Wide Receiver Amari Cooper & Linebacker NaVorro Bowman
Wednesday afternoon, Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper and linebacker NaVorro Bowman met with the media to discuss the week at hand. While their attention is focused on the upcoming primetime game with the Miami Dolphins, they also reflected on other aspects of the season, including last week's loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Here are the quick hits from their media session:
**Linebacker NaVorro Bowman:
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Bowman commended second-year linebacker Cory James for how he played against the Bills.
"He can play. He definitely got out there and made some plays. He's a guy that wants to listen and learn. He's always asking questions. For us to be good, the transparency has to be there. We have to be on the same page. He's a good fit."
He shared what the issue was with stopping the run in Buffalo.
"I think we got out of our gaps a couple of times, not trusting the scheme. As you can see, if you do that, teams are going to run the ball on you. Coach has been harping on it today, making sure we're all on the same page. I look forward to our run defense being better."
Bowman talked about how the team finds its groove once again.
"Just be yourself. Don't think too much. This is a great group of guys who know how to play the game of football. Sometimes in the NFL, you do one thing outside of the exact scheme, you can hurt your team. Getting our mojo back just means honing in, locking in, focusing and go out there on Sunday and play Raider football."
Wide Receiver Amari Cooper:
He shared how finding the fine line between attacking too much, and taking what the defense gives you, can be difficult.
"As an offense, you want to attack, you want to be dominant, so you really want to have that mentality that you want to go out there and take what you want. But at the same time, you don't ever really want to make things too hard, so if something is there, you should want to take it. I don't know. I don't know where to draw that line, but that's a good question."
No. 89 is aware of the fact that it will take a big surge from the team to get back in playoff contention.
"Yeah, of course. If you just look at the numbers, you pretty much have to get 10 wins to get into the playoffs, sometimes more than that. So where we're sitting at now, we can only possibly get 11 wins, so of course we're going to have to stack up these wins."
