Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast tackles today's game between the Silver and Black and the Los Angeles Chargers.
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fannation Las Vegas Raiders
00:06 Insider Podcast.
00:09 This is my complete recap of the Raiders 63-21 win over the Los Angeles Chargers here at
00:17 Allegiant Stadium just a short time ago.
00:19 I say short time ago, a couple hours ago, we've been working and doing all of this.
00:25 So let me take you inside, literally just a short time ago, left the locker room.
00:32 I talked with AP, talked with Aiden O'Connell, Zeke Trezevant, one of our other assistant
00:37 beat writers, talked with Devante, Germaine Illuminor, and I think Jack Jones.
00:44 So let's just dig into this performance tonight because there's a lot of things here.
00:50 The Raiders scored the most points in franchise history.
00:55 It's the most points ever scored after being shut out the previous game.
01:00 There's a lot of things here to go into.
01:04 And I want to get into all of that with you.
01:06 First of all, the decision to move offensive coordinator Bull Harden.
01:10 By the way, thank you everybody for tuning in.
01:12 I appreciate you.
01:13 We are growing so fast and things are going really well.
01:17 I just thank you for that.
01:19 Please continue to like, subscribe, and share.
01:21 As you know, we bring you massive amounts of content.
01:24 It's free and I appreciate you liking it, subscribing to it, and sharing it.
01:30 Now the Bull Harden gets moved up to the booth and it clearly paid off.
01:40 Now that was Antonio Pierce's decision.
01:42 You can go watch the video I did with him or I did with him.
01:46 Everybody did at the press conference.
01:47 I asked him about it and he talked about what went into that.
01:51 Second of all, you saw Aiden gaining confidence.
01:56 Now all week, if you watch the videos and read what we wrote, I asked AP about it on
02:03 Monday.
02:04 I asked Aiden O'Connell on Tuesday, Devante Adams on Tuesday about attacking.
02:10 They had to get the ball down the field.
02:13 And let's just say this because it's not a bad thing, but Antonio Pierce made it very
02:20 clear what his expectations were.
02:24 And they bumped Bo up into the booth and it looked like a very much improved Raiders offense.
02:34 Now I saw a lot of people on Twitter, which I don't understand, and I'm not going to give
02:38 them their own platform, but I want to address it saying, well, it's just like the Giants
02:43 game.
02:45 First of all, if you think that the Chargers are as bad as the Giants, other than coaching,
02:56 I can't do anything about that.
02:57 That's not the case.
02:58 The Raiders were able to keep Khalil Mack totally in check.
03:02 In fact, I want to check one thing super quick because I don't want to be wrong.
03:08 Aiden O'Connell was sacked one time, once.
03:14 And this is after this team dominated them in LA.
03:17 I have said to you all week that I felt like if AP had been the coach, the Raiders would
03:22 have won in LA.
03:24 And I think you see why tonight.
03:29 There was some things that I wanted to make sure that you saw.
03:34 You know, I've heard a couple of say, well, they were down Justin Herbert.
03:37 Yep, they were.
03:38 And Keenan Cole.
03:39 Yep.
03:40 I'm kidding.
03:41 Cool.
03:42 And Keenan, their number one receiver.
03:44 Yep, they were.
03:46 And the Raiders were without two starting offensive linemen in the NFL's leading rusher
03:52 from last season, who would have been a huge part of the game.
03:56 And so they knew that they had to attack.
03:59 And let me go over this storyline with you, because I think this is funny.
04:02 Aiden O'Connell, 34 passes, 24 completions, 248 yards, four touchdowns, zero interception.
04:10 His rating was a 121.
04:13 That's a phenomenal performance.
04:15 That may, we're going to have to see how the weekend plays out, but that could be the highest
04:18 performance of the weekend again for him.
04:20 Oh, by the way, he was that earlier, just a short time ago.
04:26 I think it was the Chiefs game.
04:28 But look at this one.
04:29 This is the one that got me.
04:30 They threw two passes with another person.
04:33 So 36 total passes tonight.
04:36 And when you look at rushing, they only ran 26 times.
04:41 So they knew, okay, we're down Josh, we're going to have to win with Aiden's arm.
04:46 And that's what they did.
04:47 They attacked down the field.
04:50 It was the first time all year that I've seen Aiden play with supreme confidence, not arrogance,
04:59 but supreme confidence.
