After taking a beating in Buffalo Sunday, the Raiders are spending the week in Florida rather than flying back to the West Coast.
And while they’re there, they’ll be looking for their “mojo.”
Via Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Raiders coach made it clear his team was missing its swagger; as they limped to the halfway point of the season at 3-5, well off the expectations.
“I know what a Raiders football team that I envisioned having,” head coach Jack Del Rio said. “We’re not playing like that – what my vision is. We’re not playing like that right now. We need to be more physical up front offensively and defensively. We need to be playmakers aggressively going for the ball, competing. That’s what I’m looking for. That’s what we’re looking to get this second half.”
Their problem is, it gets harder from here. Five of their last eight games are against teams with winning records at the moment, including games with the division-leading Patriots, Chiefs, and Eagles. So while there’s still time, the clock is certainly ticking.
“We’re just not that far away, but we have to get it going,” Del Rio said. “It’s past time, really. The second half is here and we’ve got some ground to cover. We’ve got some ground to make up. We have to get busy. The urgency, the attention to detail, is going to be heightened.”
Perhaps being sequestered at the Florida training facility will help, as they have nothing to do but focus inward this week. But the results need to start showing soon.