To borrow a phrase from The Shirelles, mama said there'd be days like this, or in the case of the Oakland Raiders, there would be nights like Sunday night.
With the bright lights of primetime shining down at FedExField, the Silver and Black took their first loss of the young 2017 season, falling to the Washington Redskins 27-10, in a game that was one sided for almost the duration of the 60-minute affair.
Head Coach Jack Del Rio said that his team "took one on the chin," Sunday night, while Derek Carr described the evening as a "punch in the mouth," but regardless of your metaphor of choice, the end result of the clash with the Redskins is that the Raiders now sit at 2-1 headed into Week 4.
Now, did Kirk Cousins and Co., get the best iteration of the Silver and Black Sunday night? Certainly not.
At night's end, the Raiders had totaled just 32 rushing yards, while Carr was held to just 118 passing yards, a pair of interceptions, and a modest quarterback rating of 52.9.
"We just got our butt kicked," said Carr postgame. "Hats off to Washington. They came out great. They played well and they got after us. There's no going around it. They played better than us and they won because of it."
Defensively, the Raiders defense had no answer for Kirk Cousins, who finished the game with 365 yards and a trio of touchdowns, as well as running back Chris Thompson who was not only effective on the ground, but was a dynamic playmaker in the passing game as well, hauling in six catches for 150 yards, and one of Cousins' aforementioned three touchdowns.
And while it was disappointing to fly back to the Bay Area on the heels of a loss, there were a few positives to take away from the Week 3 contest. Defensive end Khalil Mack was once again a force to be reckoned with, registering a sack for the second consecutive week, and the team's interior line – while they didn't bring Kirk Cousins down – made its impact felt from whistle to whistle.
That being said, a loss is still a loss, but the way in which the team lost could prove helpful to the Silver and Black down the road.
"Like Khalil [Mack] said, we got a little piece of humble pie, "defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. said. "We'd rather get that a little earlier, now, like I said we just go correct the mistakes, and we'll go out there and be ready to play on Sunday."
"Always good to get that kind of stuff early," added defensive tackle Justin Ellis. "We knew they were going to be a challenge, and they played well. We still have some things we need to fix, but it's always good to have that stuff happen early so we can learn from our mistakes, and I feel like we're going to go back in, go to the drawing board, and work hard at whatever it was, and get back on to the next team."
You have to short a memory in the NFL, in regards to both the good and the bad, but that memory might have to be even shorter this weekend as the Silver and Black will fly out to Denver Saturday afternoon to open division play against the Broncos.
Success in division games is always paramount for long-term success, so next week's game becomes all the more important, and after Sunday's loss against the Redskins, it'll go a long way in showing what the 2017 Raiders are made of.
"You never want something like this to happen obviously," Carr explained. "But you get punched in the mouth and you really get to find out what you're about. I've been through too much in my life to let this game bring me down or change what I do. And so it's definitely not going to change our team but it is a reminder of that any time, any day, anyone can get after your tail if you don't come in and show up."