05:00 You can see why this team believes in him.
05:04 You can see why AP believes in him.
05:07 That's why when AP got the head coaching job, he made the decision, that's going to be my
05:10 starting quarterback.
05:12 I believe in him and I want to ride with him.
05:16 And you saw it.
05:18 And I think tonight you saw a couple things.
05:22 We've been talking about rookie head coaches, rookie offensive coordinators, rookie quarterbacks.
05:27 Those people have to make adjustments.
05:30 Those people have to learn.
05:31 It's a different role.
05:34 And I think you saw tonight a terrific performance.
05:41 Do I expect them to go to Kansas city and put up 63?
05:46 No, I don't.
05:49 But do any of you doubt if they were replaying this game at Allegiant stadium with Kansas
05:56 city in 11 days, does anyone here think that result may not be different?
06:03 I'm not saying that they win, but you're not think it's a heck of a lot closer.
06:07 I do.
06:09 This team is gelling.
06:13 You see some great moves.
06:14 Champ Kelly goes and gets Jack Jones.
06:16 You see some other things happening and just how they put this whole thing together.
06:23 You're seeing guys make plays and they're stepping up and no quit.
06:31 And for people that said, you know, Devante, you know, he's just mad because he's not getting
06:37 the ball more.
06:38 Well, let me just tell you this.
06:39 Devante Adams tonight had 12 receptions and he was targeted 12 times.
06:48 He was happy.
06:50 He was on the sideline laughing, partying, having a good time and a one TD.
06:58 But you saw this team tonight play their best game of the season.
07:05 Now I understand because I saw some of your emails and comments about, Oh, really concerned.
07:10 The defense gave up 21.
07:12 Okay.
07:13 They were playing a bunch of backups.
07:17 Just letting you know.
07:20 I think some of it was a little bit of the defense.
07:23 Okay.
07:24 They, we've been rolling them all night and to the chargers credit, they didn't quit,
07:29 but some of it was backups and their backups who need experience.
07:33 I think the other thing that you can come to with this game was young players.
07:38 How about Malcolm Coons?
07:41 I mean, this guy is a guy, as you know, we have been lauding all season and all last
07:50 season and said he needed to step up, said he needed to continue to become better.
07:56 He needed to do those things.
07:58 And he is, I thought Tyree Wilson again, tonight had another big performance, just a big one.
08:06 And you're watching young players emerge.
08:10 I think that was important.
08:12 I want to read you some of these defensive stats tonight, because I thought they were
08:18 very talented.
08:21 So let's just talk about Divine Diablo, 12 tackles, and then a ton of other guys, 1,
08:36 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, and 26 other guys, 27 defenders made tackles tonight.
08:52 That is outstanding.
08:54 Absolutely outstanding.
08:56 That is, you know, eight people scored touchdowns, you know, and what did I just say?
09:01 26 people made tackles.
09:04 This was the best performance of the Raiders all year.
09:08 And if you want to be a person, it doesn't matter if they don't go beat the Chiefs.
09:11 Okay, that's fine.
09:12 You're welcome to any opinion you want.
09:13 I'm not going to entertain you tonight.
09:16 This team, if they went out, I believe will make the playoffs.
09:20 I did, I've told you all year, I didn't think that they would make it with nine wins.
09:25 I think if they run the table, they will get in.
09:29 Still not a guarantee, but I think there's a good shot just the way, I mean, they've
09:33 got games against the Chiefs.
09:35 They've got games against the Broncos and one against Indianapolis.
09:41 So I think there's a good chance that they would get in if they were on the table.
09:44 So they're still alive with three games to go.
09:46 This is what you want.
09:49 This is what you want.
09:51 But I want to get into the imprint that Antonio Pierce has put on this team and make no mistake,
10:02 he has.
10:04 He's absolutely put his stamp on this team.
10:08 And you see the fight, the vigor, they lose Josh Jacobs, they lose Andre James, they lose
10:18 Colton Miller.
10:19 And what do they do?
10:24 Keep grinding.
10:25 And that's Antonio Pierce.
10:27 And he was very spirited this week.
10:30 And he said after the game that the players picked him up.
10:34 He was really down on Tuesday.
10:37 They picked him up because that's what leaders do.
10:41 And to his credit, he has not made this about him.
