In the latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we take you inside the locker room and how it impacts this weekend, the QB situation, and much more.
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00:00 Let's get it.
00:00 - Hi everybody.
00:03 Welcome back to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation,
00:05 Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:07 I'm your Raiders beat writer, Hondo Carpenter.
00:09 This guy right here is my assistant beat writer,
00:12 the great Zeke Trezevant.
00:13 Man, I wish you guys could hear our conversations off air.
00:17 Man, we have a good time.
00:18 - It's a great time every time, Hondo.
00:20 - You're a great guy.
00:21 I love working with you, Zeke.
00:22 All right, let's dig into it a little bit.
00:24 So Monday, I put out there the plan is to start
00:29 Dayton O'Connell.
00:30 Now, not revealing sources, but I always tell you.
00:35 - Yes.
00:36 - Not always, but I usually do.
00:39 My source is pretty good on that.
00:42 Would you not agree?
00:43 - I agree, 100%.
00:46 - They know, and then all of a sudden,
00:48 things begin to change.
00:52 And Tuesday, I told everybody, hey,
00:55 that's not so sure anymore.
00:56 The plans change, and plans do change.
00:59 - Yeah.
00:59 - And here we go.
01:01 It's going to be a great weekend in Chicago.
01:03 It's going to be a great game for the Raiders.
01:05 I think it's a get right game.
01:07 I think they're going to have their best
01:09 offensive production.
01:10 I'm expecting a big defensive production.
01:13 To me, this is going to be a Raider weekend,
01:16 a good one for the Silver and Black.
01:17 Your quick thoughts on just the whole situation.
01:22 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:23 So I think for me, it was interesting to kind of
01:25 sit back and watch this week as, I'll be honest,
01:27 I thought it was gamesmanship by Josh McDaniels
01:31 the whole week.
01:31 I fell head deep into trying to figure out
01:35 who was going to start and tried to pick up
01:37 everywhere I could, which way he was leaning.
01:39 But like you said, I went into today believing that
01:43 still it would be Aiden.
01:44 - You went into Friday, 'cause this is Friday night,
01:47 and this airs Saturday morning.
01:49 - Went into, yes sir, went into Friday
01:51 thinking that it was going to be Aiden.
01:53 And then practice today, and practice today happened,
01:55 and it was like, wait, am I seeing Brian Hoyer
01:58 get most of quote unquote the first team reps
02:01 in the brief time that we watched?
02:02 And that's what it looked like.
02:03 So to hear that report that now Brian is starting,
02:07 sounds about right.
02:08 Throw the veteran out there, and you kind of go there.
02:10 In terms of the game itself, yes, this is a game
02:12 that the Raiders should win.
02:14 It's there for the taking.
02:17 And I think this is the game that everybody,
02:19 Raider Nation, the Raider team,
02:20 everybody has been waiting for.
02:22 They have to get it going.
02:23 - I want to get into a subject that I had talked about
02:26 earlier in the week,
02:26 but I want to get into it more with you.
02:28 You and I were hanging out in the locker room
02:29 with Sam Gordon from the Review Journal,
02:31 and we were just talking about the mood of the locker room.
02:34 And it was not, when you use this term,
02:39 people think it means laissez faire, I don't care.
02:43 Very light hearted, in the four years
02:45 that I've been covering the Raiders,
02:46 that is the lightest I've seen the locker room.
02:49 These guys are confident, they're working hard.
02:53 I mean, people are going to believe whatever they want,
02:55 but there's no quitting this crew and they're fired up.
02:58 You saw it, Sam saw it, I saw it in my four years.
03:01 I'm not seeing it at LA.
03:03 It was an interesting locker room, wasn't it?
03:05 - It was a vibe, as people in my generation would say.
03:08 The guys were loose, but again, they were focused.
03:11 I think-
03:12 - I've been hanging around you.
03:14 Would your generation say 100?
03:17 - Listen, some of us do.
03:20 That might be a more so of me thing,
03:21 but yes, that is definitely in my generation.
