Notable Quotables - Raiders at Panthers

[Jeremy Igo]

Here are a few quotes of note from yesterday's press conferences. 

Matt Rhule

On the offensive coaching decisions on 4th-and-1 near the end of game

Quote

It was half a yard. Same play they had run earlier on 3rd-and-one or 4th-and-one and just thought to run the ball behind our offensive line and get half a yard. felt like we had the ability to do that. In terms of what broke down on the field, it looked like someone knifed it and, in that situation, obviously, you are hoping you reach the ball across and find a way and just didn’t find a way. [It was a] disappointing end to that to have two downs and 3rd and four and two downs to get it and obviously not getting it. That’s just the way it went down.

My Take: This is a learning opportunity for Matt Rhule and Joe Brady. He seems to think getting a half of a yard on a NFL fourth down is an easy thing to do. Give it to the fullback and you automatically get a yard, right? Not in this league, baby. 

 

On Teddy Bridgewater's Performance

Quote

I thought Teddy was excellent. [He] protected the football, [he] brought us back when we were down 12 there, in the fourth quarter brought us back and took the lead. [He] ran the football which I thought he was fearless with running the football. [He] didn’t take a lot of bad sacks. Even with starting the second half, what was disappointing for me was starting with two three-and-outs and penalties obviously hurt us at the start of the second half. I thought he was the guy who got us going. I thought he excelled in the two-minute drive at the end of the first half and I wish we had gotten him the 4th-and-one so he could have taken us down and won the game at the end. 

My Take: Rhule is clearly pleased with the performance of his starting quarterback as am I. 30 points with no turnovers should be a win in this league provided some semblance of a NFL defense. 

 

On the Panthers Defense

Quote

I think we had a hard time on third down. There were so many third and shorts and I think that just goes back to their ability to run the football and then at the same time get the ball on the perimeters and screens. There wasn’t a lot of drop-back passes. There were some play actions that hurt us on specific plays but there wasn’t a lot of drop-back passes. There was a lot more run the ball and get the ball to the perimeter. We knew going in and going back to all my press conferences all week, I think I said that would be the game with their big powerful front. I think the drives where we had success, we stopped them on first down and had them at second and long. [We] just weren’t able to do that enough to have a better day.

My Take: Sounds right. The Raiders didn't need to do anything creative to run the ball on the Panthers. Just line up their hulking offensive line and go at them. Once all the attention shifts to stopping interior runs hit them with a screen pass. Hopefully we get stronger here as the season continues, but I am not holding my breath. 

 

Teddy Bridgewater

What he learned about the team today

Quote

I learned that we have a group of guys who will continue to fight and it’s a group where you always try to get a feel for your team and it’s a group of new guys. You watch guys on the sideline when things don’t go well and no one is dropping their heads, everyone has their chin up high and with that what’s next mentality. It is a group of guys who just fight, have that underdog mentality and I’m just excited that we have this group, a group that is going to continue to just get better each week throughout this league.

My Take: The "what's next" mentality is something this young team will absolutely have. They cannot get down on themselves for struggling, that has always been expected. Continue to improve, do not make the same mistakes over again. That is all what we fans can ask. 

On his 75 yard touchdown pass to Robbie Anderson

Quote

It was just a great call man. We saw something early in the game and we knew coming into this game that we could get a good shot at just getting that play up and when we called it, we had the perfect matchup. Robbie (Anderson) did get a good job of just setting up the route and then also Ian, Ian Thomas did a good job of holding the safety for a split second so he couldn't get over there fast enough and Robbie just did the rest. The line protected, I threw the ball to a spot, Robbie was able to peek the safety before he caught the ball to protect himself and the rest, you know was a touchdown. So just a great call, great execution by our offense.

My Take: Robby Anderson was the best wide receiver on the field yesterday. Nice shout out to Ian Thomas here who has improved in some of the finer points of the game. Just a fun play all around, hopefully we see more in week 2. 

 

[The Huddler]

We will be 1-1 after next Sunday. 

 

this was our "warm up". 

[ForJimmy]

I think Paradis might be our weakest offensive lineman. We probably shouldn’t count on him with the game on the line. I get that it’s the shortest distance to the first down, but so did the defense. As long as Rhule learns from it, I’m good. It was fun to see our young team stay in the game. I hope our defense gets better and our offense builds some chemistry.

[kungfoodude]

Rhule's press conferences are a breath of fresh air after Fox and Rivera. Accountability, not throwing players under the bus, etc.

C+ game for us overall but no real struggles that any realistic fan didn't expect. Didn't see anything worth jumping for joy nor anything worth jumping off a cliff. 

Looking forward to seeing our pass rush show up next weal against a weak OL and a sack prone offensive system.