10:46 He has made this about, he has made it about the players, about the Raiders.
10:57 And I think he has set himself up with a tremendous opportunity to win this job, a tremendous
11:06 opportunity to win this job.
11:08 And let's just go through.
11:11 He made it very clear this team was going to attack more and they listened.
11:21 Multiple starters out.
11:23 No quit.
11:25 Guys wanted to be there.
11:27 They wanted to fight.
11:28 They wanted to scrap.
11:31 You could see it all night again.
11:32 I don't know what you see on television, but you could see it all night on the sidelines,
11:37 even warming up.
11:38 This team was jacked up and they were ready to fight.
11:42 And here they are on national TV.
11:45 And they just put that performance out there for the whole nation to see.
11:49 Now they have one more national game, which is Christmas day, which is I think 11, I'm
11:56 taping this after midnight.
11:57 So 10 days from now in Kansas city, which is a big deal.
12:05 And they have a chance to go out, make another statement on national TV.
12:11 And this is where this team is demonstrating.
12:14 I've talked all week.
12:16 This is not a rebuild.
12:19 You can make an argument that there are positions that can be upgraded and that's on every team
12:28 every year.
12:29 I don't care if you just won the Superbowl, but your special teams are phenomenal.
12:35 Your defense is playing out of their mind.
12:40 And you've got an offense with a ton of weapons and a lot of young weapons.
12:45 You know, Trey Tucker makes scores with touchdown and people were going after him.
12:54 I even muted a couple of people who just called them horrific names because he bobbled the
12:58 ball.
12:59 Okay.
13:00 He's a rookie.
13:03 Remember and everyone likes to forget this.
13:06 There were a lot of people calling Colton Miller a bust after year one, or even during
13:12 his rookie year.
13:13 You know, there were people that said Peyton Manning was a bust in the rookie type.
13:21 And so those are very important things for you to really assimilate.
13:28 You know, there's a reason that you hear me say all the time, all the time, I temper all
13:36 expectations with rookies.
13:39 The adjustment to the NFL is very difficult.
13:42 Well, look at this guy.
13:43 He did good.
13:44 Okay.
13:45 He did.
13:46 But look at the NBA right now.
13:47 Does anybody think the NBA is better when, you know, players could come right out of
13:53 high school?
13:55 No.
13:57 And I don't even know that it's better with players coming after one year.
14:03 I think the NBA is a much better product.
14:06 Remember when guys used to have to stay like they do in football to mature, to grow up?
14:13 I'm not trying to tell the NBA what to do.
14:20 I just think their game would be better if they said, Hey, you got to play three years
14:22 in the GLE or three years at a college, and then you'll be draft eligible like football.
14:28 Just that maturity.
14:29 There are things that people have to learn.
14:31 I mean, Malcolm Koontz right now is literally playing at a fantastic level.
14:39 He's third year guy.
14:40 It's a guy that earlier in the year, we said, this is, I've told you this all the time,
14:47 covered this team for four years, and I've said it a lot more than four years.
14:52 Third year guys are when you expect, okay, this is your prove it time.
14:55 Now you can't talk any more about potential in year three.
14:58 Somewhere in year three, it has to become not potential, but substantial.
15:03 Malcolm's doing that.
15:06 I know we live in an instant gratification society, but that is not reality.
15:12 It's not reality.
15:14 And people have to grow.
15:15 They have to mature.
15:16 I mean, just this week, you saw my interview with Tyree.
15:18 He's not even a hundred percent yet.
15:19 They didn't expect him to be a hundred percent until next year.
15:23 So I think that's a very important point that young players make in plays and then they
15:30 get confidence.
15:31 My son right now is just a few days short of 17 months old.
15:37 What a gift from God he is to our family.
15:39 God, we all just love him so much.
15:42 And Dexter Ernest Wayne, he's just learned how to walk.
15:49 And so he's nervous.
15:52 He doesn't, he'll let go and then decide, well, I'm going to sit down and crawl because
15:56 he's nervous.
15:57 I'm not trying to make this about my family.
16:02 Some of these guys have come from schools where like Tyree, he dominated.
16:10 Nobody had his size, his speed, his strength.
16:14 Was his get off great?
16:16 No, but it was a lot worse at the start of the season when he played because of the injury.
