What the Raiders had to say after their loss to the Falcons

Q: Was it a physical or mental loss on defense?

Coach Del Rio: "A lot of mental. A lot of mental, which I take full responsibility for. We have to make sure we're teaching it better and make sure our guys understand what we're asking them to do. Physically there are some situations there as well. The bottom line is it's nowhere near the standard that I expect us to play at. We'll need to get it rectified. There's no dancing around the subject. It's not near what it needs to be."

Q: What will the impact be from it taking a while to have the defense come together?

Coach Del Rio: "Well look, I think there's a lot of different things that will come of alibies and I'm not really in the mood to sit here and try to give any. I don't think that helps us be better. I think for us it's about recognizing. We need to get certain things done in order to be effective on defense. You have to consistently show that you're able to do that to play really good defense in this league. We've got out work to do. We've got work to do. That's what we'll do. We'll roll up our sleeves and get to work."

RAIDERS QB DEREK CARR

Q: How frustrating was today’s game?

Carr: "You know me, it's always frustrating to lose no matter how it looks. You know, whenever you can go out there and you feel like you're being efficient. Obviously, there are so many things I'm still remembering. Offensively, there are still things that we can do better. Anytime we lose—doesn't matter if we score 2 points or 50 points. Anytime you lose, it doesn't feel as good."

Q: How was the team’s performance throughout the game?

Carr: "I think that every game is different. It's always going to be something. You always want to come out fast and come out to win in the second half. You want to come out fast the first half and come out to win the second half. Sometimes you do both. Sometimes you do neither. Sometimes, you can do a good job and do one of them. I don't know. It's tough. It's a tough question for me to answer without seeing film. In my head, I just think that this game is so difficult. You want to do both, but sometimes it's hard to."

Q: Do you see yourself playing more “within yourself” in the future? In the 4th quarter, you were doing short pass, short pass, short pass instead of the long shot, what’s your thought process with those instincts?

Carr: "We've worked really hard. Obviously, they've worked really hard with me. Coach [Todd] Downing worked really hard with me to know when it's okay to do that. To know when it's better in the situation, what down gets it to them. Is it 2nd-and-5? Or is it 2nd-and-14? There's a whole bunch of little things going on in my head. I would say this year was different because during the game, I'm thinking more. It's not getting the call and thinking this is this route, this is my – now I get the call and it's like second nature. I think about other things, like the situation. I'm not saying I didn't last year, but it's easier this year. I think I know which coverage they play in certain situations; obviously I need to be ready for anything. But all those things are going through my head—numbers, percentages, what they're doing in the game, the flow of the game, and that's what's so different. When I get the call, it's just second nature to me now. I'm going out there and I'm just playing."

RAIDERS WR AMARI COOPER

Q: Do you feel like you were pushed out of bounds on the touchdown play that was called back?

Cooper: "To be honest, I'm not really clear on the rule. I know the college rule is if they push you out of bounds, you can come back in and catch the ball, but I think the NFL rule is it doesn't matter how you get out of bounds, you can't be the first one to touch the ball. That's what I think it is, I'm not really sure on that."

Q: How much of a momentum killer was that when they called it back?

Cooper: "You have to expect things like that in the game of football. Things aren't always going to go the way that you plan for them to go. So you just have to expect things like that."

Q: How frustrating is it to drop a game like this?

Cooper: "I mean, It's very frustrating, you never want to lose. But, we just have to go back to the drawing board, correct some of the things that we didn't do so well today and that's really it."

RAIDERS LB MALCOLM SMITH

Q: As a defense, you wanted to bounce back from last week’s game. It didn’t quite happen that way. Why do you think it’s taking some time to gel as a defense?

Smith: "I don't really have an answer. It just happens. Obviously we're making a lot of mistakes. There are things we have to fix. We have no choice."

Q: Over 1,000 yards of defense given up the last two games, I don’t know if you knew that.

Smith: "That's embarrassing. We have a lot of work to do. We have no choice, we have to get to work. I'm going to get to work to get it right. We have to do what we have to do."

Q: Their tight ends gave you guys some trouble. What do you think happened in those breakdowns?

Smith: "Just breakdowns. Communication, errors, things that are easily fixable that hopefully we take the next step."

RAIDERS LB BRUCE IRVIN

Q: What feels like the problem? What do you sense is going wrong in terms of the defense on tight ends?

Irvin: "I don't know, communication. We didn't play the defense we were taught. We're not on the same page and it's showing. We went from a bad performance to an even worse performance. It's up to the guys in this locker room to turn this around. If not, this is what we're going to get every week."