03:24 100, H-U-N-N-I-D, okay?
03:27 And you still got to get the hoodie for your show as well.
03:31 - Yeah, Hondo in a hoodie?
03:32 - Yeah.
03:33 - But by the way, at least you had taught me well,
03:38 it's not 50 cent, it's 50 cent.
03:41 - 50, F-I-D-D-Y.
03:43 Don't get me started, Hondo, don't get me started.
03:47 Where were we, Hondo?
03:48 I'm sorry, where were we?
03:49 I had to hire you as my pop culture interpreter.
03:52 You teach me.
03:53 - I'm multifaceted.
03:55 I'm multifaceted.
03:56 I'm here to help out however I can.
03:58 I'm sorry.
03:59 - You know what's funny?
04:00 - Where were we, Hondo?
04:01 - You are about half my son's age, my son that just graded.
04:06 How old are you?
04:07 - 34.
04:08 - That's what I thought, and my son's 18.
04:10 So it's great.
04:11 You're kind of my bridge to my son,
04:13 'cause there's some things I don't get,
04:14 and all of a sudden now I hire you,
04:16 and I'm saying stuff at him, and he's like,
04:19 he's like, "How do you know that?"
04:20 "Yeah."
04:21 And he's looking at you like, "My dad is that guy."
04:23 "Yes."
04:24 (laughs)
04:26 - Hondo, I would've been corrected.
04:29 It's not called instant grams.
04:32 It's insta.
04:33 You idiot.
04:35 How come you never corrected me?
04:37 'Cause I would talk about instant grams,
04:39 and you never said anything.
04:40 Now you make me look like an idiot.
04:42 - I was literally just about to say,
04:43 I never corrected you for a reason,
04:44 and that was because I liked how it,
04:46 I'm like, look, it sounds good.
04:47 We're just gonna roll with it.
04:48 We're gonna roll with it.
04:49 It was very true to Hondo.
04:51 So listen, that's what we're going with.
04:53 Or listen, just call it IG.
04:56 The letter's IG.
04:57 Keep it simple.
04:58 Everybody in our generation knows what you mean by IG.
05:02 It's Instagram.
05:03 - Whatever.
05:06 I still don't understand why they have it.
05:08 It's just Twitter.
05:10 I don't get it.
05:10 - You gotta take more pictures, Hondo.
05:13 More cool pictures.
05:14 With your chains on.
05:17 (laughs)
05:19 There you go, with your chains.
05:23 (laughs)
05:25 Oh man, don't get me started on that.
05:27 - So the locker room was light hearted.
05:29 These guys are so ready for this football game.
05:31 I'm just gonna tell you,
05:32 four years covering this team,
05:35 I have never seen them like they are right now.
05:38 - Very, very loose.
05:39 They were having fun in there.
05:41 I think the quickest way of saying it,
05:42 if we're honest about it,
05:44 the monkey was off their back a little bit, right?
05:46 I think they've proven to other people
05:48 that they can play ball, that they're for real.
05:50 But I think more importantly,
05:51 they proved it to themselves
05:51 and they proved it to each other, right?
05:53 That they can lean on each other and go win a football game
05:55 whether it's home or on the road,
05:56 by a lot or by a little.
05:58 I think they're starting to build that trust
05:59 and that confidence in each other
06:01 as they're finding new ways to win games.
06:02 So Chicago should be, as you call it, a get right game.
06:05 This is a game, in my opinion,
06:06 they should win by double digits.
06:08 Obviously a win is a win.
06:09 In the NFL, you take 'em how you get 'em.
06:10 But you wanna come out here and put on a good show, right?
06:13 Especially after Devontae Adams
06:15 expressing his frustrations the last couple of weeks
06:17 in terms of the production of the offense.
06:19 So there's no better time for them to get going
06:21 than Sunday against the Bears.
06:23 - I fully expect Devontae Adams
06:28 to have a monster day in Chicago on Sunday.
06:33 - 150 yards, that's what I'm calling right now.
06:36 150 at least.
