The Oakland Raiders were in the office Monday to watch film on Sunday's loss to the Jets and begin correcting their mistakes in preparation for the home opener September 14 against the Houston Texans.
Head Coach Dennis Allen recapped his thoughts on the first game of the 2014 season. "What's frustrating and disappointing is that even though I don't believe we played as well as we're capable of playing, the fact that we had that game with a one-score game with about seven minutes to go in the game, we gave ourselves an opportunity to win," said Coach Allen. "What we've got to be able to do and really one of the reasons why we brought in a lot of these veteran players is to help us get over that hump because all these games, or at least the majority of these games in the National Football League, are close."
The Silver and Black wanted to return to Oakland Sunday night with a "W," but fell short 19-14. There's no panic in the locker room, however. "It's game one-of-16. Obviously we all wanted to start out on a positive note, but we've got to learn from that, we've got to move on from it and we've got to get ready for Houston," said Coach Allen.
After watching film, the players see the team's potential, but are keenly aware of their need for consistency. "When we go, I don't think there are too many people that can play with us. We dictate tempo. We scare offenses and we really can be great," said LB Sio Moore, who led the defense with 13 tackles (11 solo). "That's the biggest part of what you see on the film, and the second part is understanding we have to do that consistently, each and every play, myself as well. Mainly being able to do my part and take my part where I can always elevate my game to really come up with the play or the big play, and you see that the little details are the things that cost us."
The guys believe that with a few corrections, they are capable of getting to where they need to be. "It was a couple of mistakes," said WR Rod Streater. "We had to get depth on routes, just the little things cleaning up. I feel like we didn't execute to our level and that's really what got us trapped."
As much as it's important for the team to learn from Week 1, they have to shift gears quickly, put the last game behind them and move on to the next challenge. "We're beginning the phase of really looking at the Texans and what they're doing," said Coach Allen. "It's a new coaching staff there, so the schemes will be different than what they did last year. We recognize that they're a talented football team and we recognize that…J.J. Watt is one of the best defensive players in football, so we're going to have to have a plan for how we're going to be able to deal with him. But, there's a lot of other guys that they've got, talented guys around them, and they played pretty well in the game the other day."
The Raiders have a mandatory day off tomorrow and return to the practice field Wednesday.
