DE Justin Tuck blocks a Texans field goal attempt. Photo by Tony Gonzales
Sunday afternoon, the Raiders fell in their home opener to the Houston Texans 30-14* *at O.co Coliseum.
Following the game, Head Coach Dennis Allen spoke to the media. "I told the players in there just now, only people that can change it are the people in that locker room, coaches and players," said Coach Allen. "We've got to make a conscious decision that we want to get this thing changed."
Rookie QB Derek Carr provided a bright spot for the Raiders, completing 27-of-42 attempts for 263 yards in his first regular season game in front of the Black Hole. He also added 58 rushing yards.
During his postgame remarks, Carr assured Raider Nation that the team's mistakes would be fixed.
"We're going to get it right, I promise you that," Carr said. "We're going to fix things and I'm going to get better and we're going to get better as a team, I can promise you that."
Although the Raiders were defeated on Sunday, LaMarr Woodley is confident that the team can turn things around.
"I'm real confident in it. This is only the second game," he said. "We have to eliminate those things: pre-snap, post-snap penalties and missed tackles and quit giving up the big plays. In the last two weeks, we gave up some big plays and put ourselves in bad field positions."
Tarell Brown echoed the sentiment of his defensive teammate. "The good thing about this team, guys are going to keep fighting," Brown said. "It's still early. We're 0-2, but we're not hanging our heads. We've got a lot of work to do, get in and make a lot of corrections, but hopefully we can get it back on a roll."
Justin Tuck, who has seen a lot in his nine-year NFL career stressed that it's not time to panic in Oakland, but that the team must fix their errors in a timely fashion.
"I've been a part of a team to start 11-1 and didn't do anything and I've been a part of a team that started 0-2, gave up 80 points in the first two games, and needed a goal-line stand in the final seconds of the third game to win that game, and ended up winning the Super Bowl."
Tuck continued, "So it's no panic, but it has to be a sense of urgency. It has to be a button that you push that says we got to fix this and we got to fix this in a hurry."
Although back-to-back losses to begin the 2014 campaign is not ideal, the Raiders still have ample time to right the ship and get back in the win column.
The Raiders will be back in the facility tomorrow to dissect the film from today's game, and then will return to the practice field on Wednesday to begin their preparation for their Week 3 matchup against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