16:21 Now it wasn't great in college, but it was worse because of the injury.
16:27 Malcolm Koontz comes from Buffalo, had everything that you like, the bend, the ability to move.
16:35 He took some time to learn to get confidence.
16:39 That's not the move from Buffalo to the NFL.
16:42 The move from Alabama to the NFL is big enough, let alone Buffalo.
16:47 And so I temper expectations of the rookies and I always will.
16:51 But you saw tonight young players.
16:53 And I talked about some things I wanted to see.
16:55 Number one was the offense to come out and rebound.
16:58 63 points, not all of that offense.
17:00 I get it.
17:01 But enough said, they rebounded.
17:03 I talked about, I want to see the defense stay consistent.
17:06 Yep.
17:07 I talked to you earlier about why some of those points were scored in the second half,
17:13 but I think they did exactly what I wanted to see.
17:16 I wanted to see coaches step up and they did.
17:23 And they did.
17:24 I told you I wanted to see the fans to be able to leave celebrating.
17:30 This was the worst attended game I've seen here.
17:32 I don't know how many, but thousands in my opinion of empty seats.
17:37 Okay.
17:38 Thursday night game, two struggling teams and the Chargers and their 10 fans don't travel
17:43 very well.
17:45 I get it.
17:47 But the fans that were here were loud.
17:50 They had something to cheer.
17:53 And that was important.
17:56 I think it was a YouTube.
17:58 Sorry, somebody just told me bye.
18:01 I think that was important for this team.
18:06 Vitally important for Aiden's confidence.
18:09 I've told you all along.
18:11 I've seen a lot from Aiden O'Connell to tell me, I don't think you can make a decision
18:18 yet that he's not a QB one.
18:21 I don't think you can, but he's that he's not a QB one, but I think he continues to
18:27 stack things that tell us he could be, Hey, he's got three more games.
18:34 You don't think he goes and continues to play the way he was playing.
18:40 And you don't think at some point he makes a decision for the Raiders difficult about,
18:46 man, what do we do with our rook?
18:50 Let me just give you a read this to you real quick.
18:52 I want to double check my information.
18:53 Yeah.
18:54 Zero interceptions tonight.
18:55 And he threw the ball a lot.
19:01 I don't know what I said.
19:02 I think I said 34 times, no interceptions.
19:06 Okay.
19:07 He's giving them something.
19:08 He's giving you something to be encouraged about.
19:11 Am I sitting here tonight at Allegiant stadium or this morning?
19:16 And am I ready to tell you that I don't think the Raiders need to go pick a quarterback
19:20 in the next draft?
19:22 And I think Aiden O'Connell is the next Kenny Stata.
19:26 No.
19:27 Am I here telling you?
19:29 I think he could be a next really good one.
19:32 Yes.
19:33 And I'm also going to tell you, they probably need to go get another quarterback in the
19:37 draft.
19:39 Now how well he plays may tell you where you pick that next quarterback.
19:44 You may be able to say, man, I think he's playing real well.
19:46 We want to ride him into next year.
19:47 Let's look and see if there's a guy we like we can pick up in the third or fourth round.
19:52 Okay.
19:54 And then go get a veteran, but he's still playing and there is nothing yet that's made
19:59 me say, no, it's time to move on.
20:03 Now, Bo Harding, I made this comment.
20:06 I said, Bo Harding has shown me that he could potentially be a offensive coordinator in
20:13 the NFL, but he's not shown me that he is right now.
20:19 I even talked earlier last week.
20:20 So if AP gets the job, meaning if Bo didn't improve, go get an experienced OC.
20:26 Okay.
20:27 You, you telling me if Bo continues to call games like he did tonight, his team continues
20:33 to adapt, to make changes into, into, you know, do all of that, that he can't be an
20:42 OC one or OC one.
20:45 OC.
20:46 I've not seen anything that tells me he can't.
20:50 And like Aiden, if he continues on this, I could very well see him keeping his job.
20:59 Now let's go to Antonio Pierce.
21:00 Okay.
21:01 What'd you see again this week?
21:04 Leadership.
21:06 Nobody on this team and organization saw zero points last week.
21:11 It was a lot of things that went bad, but they responded.
21:16 They responded to coaching.
21:19 He put his foot down and I don't mean that anybody had quit or it was a disciplinary
21:24 issue.
