that."