Q: Is it unexpected to be at this point? I’m sure you thought you’d be on the same page.

Irvin: "I'm speechless. I've never experienced this experience. Until everybody makes a full commitment to turning this thing around we're going to be a subpar defense, an average defense, below average defense."

Q: Are guys not buying in or is it just a matter of scheme?

Irvin: "I don't think it's scheme. This scheme has been proven, this scheme works. [Defensive coordinator Ken] Norton, Jack [Del Rio] have done everything they can. It's just up to us to make a commitment to really focus in and get this thing right."

RAIDERS TE CLIVE WALFORD

Q: What would you say about the team getting the tight ends involved early in this game?

Walford: "Yeah, we've been working hard, practicing every day and seeing what we can continue to get better at."

Q: Can you take us through the touchdown that you scored?

Walford: "Right before the play, Michael Crabtree and Carr [Derek] just told me that I need to make a play and that was the play I needed to make. Just the excitement made me throw the ball in the air."

Q: There is so much excitement and anticipation surrounding these Oakland Raiders. Did you see this performance coming from Matt Ryan and the Falcons?

Walford: "To be honest, not really because we feel like we can win every game. At the end of the day, that is a professional team just like us so we just got to go back to work tomorrow."

RAIDERS DE KHALIL MACK

Q: How do you summarize the struggles defensively?

Mack: "That game was on us, that game was on us defensively. Yeah, it was terrible today for us discipline-wise, Julio [Jones], deflections, everything worked in their favor today and we didn't do much to stop it."

Q: After allowing 1,000 yards through the first two games, why haven’t you been able to gel as a defense?

Mack: "1,000 yards…Being the leader of this defense, that hurts. But at the same time, the composure that you have to have at these times, it's going to be big for us. Getting ready for next week, got to get ready like our life depended on it."

Q: Does knowing the yardage you’ve allowed motivate you to be better?

Mack: "No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. That's not what you want to give up. The first two games, 1,000 yards? It sucks. But at the same time, we have to rally back and get the troops ready. We will be better."

Q: What happened in the second half?

Mack: "Just certain things. Eyes, playing with our eyes and discipline. They did things to manipulate what we saw and so, you have to be ready for those things. We're professionals, you know what I'm saying? It's what we get paid to do. That's not good enough."

Q: Is it surprising to have these troubles after the additions on a defense?

Mack: "You could say it's surprising because we work hard, we work hard on the defensive side of the ball. But, at the same time, when it comes to discipline, you can't really work on discipline as much as you…especially when those bullets are flying out there. No excuse is being made, we have to be better and we will be better next game."

Q: Are teams doing more to take you out of the game?

Mack: "It's football. (Play action) boots and running the ball, screens, cuts, it's all football. It's basic football, they beat us playing basic football. That's not good enough."

Q: What can you do to have one of those impact games you’ve had in the past?

Mack: "What I was talking about, just start playing with discipline, stopping the run first, playing with better technique, all those different things and then letting the game open up from there on. Then, making them beat you throwing the ball is when you can be effective."

Q: What would be an example of the problems with discipline?

Mack: "For example, myself. Playing the boot instead of playing the cut on the run, playing it to the tight end instead of going around him, different things of that nature. Just things to open up the offense and letting them get into the flow of things. We didn't make them feel uncomfortable at all today."

Q: Can you see how personally Head Coach Jack Del Rio is taking the defensive struggles?

Mack: "I've taken it way more personally than him, because this my defense and it's a shame. It's a hurtful feeling, but at the same time, you have to rally. You have to rally and you have to use this motivation."

Q: Is it back to the drawing board to correct the mistakes?

Mack: "No doubt, no doubt. Watching the film, correcting them and giving this offense a short field. Getting the ball, getting turnovers, TFL's (tackles for loss) and all those things that we're good at."

Q: With the struggles on one side of the ball and not the other, does it feel similar to last year?

Mack: "Yeah, you could say it's a little bit of that. But, it's a new season and we have new faces, we have new guys and we have to rally. We have to rally. We have to take blows on the chin and get ready for next week."

Q: What can you learn from last year?

Mack: "You can learn a lot from last year. This is a new year and we're looking forward to getting better. It's a new team, a different team. Offensively, they're doing everything right. We just have to rally defensively, immediately."

Q: They had two big plays including a deflection that didn’t go in your favor, are there some days that just don’t feel like it’s going your way?

Mack: "Yeah, those are things that can't happen. But at the same time, all the big plays that we did give up technique wise and doing the wrong things, it can't happen."