21:25 I'm not saying that, but he put his foot down and he said, this is what we're going
21:31 to do.
21:34 And they did it and they fouled.
21:37 Again with Aiden and Bo, I've told you, I've seen some things that concern me, but I didn't
21:44 think you could preclude their future.
21:47 I just said, I didn't know.
21:50 I have not seen one thing from Antonio Pierce that tells me he cannot be a head coach in
21:56 the national football league.
21:57 Not one.
21:58 You say, well, what about throwing the first challenge flag?
22:02 Okay.
22:03 Rookie coaches make rookie mistakes.
22:05 He puts somebody up in the box to tell them when to challenge.
22:08 The next time he challenged it gets overturned, but he was told by someone who had a replay
22:13 view challenge it.
22:16 That's not on him.
22:17 Every coach has that guy.
22:20 I've not seen anything from him.
22:21 I see leadership.
22:23 I see poise.
22:25 I see strength.
22:29 And for people calling him a rah-rah coach, that is ridiculous.
22:33 You are entitled to any opinion you want, but it's ridiculous.
22:39 Absolutely ridiculous.
22:42 Is he a rah-rah emotional guy like Max Crosby?
22:46 Uh-huh.
22:47 What I'm telling you, you don't kick off Teamer and Peters if you're just a rah-rah
22:55 guy.
22:57 You don't walk into that building this week and tell the team that's unacceptable, not
23:03 tolerating it.
23:05 This is what we're going to do.
23:07 And oh, by the way, it worked.
23:10 He's made adjustments.
23:11 He puts his OC upstairs and look what you get.
23:15 I know that we live in an instant gratification society.
23:22 I'm not speaking epitomal.
23:25 I'm not speaking...
23:26 I'm trying to think of a better word.
23:31 I want to use a different word.
23:32 I'm not speaking in generalities.
23:37 I'm trying to make it clear that you're seeing a young coach progress, but making the right
23:43 decisions and guys responding.
23:47 I mean, look at Jack Jones.
23:49 This is a kid that played at Arizona State where Antonio Pierce happened to have coached.
23:57 This is a guy that Antonio Pierce said he needed a locker room and I thought we had
24:02 one that would keep him on straight and narrow, but Jack Jones has been phenomenal.
24:11 When you're looking at guys step up and make plays, you're seeing young guys getting played,
24:17 which is very important to champ.
24:20 It's very important to AP and these guys are responding.
24:25 So what's the complete recap?
24:28 The first thing is they're not as bad as many of you thought after the Minnesota game.
24:37 Oh, let's rebuild.
24:38 Let's tank.
24:39 No guys.
24:40 No.
24:41 It's not a tank team.
24:43 Even if you decide to go on and get a different coach or a different GM, I'm sorry, it's not
24:48 a tank team.
24:50 This is not a rebuilt team.
24:52 Too many weapons all over the place.
24:56 Special teams, offense, defense.
24:58 Do you have some positions you can upgrade?
25:01 Absolutely.
25:03 Absolutely.
25:04 Not saying they don't.
25:07 But there are too many weapons to just throw it all away and go rebuild.
25:13 And I think you saw that tonight.
25:15 So not as bad as you thought, as many of you thought they were last week, nor do I think
25:23 they're as good as some of you are going to think.
25:25 This isn't a 63 point a game team, but they go out and get 24 in Kansas city.
25:34 I think they win that ball game.
25:36 I do.
25:38 They go get 24 up in Kansas city on Christmas day.
25:42 I think the Raiders get to win.
25:43 I think that's the magic number.
25:44 Magic number.
25:45 I said, I thought this team would win nine games.
25:49 There's six and eight with three games left.
25:51 So they could finish nine and eight, which is what I thought they were all along.
25:56 And if they sneak into the playoffs at nine and eight, good for them.
25:59 I think they would probably lose in the first round, but because that's where I think this
26:04 team is right now.
26:08 But man, what a job that would be.
26:10 The fact that you have three games left and Antonio Pierce has you still competing for
26:15 playoffs says a lot.
26:18 So the recap is the Raiders continue to emerge.
26:24 The Raiders continue to make significant progress.
26:29 The Raiders aren't yet a Superbowl contender, but they're nowhere near as bad as they looked
26:37 with a one week window last week, even though last week, special teams and defense look
26:42 great.
