Raiders’ Progress Under Carroll Faces Crucial Challenge This Weekend

Q: Obviously, no Jayden Daniels, but on a trip like this, is it more about you guys rather than those guys? 

Head Coach Pete Carroll: "Well, we know what you guys know. We've read what you've read. We'll see what happens. If DQ [Dan Quinn] finalized it, I don't know that right now, but regardless, yeah, it doesn't change anything for us at all.

And we've talked about both guys playing all week long, and we've looked at film of both guys all week long, so that's what they're dealing with. Yeah, we have to get out there and get our game right and make sure everybody's got their head in the right direction, and we're going and playing a great football game. This is a winning football club. Danny's [Dan Quinn] turned it around in no time. Had a great season last year, and so, they've got a winning mentality, and they're going to be hard as heck at home. So, that's all. We need to go play our game. That's the challenge." 

Q: When you turn on the film, watching Marcus Mariota and this offense, how do you think that they utilized his talents?

Coach Carroll: "It looked very similar. The same play, same style. He's a runner. He's run all through his career. Jayden [Daniels] is a fantastic all-around athlete. Well, so is [Marcus] Mariota. So, we would think Marcus would do all of the same stuff as we've seen on film, from throwing the ball down the field to keeping it and all the rest and scrambling, all of that." 

Q: What challenges does someone like a Deebo Samuel Sr. present? 

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, Deebo [Samuel] -- we've played against Deebo for a lot of years and have great respect for his game. He's really physical. He's more physical than most players at that position, and they'll get the ball in his hands, they'll give him chances to do things. We know that that's going to happen, so we just have to be alert and make sure that we don't leave him unattended to. I have great respect for him because he's so physical, and he plays that way with great tempo and speed and all, so I got a lot of respect."