06:37 - 150?
06:40 - Yes, it's gonna be a good game though, for sure.
06:43 It's gonna be a great game.
06:45 - I think he's gonna, I don't know about the yards.
06:48 But I think he's gonna have multiple touchdowns.
06:51 I think this is just gonna be a,
06:52 this is not a good week to be the Chicago Bears.
06:56 Now, you and I both know,
06:57 they could go up there and lay an egg.
07:00 They're not good enough to go up there
07:02 and beat themselves and the Bears.
07:04 I've said all along, I think it's a nine and 18.
07:08 There's a reason I think they're a nine and 18.
07:10 But if the looseness does not transpire into arrogance,
07:15 they're gonna win big.
07:21 - Exactly.
07:22 - If the looseness gets up there and,
07:24 man, we're just gonna show up,
07:26 we're going against a kid
07:27 who should probably be an accountant.
07:29 I'm just using that as an example
07:32 'cause he did not have a good senior bowl.
07:34 And clearly he deserves to be there.
07:37 I'm not attacking his integrity.
07:39 But my point is, if they keep their mind right,
07:42 and man, they've had a great week of practice.
07:44 I talked to someone very briefly today
07:49 that told me that may have been
07:52 one of the best weeks of practices
07:54 in McDaniel's this two years.
07:56 So they're practicing well, they're playing well,
08:01 they're feeling it.
08:02 And man, you know this, confidence is everything.
08:05 - It's contagious.
08:07 It's contagious.
08:09 - Yeah, it really is.
08:09 It really is.
08:11 To your point, I had actually spoke to Jacoby about that
08:15 in terms of the feeling
08:16 that the Raiders should win this game.
08:18 He corrected me very quickly.
08:19 He was like, "No, we gotta bring it."
08:22 There's no gimmies in the NFL.
08:24 There's no you're supposed to wins in the NFL,
08:26 as cliche as it is for us to say.
08:29 The other team, they practice too.
08:30 They're still professionals.
08:31 So I think that's the mindset of everyone.
08:34 And I also think that's where your Max Crosby's
08:36 and your Devontae's still speaking up even after a win.
08:38 And saying we can get better.
08:40 I think those guys,
08:41 they're not gonna let the confidence grow into arrogance.
08:43 That's what they're there for.
08:45 - Josh McDaniel's talks about the standard.
08:48 And this is something that he did get from Belichick
08:51 and Saban got it from Belichick.
08:53 I've heard Saban talk about it too.
08:55 And I respect.
08:57 It's you look at what you have and say,
08:59 "Okay, here's that standard."
09:01 And then every week you don't judge by the opponent,
09:05 you judge by the standard.
09:07 So you can go play to this standard.
09:09 Listen, if the Raiders play to their standard
09:13 and the Chiefs play to their standard,
09:15 the Raiders are gonna lose.
09:16 Chiefs are a better team.
09:17 - Yes.
09:18 - That's why when I did my preseason predictions,
09:20 I said nine and eight.
09:21 'Cause that's where I believe their standard is.
09:24 But if you go and play to your standard
09:26 and you lose to somebody with a higher standard,
09:29 okay, you lost.
09:30 - No shame.
09:31 No shame in that at all.
09:32 - No shame in that game?
09:33 That's from my generation, by the way.
09:35 No shame in that game?
09:37 And you go play the game.
09:39 But if you lose or win,
09:42 and this is what DeBonte was talking about.
09:44 If you win and don't play to that standard,
09:48 then the anger still has to be there
09:52 because you're holding yourself to that.
09:54 It's like with Saban sometimes he'll win games
09:56 and people will be like, "What is he such a jerk?"
09:59 He's not being a jerk.
10:00 - Yeah.
10:01 - He wants to win championship.
10:03 Nick's standard, sorry, I have been doing interviews.
10:08 - Yeah, I know.
10:08 - This week, TV, podcast, radio, all over the country.
10:12 Anyways, their belief is we play to a standard.
10:17 That's what the great ones do.
10:19 I'll tell you a quick story.
