Raiders leaders seek professionalism in final 8 games
ALAMEDA, Calif. — It all began in April when the Raiders first reported to spring workouts. Optimism exuded from club headquarters, as it does across the NFL that time of year. Players met coach Jon Gruden. They familiarized themselves with new coordinators, assistants and the strength and conditioning department.
Then, together, they worked.
Workouts, meetings and practices. Cold tubs, massages and stretching. Minicamp, training camp and the preseason.
Now, here they are.
The Raiders’ past efforts are not reflected in today’s 1-7 record. Moving forward, their challenge is to ensure that — in a building full of varying personalities — today’s record is not reflected in future efforts. Such is the mentality team leaders say is required to finish the 2018 campaign in proper fashion.
This season must end as the offseason began. Eight more games unto the breach.
“These are the times that I make my two sons proud, my two daughters proud and my wife proud,” tight end Lee Smith said Thursday. “I show my family and my teammates how to be a true pro and handle adversity. It’s easy to be positive when you’re winning every day. I promise you I’ll get a lot more pride in the back porch of my farm one of these days, knowing that hopefully I showed some young guys how to be true pros compared to how to act when everything was great.
“Hopefully, a couple of these young players watch some of us guys that stay positive and keep coming to work and doing our job every day.”
This, of course, is not the scenario for which the Raiders hoped.
Their season arguably reached a low point Thursday evening in a 34-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California. They surrendered eight sacks, one more than their defense has accumulated all season. Niners quarterback Nick Mullens, a 2017 undrafted free agent, excelled in his league debut. The Niners left the onslaught with a meager 2-7 record.
The Raiders and New York Giants remain the league’s only one-win teams. For players, this all must be immaterial.
“We’ve got to show up to work every day and stick to the routine,” said center Rodney Hudson, a team captain. “Keep working hard and trying to improve. That’s all we can do.”
Quarterback Derek Carr said he’s looking for that “dog inside” teammates. He intentionally kept quiet in the locker room after Thursday’s embarrassment on national television, eager to hear how teammates responded.
He heard some of the passion he desires.
“I’ve got some guys I want to put in the foxhole with me,” said Carr, a captain. “You know what I mean? And there’s a lot of them. So we got to make sure going forward, when I look at each man in the eye, I tell them before the game that they’re going to get everything that I have. I yell at our guys: ‘You’re going to get everything I got.’ That’s not a thing, and I want to make sure when I look in everybody’s eyes, that’s the same thing.
“I think going forward, we build that trust and see who really wants to be a part of this. You see who really wants to be here. Who really wants to turn this thing around? Who really wants to do the hard things that nobody else wants to do? It’s easy to say, ‘Mmm, I’ll go do it somewhere else.’ That’s easy. … I think that, going forward, we find out who’s a Raider.”
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Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.
