To sum up the emotions in the Raiders locker room following their 19-14 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars: Gratefulness.
It’s been 84 calendar days since their last win in Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns, now snapping a 10-game drought in front of their home crowd. While dealing through the adversity of injuries, coaching changes and lackluster performances over the last three months, it’s brought the locker room closer.
“Long overdue,” Head Coach Antonio Pierce said postgame. “Good to see all those smiling faces from our players, our staff, everyone involved in our organization. Obviously, you don’t want to go through what we went through over the last 10 weeks, but that’s behind us.
“I thought it was a great win. Great job,” he added. “Our home crowd, thought they were very loud, active. That was positive, for our defense especially. … Very proud of this group being resilient, blocking out the outside noise and playing for one another.”
It was an all-around team effort with the offense and the defense complementing one another well. Aidan O’Connell went 24-of-38 with 257 passing yards and a career-high 12 rushing yards after missing the previous game with a knee injury. It was also the offense’s first game this season without a single turnover.
“I think guys just appreciate more than ever how hard it is to win,” O’Connell said. “Definitely weight off the shoulders for sure. It was just fun to see the smiles again. … Super proud of our coaches, administration, players for just doing a great job.”