10:21 Michael Jordan one time, and I heard him tell this story.
10:25 Pete, they wanted him to take a night off.
10:29 And he said, "Why would I take a night off?
10:32 "There are people working in a factory
10:35 "that have saved money all year
10:37 "to bring their kid for his birthday."
10:40 - Yeah.
10:40 - And they're like, "Well, it's been a long season.
10:42 "We don't really need this game."
10:44 And he's like, "But what about the people out there?"
10:48 And I'll never forget Jordan talking about,
10:52 "You set your standard.
10:54 "You play against yourself every single night."
10:58 And that just takes us right into DeBonte's comments.
11:01 So we already knew that Josh was mad.
11:03 I wrote an article earlier in the week that went viral,
11:06 NFL executives breaking on the offense.
11:09 And in there, they said Josh,
11:11 a source within the building had told me
11:12 that Josh was effing pissed.
11:14 We knew he was mad.
11:16 Then DeBonte goes out, same thing.
11:19 "Hey, yeah, okay, we won, but my standard is greatness."
11:24 If they had won by 21 points and he had the same stats,
11:30 DeBonte wouldn't have been mad.
11:32 - Yeah.
11:33 - But what he was saying is, "I know how to be great.
11:34 "I am great.
11:36 "So if we're not getting to the great standard,
11:39 "use me more.
11:41 "I'm here, execute."
11:43 - I am DeBonte Adams.
11:44 I am DeBonte Adams.
11:46 - Yeah, there was no...
11:48 And so people wanted to run out,
11:49 "Oh, there's a problem with Josh and DeBonte."
11:52 There was no problem.
11:54 They're on the exact same page, guarantee you.
11:57 I know Josh wasn't mad.
11:58 I mean, that made no sense to me.
12:01 - Yeah, no sense at all.
12:02 And it was very interesting.
12:04 Earlier in the week, Josh McDaniels
12:06 was basically asked about DeBonte Adams
12:07 and his mindset and things of that nature,
12:10 if he needed to sit DeBonte down
12:13 in terms of his frustration.
12:14 And what I picked up on was McDaniels,
12:16 his non-verbals, said more than anything
12:20 his words could say, right?
12:21 He was like, the look on his face was like,
12:23 almost like, "Sit him down for what?
12:24 "We're on the same page.
12:25 "We're feeling the exact same way.
12:26 "We don't need to be...
12:28 "There's no need for a sit down."
12:29 So, and like I've told you before,
12:31 imagine, like put yourself in Josh McDaniels' shoes.
12:33 Like, imagine you're calling the right players, plays.
12:36 The players are open, right?
12:38 If players weren't open,
12:39 then clearly the players are what the issue are.
12:41 But players are open.
12:42 The plays are not being made.
12:43 So imagine how the coach feels.
12:45 He's calling the right thing, right?
12:46 Now you have DeBonte Adams who says,
12:48 "Yeah, we're winning,
12:48 "but we're not winning as good as we could."
12:50 And like you said, "I'm not getting the ball like I should."
12:52 That could help us get to that level.
12:54 Those guys are saying the exact same thing.
12:55 If they were saying the opposite,
12:57 that would be a bigger problem.
12:59 - Yeah, there was...
13:00 You couldn't have put a piece of rice paper
13:02 between Josh and DeBonte.
13:03 There's no division.
13:05 And this brings me to Raider Nation.
13:08 I love Raider Nation.
13:11 These people are fun.
13:13 They're good, good, good people.
13:15 - Yes.
13:16 - And one of the things I love about Raider Nation
13:18 is having been raised in Michigan.
13:21 Now, a couple of people have called me out
13:23 'cause I call myself a Michiganian.
13:26 - Well, I thought it was Michigander.
13:28 Michigander was invented as a negative term.
13:33 If you go back and study the history of that name,
13:36 it was not a good name.
13:38 - Oh, wow, okay.
13:40 - Michiganian was the word that was,
13:44 "Hey, I'm from Michigan."
