‘Not a game of what-ifs.’ Josh McDaniels on Raiders’ Week 1 loss; Davante Adams upbeat
The Raiders wasted plenty of chances to come away with a season-opening win against the Chargers on Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadum.
Mistakes happened, including crucial turnovers.
Still, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said there was “a lot to be learned.”
“In every phase, no question about it,” he said Monday. “I thought we had a chance to punt block, which we just missed, but those are things that happened. This game is not a game of what-ifs, it’s a game of what happened. We’re going to learn from those things today.”
The Raiders trailed the Chargers 17-3 going into halftime, but responded in the second half with a touchdown and had a chance to take the lead before Derek Carr was sacked and fumbled on fourth down, ending any chances for a victory.
McDaniels said he planned to talk to the team Monday and go over some of what hurt the team before Las Vegas prepares to face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 at Allegiant Stadium.
“We’re going to learn a lot from this,” he said. “There’s some hidden opportunities within possessions offensively and defensively to create a different situation. What I mean by that is if you have a second-and-3 play, you might have executed that play a little bit better and maybe first-and-10 because you gained 8 or 12 or 15 yards instead of third-and-3. There’s a lot of those that happened yesterday where we ended up in a situation that could’ve been prevented had we had more success earlier or the defense done a better job of stopping them in certain situations.
“We’ll try to fix all of it, certainly. There’s nothing more important than taking care of the ball, there’s no question about it.”
Davante Adams finds positives
Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams said he was encouraged despite Sunday’s loss.
“I look at it as something that is encouraging because we beat ourselves today, really,” said Adams, who finished with 10 receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown in his first game for Las Vegas following an offseason trade. “That’s not to take anything away from (the Chargers). That’s a really good team. They did a lot of good things today, but when you turn the ball over the way we did and you give yourself an opportunity to go down and win, it says a lot about you as a team, fighting through adversity, and our defense did their thing in the second half.
“We just got to find a way to take care of the ball a little bit better and go down there and win. I look at it as something we can feed off moving forward and try to keep it as positive as possible.”
Carr was sacked five times and threw three interceptions, including one on a pass that was intended for Adams at the 2-yard line but instead was picked off by Asante Samuel.
Adams said he could’ve helped Carr on that throw.
“I definitely could’ve made a better play,” he said. “I kind of wanted to wait and let it drop into the basket. That guy made a great play. He kind of fell off the corner late and ran back there that quick. He made a good play, but I could’ve helped Derek out on that for sure coming back to it. I thought he bumped into me a little bit, but I felt I could’ve come back to the ball a little bit better.
“Can’t let opportunities like that slip away. We’ve got to maximize those. All camp we have. I felt really good about it. Definitely a lot I could’ve done on that play to prevent that.”
The Raiders had plenty of other chances. Josh Jacobs slipped on one play near the goal line and the Raiders had to settle for three points.
Las Vegas was moving the ball down the field with 1:38 left in the first half, but Carr was picked off by Duke Tranquill at the Raiders 25 on a pass intended for Darren Waller.
The Chargers ended up scoring a touchdown before the half for a 17-3 lead.
Adams said he’s looking forward to building off the loss to the Chargers.
“We’re not really trying to take any moral victories out of it,” he said. “We did a lot of good things out there. A lot of good stuff to build off of, but we did fall short. Winning is the goal in this league and for this team specifically. We got to tighten up and get ready to play next week.”
Latest injury report
Raiders center Andre James was taken to a local hospital for a concussion, the team said Sunday, and there wasn’t much more information on him or other injuries a day later.
James was alert and talking in the locker room while wearing sunglasses and smiling. He was injured when he was hit in the head on a dive by Joey Bosa, who attempted to recover a Carr fumble on a strip-sack by Khalil Mack on the Raiders’ final play.
He returned to Las Vegas, McDaniels said Monday. He said he hasn’t spoken to the trainer on the extent of injuries to other players.
Also hurt were safety Tre’von Moehrig (hip), cornerback Anthony Averett (thumb), linebacker Denzel Perryman (ankle), running back Brandon Bolden (hamstring) and wide receiver DJ Turner (ankle).
Averett is reportedly going to have surgery, likely missing a month.
Raiders add cornerbacks
The Raiders claimed cornerback Javelin Guidry off the waiver wire from the Cardinals, the NFL Network reported.
In addition, the Raiders will sign cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman, according to Pro Football Network.
He came into the NFL as an undrafted free agent and signed with the Buffalo Bills. He also played for the Los Angeles Rams and has six career interceptions.
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 6:42 PM.
