Defensive End Khalil Mack
The Oakland Raiders gutted out a challenging win on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 30-24 victory was the team's sixth victory of the season, and the fifth win on the road keeping them still undefeated away from home. Quarterback Derek Carr broke a franchise record on Sunday for the most passing yards in a single-game, and wide receiver Amari Cooper participated in the festivities as well with a career-high 173 yards receiving. Following the loss to the Silver and Black, here's what the opponents had to say.
Buccaneers Head Coach Dirk Koetter
Koetter shared his thoughts on the game's outcome and how the Raiders performed.
"Hard-fought game. We weren't quite good enough today. The Raiders have a good football team. Our guys played hard, but we weren't good enough today. Those kind of hurt. We had our chances and couldn't capitalize. Our defense was on the field way too long. We couldn't do enough offensively to keep them off the field. That hurt us. We can't put our defense out there that long."
**He discussed what he thought kept the team from being successful.
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"I thought our 'D' was out on the field too long, No. 1.and then No. 2, we played some bend but don't break. Those are two really good wide receivers. We said all week, a quarterback who gets the ball out [fast]. We couldn't get enough pressure. He finds those guys and they do a good job catching it."
Koetter praised Carr for his impressive outing and thought he was in control.
"I thought he was outstanding, I thought he was outstanding. Ball on the money. That was a tough wind out there today. He spins it tight. He played lights out."
Quarterback Jameis Winston
Winston broke down the Raiders defense and simply put that his team didn't play well enough to win.
"No, nothing was different. They just played well. That's a good defense. They lead the NFL in road wins. They squeezed one out. That was one of our 'Musts.' We've got to out-finish those guys. They have a great offense. They played well. I feel like we played well. We played a great team game. We just came up short."
Wide Receiver Mike Evans
Evans talked about how the Raiders defense held him in check on Sunday.
"They doubled me a lot – I was expecting it, but not in the field, more in the red zone. But they were doubling me a lot."
He expressed his disappointment in the loss, but commended the Raiders for battling till the end.
"I can't. I mean, I hate losing, my teammates hate losing and it was that close. We thought we had it won and they snuck it from us. Great game by them, but it hurts really, really bad. That's the only thing I can say."
**Evans acknowledged the amount of Raiders penalties, but stated they still retained possession the majority of the time.
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"They had the ball a lot too, though. They had the ball for a long time. They have a really great offense and we did our defense a disservice for all the three-and-outs that we had."
Defensive Tackle Akeem Spence
Spence didn't think the Bucs defense was successful when it came to pressuring Carr.
"Yeah, man. We definitely up front, we wanted to get more pressure, get in his face, but the way they protected – six-man, a lot of seven-man made it hard on us. We had a lot of double-doubles inside and some of the outside guys had doubles as well, so we've just got to find a way."