13:45 Now, a lot of people use Michigander and I don't care.
13:47 I just use Michiganian, that's the reason.
13:49 So for people that wanna call me out,
13:50 live, have lived there, grew up there,
13:54 and do the research on the word.
13:56 I actually learned that in Michigan history
13:58 when I was in ninth grade.
13:59 Okay, next, I'm sorry, it doesn't matter.
14:01 Anyways, so growing up,
14:06 if the Lions won a football game, we celebrate.
14:10 I remember one time sitting in the press box
14:13 and the Lions were celebrating a team from years ago
14:17 that won three in a row.
14:18 Most teams celebrate teams that win a Super Bowl.
14:26 Okay, they were celebrating having won three in a row,
14:30 a team from years ago.
14:32 So all of a sudden now you start covering the Raiders
14:35 and listen, I don't care if you're a housewife,
14:38 I don't care if you're a janitor, a bus driver,
14:40 a lawyer, a doctor, whatever.
14:42 These people know football now.
14:45 - 100%.
14:46 - They've cut their teeth on committed to excellence.
14:48 If you're not playing committed to excellence
14:50 and you're not just winning maybe,
14:52 I'm gonna quote Ric Flair.
14:54 And so I love Raider Nation.
14:59 I love their passion, they're just great.
15:01 You know what, 1% are obnoxious, you just mute them.
15:04 I don't care about that.
15:05 I'm not gonna let the one ruin the 99,
15:07 but the 99 are awesome.
15:08 So I get to this.
15:10 They're so big.
15:11 I mean, we've got followers in all these countries
15:13 who send me emails.
15:14 Oh, I love all the articles.
15:18 I love the pods.
15:19 I love the whole thing, all over the world.
15:23 So I'm one of the few media, and you know this,
15:27 who actually follows people on Twitter.
15:29 And if I've got an open spot,
15:31 which I'm right at 5,000 on Facebook,
15:33 I'll take a friend request, I don't care.
15:34 But I use Facebook, I wanna see your kids, whatever,
15:39 that kind of stuff.
15:40 I don't wanna talk Raiders.
15:42 So don't send me direct messages in Twitter
15:44 or anything else.
15:45 If you wanna ask or talk Raiders,
15:47 send me something out in public.
15:49 But anyways, this person sends me something.
15:51 I get a lot of them, and I just don't respond.
15:54 Devante Adams, frustrated with Josh McDaniels
15:59 seeking trade to the Chicago, I mean, the Dallas Cowboys.
16:03 (laughs)
16:08 - Ridiculous.
16:09 - This is a fan who I follow,
16:11 and I see him on Twitter.
16:14 They say good stuff.
16:16 So I respond with, why are you sending me this?
16:22 I want you to tell me if it's right or wrong.
16:26 Have I reported it?
16:27 No. - Nope.
16:29 - Did I not tell you a year before Devante came,
16:31 he was coming?
16:32 Yes.
16:33 Did I not break the story he was coming?
16:36 Yes.
16:37 So why are you sending this to me?
16:39 - It's a waste of time. - It's not true.
16:41 Oh yeah, I didn't think so.
16:42 Really?
16:43 If you didn't think so, why were you sending it to me?
16:45 I mean, I love Raider Nation, but I feel bad for them.
16:50 This isn't a call out of them.
16:51 They're so passionate and they so care
16:55 that somebody who has nothing to do with the team
16:58 can write something,
16:59 and they're sharing it all over Facebook,
17:01 and they're getting worked up.
17:03 It's like a casino, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
17:06 And at some point, I want Raider Nation to,
17:08 they're getting abused.
17:10 They're getting mistreated.
17:13 And I want them to say, you know what?
17:16 - By who?
17:17 - I'm gonna follow these people, huh?
17:18 - You said they're getting mistreated.
17:20 - By who, Hondo?
17:21 - By media or click bait.
17:26 Just trying to get them to click, click, click, click.
17:29 I feel bad for them.
17:31 - Yeah, yeah.
