Everything Pete Carroll Had to Say About Raiders' Loss to Jaguars

On Geno Smith coming alive in the fourth quarter and with Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty… 

Coach Carroll: "This is what we've been missing, it can't be more obvious. You can see Brock [Bowers] is such a good football player. This is what we watched all summer-long and offseason, those guys hooking up. It just makes everything better. You have a go-to guy. I thought Geno [Smith] played a great football game today.

He played excellently under the pressure of it and trying to finish it. Like you said, 9-9 in the fourth quarter, that's what we know. The things that we saw earlier in the year when we were trying to patch together just didn't seem like that was the character of the team that we would be. I think this is a glimpse of what our future is about. Let's see if we can't get this thing rolling." 

On changes he is expecting with the trade deadline approaching... 

Coach Carroll: "The answer is, 'We always compete.’ We compete at every turn, and there's a chance coming up for the deadline hitting. Maybe there's something there. It doesn't seem like a lot going right now, but we're listening. Johnny [John Spytek] is competing like crazy with his guys to find out any opportunity that's there. You're either competing or you're not, simple as that." 

On the struggles defensively on third downs… 

Coach Carroll: "Well, count up how many third and ones they had. Was it four of them? It just like blankets that don't fit. They had three sneaks or something like that, and they had a couple fourth down sneaks as well. They did a really good job there, but the point is getting out of those short yard situations. 

“That happened again to us. I think we talked about that last time out that you've got to stay out of those situations, and that we have to be better on second down so that doesn't happen. We went into this with that thought, and we didn't get that accomplished. It was directly addressed. We went after it, and we weren't able to make it happen. That's a whole lot different than third and sixes and sevens and eights. The numbers can kind of mislead you a little bit." 

On whether the team is still figuring out the return game with the new rules... 

Coach Carroll: "I don't know that they're figuring it out any differently. It's just they're kind of taking advantage of what the format is. You get the guy on the 26-yard line everybody is high-fiving and jumping up and down and going crazy. It's different. It's a different part of the game. Giving them the ball to start on the 40-yard line, particularly with a kicker like this, it doesn't take much. Defense got off the field in that instance, but it is different in the game. It really does feel different, and it's a good opportunity. I don't think it's bad. I just think it's different. I would always go back to the old way. I like the guys racing downfield for 60 yards, but this is a different format."