Big opportunity for Las Vegas in Week 4
Week 3 wasn’t great for many aspects of the Las Vegas Raiders. The 36-22 home loss to the Carolina Panthers was rough on everyone, including the strength of the team, their vaunted defensive line.
But this is a new week and the Raiders’ defensive line has a chance to get right when they host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Kickoff is at 1:25 p.m. PT.
The Browns’ offensive line is in disarray with multiple injuries. Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins and the crew has a chance to eat Sunday. Wilkins said the unit will be ready.
“We’ll be all focused and all business on the Brown,” Wilkins said. So, that’s the approach we got to take and just really learn from it and watch the game with critical eyes. Each person has to look inward, when you win, lose or draw, you got to do that. You want to be able to get the result you want each week, so we’re going to have to do that moving forward.”
Wilkins said the Raiders simply must move forward from the stinker against the Panthers.
“It was definitely disappointing. Home opener. I felt like we put in a good week of prep, and we didn’t get the result we wanted,” Wilkins said. “I don’t feel like we played to our best abilities, of course, so obviously, just disappointing.”
Wilkins said the key to bouncing back from a loss like the one to Carolina is to watch the film and be honest about it and try to learn from the awful experience.
“Well, if you want to get better, and if you want to improve as individuals, and ultimately as a team, then you got to watch it with a critical eye,” Wilkins said. “Being grown men about it. This is a grown man’s business. It’s professional football. That’s the only way you can improve. Watch it. Be critical. Understand what your job is. Understand what you have to do better moving forward because this isn’t the time to get upset or shy away from it. This is the time to embrace those things because anything worth having is worth fighting for. As tough as it is after a loss, or after a bad game, you got to take it on the chin and just suck it up and just be better moving forward.”
And there is a great opportunity to get better against Cleveland and its broken offensive line.