17:32 And it's unfortunate because pretty much
17:35 all of those reports are coming from people
17:36 who are outside of the building,
17:37 who don't really have any access to what's going on
17:40 in the day-to-day, and they're grasping for straws,
17:42 again, knowing that they're gonna get the clicks
17:44 that they're looking for.
17:45 So it's just unfortunate because these athletes,
17:48 these coaches are real life people.
17:50 So when you grasp for straws and you start getting the clicks
17:53 and getting people saying different things,
17:55 you're affecting everyday people in their families, right?
17:58 Like their families see these things as well.
17:59 So a lot goes into it.
18:01 It's unfortunate, but yeah,
18:03 there's a lot to be learned in that regard.
18:06 - You know, I'm friends with a lot of national media
18:08 who are really good people.
18:10 So I'm not talking about them.
18:12 - 100%.
18:14 - But I called a national media guy one time
18:17 who had written a story on the Raiders
18:18 that was just so stupid.
18:20 And we had agreed, it wasn't this season by the way,
18:26 but we had agreed our conversation was private.
18:31 So I'm not gonna tell anybody who it is or give any hints.
18:34 But I said to him, "I've known you a long time.
18:36 "Why would you write that story?"
18:39 He goes, "Man, I'm getting to the end of the month.
18:43 "I needed some more clicks."
18:45 I said, "Okay." And he goes, "And the Raiders, baby.
18:48 "Raiders."
18:49 - Polarizing. - And I said to him,
18:51 I said, "What?"
18:52 He goes, "Raiders."
18:54 I go, "You're admitting you knew it was horse crap."
18:58 He goes, "Yeah, that's the Raiders.
19:02 "If they hate it or love it, they're gonna share it."
19:06 - Exactly.
19:07 It's, listen, people are still gonna zoom in.
19:10 - I have not talked to him since that day.
19:12 Well, that's really not true.
19:14 He called me once and I said to him, I said,
19:18 "You know what?
19:18 "I'm not, no thanks."
19:21 After our last conversation, I got nothing to talk about.
19:24 I feel bad for Raider fan
19:26 'cause they are the most passionate.
19:28 I can't tell you how many random Raider fans,
19:32 and I'm gonna get out to one.
19:34 I may take you to one with me.
19:36 - Hey, listen. - Have invited me
19:37 to their tailgates.
19:37 Hondo, come eat with us at a tailgate.
19:40 And I'm gonna actually go to one.
19:42 I don't know how I'm gonna pick one,
19:43 but I'm gonna go to one and take pictures
19:45 and do videos and do a story on 'em.
19:47 But these are some of the most passionate.
19:50 They know the game.
19:52 And I feel bad for 'em
19:55 'cause something like Devontae happens,
19:56 which is a good thing.
19:58 - Yes.
20:00 - And blown.
20:01 - Yeah, it was blown completely out of proportion
20:03 and it kind of went a different direction
20:05 than I think a lot of us thought it would,
20:08 you know, when he said what he said.
20:09 But like you said, it was a good thing that he voiced that.
20:11 The team needs that.
20:13 They need that leadership.
20:13 And like you say, when you consider the fact
20:15 of where he came from, that organization,
20:17 he knows what he's talking about.
20:18 And he goes out and he proves it himself every day.
20:20 So it was a good thing that he said that, in my opinion.
20:23 - Tom Izzo happens to be a very dear friend of mine,
20:27 a Hall of Fame coach,
20:28 the college basketball coach at Michigan State.
20:30 And you know this, he says it all the time.
20:32 A player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team.
20:37 That's exactly what you saw with Devontae Adams.
20:41 - 100%.
20:42 - Josh McDaniels can only do so much.
20:43 The coaching staff can only get through
20:44 to the players so much.
20:45 Your superstar wide receiver,
20:47 your superstar defensive end,
20:49 them saying things and getting points across,
20:52 that does a lot more.
20:52 And a lot of people who've played sports,
20:54 they understand that, right?
20:55 And then you consider the fact that
20:57 Devontae is a relatively quiet person.
