Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll (Post-Game Transcript)

On whether there was a breaking point for the team during the game:

“I don’t sense that at all. I don’t think there was that issue. I think we got beat. This is a very, very well loaded team and they just did their thing today on both sides of the ball and they really took it to us. We couldn’t stop the offense and get off the field, go down, get in their way, and they were able to do what they needed to do. They ran for a bunch and they threw really highly efficient stuff. Wasn’t taxing to them, [we] couldn’t make it hard on them, and we couldn’t get out of the way on offense. So those third downs and all that, I don’t think it’s some big psych change that took place. I think we just got whipped by a really loaded football team that, on this day, had their way.”

On if games like today show how far the team is to becoming a competitive football team:

“I don’t know that answer. I don’t know.”

On if the team is competitive considering they’ve had only two wins:

“These guys, these guys fought their [tails] off. Let me address that because you brought it up. They fought their [tails] off. That was the result. They didn’t stop fighting. That was the result of our play right there. I have a lot of respect for the roster we just played against and maybe they didn’t look like it in the last couple of weeks or whatever, but they played like they were capable and we couldn’t stop [them]. So that’s what I saw.”

On what he thinks is going on with the team:

“I would never think – what would I base that thought on? That we would be really fighting for our life here? I had nothing but wins, background, history and all of that to set our expectations and to maintain the standards that we work by. That’s what we’re doing. We’re still doing that. We’re still practicing hard, we’re still working hard, we’re still studying hard. The guys are giving good effort. They’re in the weight room, they’re fighting their tails off. The only good thing that happened, we didn’t have anybody hurt today. But they’re doing all we’re asking of them and this is the result against the world champs last year who maybe weren’t playing quite like that for a month here or whatever, but they looked like it today. It looked like a great team today.”

On his thoughts of Raiders QB Kenny Pickett’s performance today:

“It was hard. It was hard on him. I thought he was trying to find his way to just get some completions. He tried to run a little bit, then he missed a couple. We got pushed in the pocket a few times, too, where he got in trouble. I thought he competed but he just didn’t have much going on. We need to run the football if anything going on, and we weren’t able to get that done.”

On if he feels pressure based on how the season is going:

“There’s so much pressure that comes right from here. I mean, if you could even imagine. Nobody can pressure me more than myself. My expectations and the standards that I’ve lived by and work by are so high that they’re almost impossible to meet. But, that’s still the way I know how to live and still the way I know how to coach.”

On if the lack of a running game is the biggest disappointment:

“Yeah, our inability to just get the ball moving where we have some kind of substance of a run game to play off of. When you don’t convert on third down, you just don’t get the chances. I mean, we said this. Unfortunately guys, it’s the same kind of story. That’s the result of what happens with us trying to move the football. The games kind of pattern themselves and it’s not hard to see that. There’s no mystery there.”