HEAD COACH LOVIE SMITH
Opening Statement
"Another disappointing loss. There's no other way to put it. Another game that we had our opportunities. There are some good things happening behind the scenes that maybe don't show up in the win-loss column. The way we played offensively, I thought that was our most productive day as I said yesterday. The video said that. Running the ball, of course getting our passing game going. A lot of good things to like. We didn't finish still the way we would like to. Of course, the interception was big at the end, jumping offsides. But there were too many positives things that happened throughout. Defensively, I thought we played pretty good right up until the last drive of the first half. Giving up that touchdown pass gave them momentum. We never really recovered. Of course, the fourth quarter was really bad ball for us, which leads to a loss. We missed a field goal early on. I thought for the most part, special teams kind of hung in there. That's where we are. I would like to be talking of course on a win, but when you are disappointed, you like going into the division. This will be the last division opponent we haven't played, so we're excited about playing them. I think they have a four-game winning streak going right now. Both of our games last year were pretty competitive."
After reviewing the film, what did you see from QB Davis Mills?
"My comments have been that Davis Mills is getting better and better each week. I mean maybe we haven't thrown for 500 yards each week, but we've seen growth from him. That continues throughout. He made some tough throws yesterday. I liked his pocket presence, checking the ball down. Just keeping us in the game, what an NFL quarterback should do. I like the way he led us on the offensive side. We didn't play a complete game. Most quarterbacks in the NFL don't. We have some issues we need to clean up, but the quarterback position is not it."
Do you have any injury updates on WR Nico Collins and DL Maliek Collins?
"I normally wait until Wednesday to talk on those things. You can probably see why. If a guy goes down, it's not a good thing. We had some injuries in the game, those guys that you mentioned. When we get to Wednesday, I'll talk more about injuries then. I think that's probably fair."
How crucial are WR Nico Collins and DL Maliek Collins to those position groups?
"That's a better question I can answer. Both are important positions. Nico's (Collins) position of course, he has become more and more of what we are doing offensively. That production has been important for some of the growth we've made offensively. For Maliek (Collins), he's our three-technique. Everything starts up front at the defensive line. The engine of the defensive line is the three-technique position. Playing without him, I think he only had 10 plays yesterday, it hurt us a lot. You can trace some of the problems we had yesterday to a player like that not being out there."
Where did DL Jonathan Greenard sustain his injury?
"In practice."
How has the absence of DL Jonathan Greenard negatively impacted your pass rush?
"We talk about Maliek (Collins), he's our three-technique. Jonathan (Greenard) is one of our best defensive linemen, defensive end, rushing. It affects everything, of course pass rush. You need pash rushers to get pressure on the quarterback. You need defensive ends to play the run too. If those guys aren't unable to go, of course Jonathan wasn't able to go, we're not as good as football team without him, especially not as good as a defensive without him."
What do you think was the difference in this game was that allowed you to convert more third downs?
"I think we have to, like we normally do, start with the quarterback position. A lot of the things that's going wrong, we talk about that a little bit. Favorable third down situations too hasn't helped a little bit. Being more productive on first and second down has. Still, it comes down to in an ideal world, you want to be third-and-manageable. Gets to third down, you have to be able to convert on it. That does keep drives going. Yesterday, we were able to sustain and drive, third downs were part of it. All throughout, I thought we were in pretty good control. You get to third down and that's playmaker time too. Nico (Collins), Brandin (Cooks), guys have stepped up, Jordan Akins too. Our tight end (position) has really gotten involved and making plays for that also."
How do you explain the success that was found when OC Pep Hamilton's play call involved the three tight end look?
"Just looking at who do we need to get involved and we can lean a lot of different ways, three receivers, more. We've gone to our 22 package a little bit. That three tight end personnel grouping, looking at it from the defensive point of view, how do you play it? Third downs, how do you play it? Just in general, a lot of times if you keep based people on the field defensively, we think our matchup is a little bit better because Jordan Akins, Brevin (Jordan), those guys are listed as tight ends but their skill set's a little bit different. I think it's a package that we'll continue to grow. It can be good. We've had a little success with it. We look for ways to be successful, that's for sure."
What positives did you see from LB Christian Harris on film?
"First game for any athlete, any professional player, I thought we saw a lot of that. It got better and better. There are some flash plays that we really liked. I go back to when I initially started talked about all the rookies that play for their first time. We talked about flash plays, some plays to give us hope later on. We had a lot of those for Christian Harris yesterday. Liked a lot of things he did, like he will grade out on later on. Saw him running around, being aggressive, being physical, taking on lead blockers, a few tackles. You'd like to have a couple tackles back. Then, just blending into the game. We gave him a limited package this past week and hopefully we'll continue to grow that."
What did the Raiders offense do that prevented the defense from maintaining gap integrity?
"If we talk about gap integrity, it's the same thing each week. You have to have good gap integrity, gap discipline, in your gaps. If you don't, one person being not in it can cause you to give up an explosive run in that case. Did we had some of those yesterday, yes. I've also talked about if that happens, just not one wave of defense that we have. We don't play zero coverage. There should be a second line of defense that also broke down a few times yesterday too. That's what it was and a great running back. You have to give him credit. It's not the first good game (Josh) Jacobs has had. He's a good running back. A few of those runs are kind of unacceptable for us."
Even with the defense playing differently on that last drive, what did you see from RB Dare Ogunbowale?
"You're right, they're playing differently, but they had 11 guys over there that were trying to stop us from moving the ball down the field. I think you had to go on with what we saw. What we did see is production from Dare (Ogunbowale). He's been waiting patiently for his opportunity, and he got it yesterday. He had some flash plays that caught all of our attention a little bit. We believe and we go on what we see out there once a player gets an opportunity for a few more carries and he took advantage of his yesterday."
Do you feel like OL Tytus Howard held up against DL Maxx Crosby?
"Yes I did. As a said offensively for the most part, we had a lot of winning performances on the offensive side of the football. Starting up front, yes, Tytus (Howard), we knew going in who had the toughest chore, our tackles against their defensive ends. I thought both of them held up pretty good throughout. They gave. As we talk about some of the things our running back did, Dameon (Pierce) did yesterday, some of the plays that Davis (Mills) was able to make, it kind of started up front first. I thought that we had pretty good protection."
How much of yesterday's game was QB Derek Carr getting the ball out quickly or you not getting to the quarterback like you wanted to?
"That's an easy question for me to answer. We knew going in what kind of quarterback he was. I think he's one of the better ones who's playing. We knew that. He does get rid of the ball. It's about the pass rush always, no matter who you're playing on the other side. Our pass rush hasn't lately been exactly what we need it to be and we're looking for way to improve that. Losing two of you better players doesn't help that case. It's an opportunity for some of our other players to step up inside. We're talking about Jonathan (Greenard) on the outside. Our defensive ends, Jerry (Hughes) Mario (Addison), Ogbo (Ogbonnia Okoronkwo), Rasheem (Green), we had our defensive ends playing. I think it's the inside, the guys closest to the quarterback can affect them as much as anything, especially when he's getting the ball out, and that wasn't god enough yesterday."
On finding LB Christian Harris' fit on the defense within a deep linebacker group
"It's pretty simple on how we do it. Who are our best options that we feel like we can be successful with defensively? If we think he's one of them, we'll find ways for him to get on the field. I would say Christian Harris is one of those guys and we found a way to start the process yesterday. He didn't do anything yesterday that said we should give him less. To me, he did things that said give him more."