21:00 So for him to say much of anything,
21:02 that speaks loud enough, you know, in itself.
21:03 So that's what you need.
21:05 That's what every team should want.
21:06 And again, it just shows that it was a good thing
21:08 that Devontae did that.
21:09 I think it would be a bigger problem
21:10 if Devontae wasn't saying anything at all.
21:12 That's the issue.
21:13 - Let me just say this to you,
21:14 and you tell me what you think.
21:16 If Devontae Adams had not done that,
21:19 it would have told you he had quit.
21:22 - He didn't care.
21:22 - On Josh McDaniels.
21:23 - Yeah, 100%.
21:24 Like I, come on, right?
21:27 That's the only way,
21:28 I thought that was the only way to take it, right?
21:30 Like you're upset that he cares.
21:32 He didn't say anything wrong, right?
21:34 Was he critical of his own team?
21:36 Yes, but that's what the great leaders do, right?
21:39 That's just how it is.
21:40 So yeah, I think it would have sent a louder message
21:42 had he not said anything at all.
21:43 That means to me that he would have been checked out.
21:46 But for him to come,
21:47 and you gotta think,
21:47 he spoke up after they won their first game,
21:49 after what, two, three games in a row losing?
21:52 They won their first game
21:52 and then he still came out and said something.
21:54 Like, you should be, everybody should be happy.
21:55 No, we still can get better.
21:57 That spoke volumes.
21:58 - And then came out after the second win in a row.
22:01 - Mm-hmm, yeah.
22:02 I mean, he knows what he's going to win.
22:03 - I wonder what he's gonna say next week
22:04 after three in a row.
22:07 - Hey, listen, that would be very interesting.
22:09 We might be able to get him to crack a smile up there
22:11 this time, we'll see.
22:13 - We'll see, all right.
22:14 Now, let's get into predictions.
22:17 - Okay.
22:19 - Earlier in the week, I said 24/13.
22:22 I'm changing it.
22:24 - Okay.
22:26 - I think it's gonna be 24/10.
22:28 What is your prediction, Zeke Trezevant?
22:34 - Yeah, so I believe mine was 24/14,
22:38 or yeah, I think that's what I sent you.
22:39 It was 24/14, but I think I'm pretty sure I sent mine
22:42 before Justin Fields was declared out.
22:46 So I'm gonna take mine down too.
22:49 I think, again, 10 points is probably about fair,
22:51 assuming the defense does what they're supposed to do,
22:53 like they've been doing,
22:55 and then assuming, again, the offense
22:56 does what they're supposed to do.
22:57 All around, it just has that game written on it.
22:59 Double-digit win, this is the first game
23:01 where everything is clicking for the team.
23:04 It's the game we've all been waiting on.
23:07 - All right, now, very important here.
23:10 I love the juice, the mojo.
23:19 I think I heard Rock call it,
23:23 Dwayne Johnson call it mana.
23:25 Just the spirit, the life in the locker room.
23:30 To me, it's gonna be fun to see how that translates
23:34 onto the field on Sunday, isn't it?
23:36 - Yes, and that's what all of the players
23:37 have really been saying.
23:39 How does what we're doing, how does our practice,
23:42 how we get along, how does that translate to the field?
23:45 I think they're very, very focused
23:46 on the translation to the field.
23:48 So like I said, I think part of what we were experiencing
23:50 in the locker room were those guys
23:52 learning to depend on each other.
23:54 They have confidence, not just,
23:55 their confidence in themselves is going, of course,
23:57 but hey, they're looking across and saying,
23:59 I can depend on the guy next to me,
24:00 and I can depend on the guy next to me,
24:01 and I know he's gonna come through for me.
24:03 And I think that has no other choice
24:04 but to translate on the field for a team that cares
24:07 as much as this one does.
24:08 - Lastly, and this has nothing to do with football,
24:12 so if you wanna turn off the podcast, you can.
24:15 You have challenged me in a good way
24:21 and helped me understand pop culture,
24:23 'cause I am so in on football.
24:25 You gotta admit, is that not, my life is my family,
24:29 my faith, then my family, and then football.
24:33 And I'm so locked in there
24:35 'cause I have so little extra time.
24:37 I'm kinda ignorant of pop culture.
24:40 Is that fair?
24:41 - That's fair, yes, that's fair, yes, sir.
24:45 - So you've been good for me,
24:48 but now I wanna challenge you.
24:51 - I'm scared, I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm terrified.
24:54 I don't know what this is for.
24:55 - I was a young boy, 13 years old,
24:58 and a movie comes out.
25:03 My dad says, "You wanna go to a movie?"
25:05 I'm like, "Sure, all right, I'll let you pick."
25:07 And I picked this movie called "Break It."
25:10 It was about this new kind of music
25:14 called rap and break dancing.
25:17 It was so good that on the way home, we stopped,
25:23 and I bought a pair of parachute pants.
25:31 Listen, my only question is--
25:33 - No, you let me finish.
25:34 Have you ever heard of the movie "Breakin'"?
25:39 - No, I have not.
25:40 I haven't.
25:42 That's before my time, Hondo.
25:44 I was born in '89, man.
25:46 What year did that movie come out?
25:48 - Hang on.
25:52 - That's early '80s, man.
25:53 - I want you to know I'm very disappointed in you right now.
25:57 - It's called "Breakin'"?
25:58 - Hang on.
25:59 Hey, Googles, when did the movie "Breakin'" come out?
26:03 - In the United States of America, "Breakin' 2,
26:08 "Electric Boogaloo" came out on December 21st, 1984.
26:12 - "Electric Boogaloo," what are you?
26:14 (laughs)
26:16 Hondo, 13-year-old Hondo had to go see
26:18 the "Electric Boogaloo" movie.
26:19 Hey, listen, more importantly,
26:24 do you have a picture of the pants?
26:26 I can only imagine Hondo in some parachute pants.
26:29 I gotta see it.
26:30 - I can neither confirm nor deny that rumor.
26:34 - There's a picture somewhere.
26:36 There has to be one laying around somewhere.
26:39 - I will say that there's probably one
26:41 that someone is holding against me.
26:43 (laughs)
26:45 - Blackmail.
26:46 Fair enough.
26:49 "Breakin'."
26:51 - Well, there you go.
26:52 You're always pushing me on pop culture.
26:55 I'm gonna put you, I guess that's pop culture
26:58 from 30, 40 years ago.
27:02 - Yeah, who's counting?
27:04 - Hey, when I was 13, though, I was in it.
27:07 I had the penny loafers with the pennies.
27:10 - Listen, that's my jam right there.
27:12 I've always wanted to be cool enough
27:13 to wear those shoes with the,
27:15 and the pennies have to be clean too.
27:17 You can't-
27:17 - No, no, they're shiny.
27:18 I still wear penny loafers like that, brother.
27:20 - They gotta be clean.
27:21 They got, I need to get there.
27:23 - I roll up my turtleneck sleeves, I'm so dumb.
27:27 It's ready to go.
27:29 Yeah, I gotta get to that level of flyness
27:31 with the penny loafers.
27:32 I hope to get there one day.
27:33 - Listen, that's the great Zeke Trezavant.
27:39 Read him, love him.
27:40 He does such a great job working with me,
27:42 covering the Raiders.
27:44 We appreciate all you people.
27:45 We are, boy, less than 24 hours away.
27:48 Well, depending on when you listen to it,
27:49 could be just over 24 or less than 24.
27:52 But we both think, and every one of our predictors
27:55 believes it's gonna be a Raider victory.
27:56 So from all of us at Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation,
28:00 Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
28:02 part of the Fans First Sports Network,
28:04 I'm Hondo Carpenter, Raiders beat writer,
28:06 with my assistant beat writer, Zeke Trezavant.
28:08 Thanks for joining us, everybody.
28:09 God bless y'all.
28:10 Appreciate you so much.
28:12 - Bye-bye.
28:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]