26:43 I think you're seeing the offense come.
26:45 And I think it's predicated on better quarterback play, which you got tonight.
26:48 I think you had against the chiefs and it's predicated on attacking, attacking, attacking,
26:58 attacking.
27:00 And I think if you're a Raider today, you're going into Christmas and you're feeling really
27:04 good.
27:05 The next team time this team plays, you will be sitting in your living room or maybe at
27:12 the game and you will be basking in the post present fun of Christmas morning, getting
27:25 ready to watch your team play excited, excited, and you should be.
27:33 There are so many reasons around this franchise to be excited.
27:38 I'm telling you, Mark Davis tonight is excited, is excited.
27:45 These players excited, these fans excited.
27:49 You're excited, I'm sure.
27:51 That should make you happy.
27:53 You can see hope.
27:56 You can look down and see, okay, there's hope.
27:58 Now I'm not trying to persuade you.
28:01 You're welcome to be negative.
28:02 I know plenty of you are, but this team is improved.
28:10 This team right now, if they lined up and played last year's team would whoop them.
28:15 That's improvement.
28:17 And I don't think that you can undersell Antonio Pierce.
28:22 And I think a lot of people are.
28:24 I think a lot of people, cause they were frustrated with last week's loss.
28:27 They had no mini camps, OTAs, training camps.
28:31 There's past the trade deadline.
28:34 And now you notice there was a lot of new wrinkles in the offense.
28:39 Not really other than moving Bo upstairs.
28:41 There's a couple of little ones, but most of those wrinkles have been in the playbook
28:45 since they took over, but they have to be in the right place to call them.
28:51 They're growing now.
28:52 Now, let me give you another angle.
28:55 The Chiefs saw a lot tonight as far as plays, schemes, stuff they ran out of different sets
29:04 that now they're going to have to go back and re-game plan for.
29:11 So they've got a game in three days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, yeah, three days.
29:17 And then they've only got seven days to prepare for, or they have eight days cause it's a
29:20 Monday night game, but to prepare for the next one.
29:24 And they got a scheme for some new stuff.
29:26 And oh, by the way, with all this time, the Hardegre Pierce group now gets to add more.
29:36 It's to add more.
29:39 That's pretty cool.
29:40 Players have tomorrow off.
29:41 They got a Friday off.
29:42 They're having their Christmas parties, a team tomorrow.
29:44 That'll be a blast for them, I'm sure.
29:47 But I want to remind you, this is an improving football team.
29:53 And I think that should be exciting for you.
29:55 Okay.
29:56 I want to address one other quick thing.
30:00 I went out to J-Lot tonight, which is where people tailgate.
30:05 And there wasn't a lot of tailgaters.
30:09 Now I left probably two and a half hours before the game and came inside.
30:15 And at the time I asked Zeke Trezevant, who was with me, what he thought.
30:21 We figured about 25% of the lot was tailgating.
30:27 That's about an hour and a half after it opens.
30:29 I'm sure it was more full by game time.
30:31 I just don't know how full.
30:33 So I'm only telling you based on what was there when I was there.
30:38 And I met so many amazing Raider fans.
30:43 And I'm going to tell you, the more I meet you guys and get to know you, it's pretty
30:47 cool.
30:48 It's pretty special.
30:50 And so many of them offered us food and drink and asked to take pictures and all kinds of
30:57 stuff and got to meet so many of you.
31:00 And what I thought was cool was there were Charger fans walking through there and people
31:04 were giving them food and being really nice.
31:06 Oh yeah, they were Razdom.
31:08 Boy, you came a long way to lose.
31:10 Are you one of the 10 Charger fans?
31:13 And Raiders, I thought it was really cool.
31:18 Kids going through there.
31:22 The Raider fans give such a bad reputation.
31:25 I just want to encourage you.
31:28 I don't know if J-Lot is sold out.
31:32 I have no idea.
31:34 But if you can ever get a pass into J-Lot or just go there and tailgate, and if you
31:41 can't, park somewhere else and just walk to J-Lot.
31:44 It is literally like a huge party.
31:48 I don't remember all of them, but there was one called, I think it was Oonce or Oonce
31:54 Nation.
31:56 There was Wrecking Crew, Uncle Jack, I met Uncle Jack, Vegas Ralph.
32:04 There were just so many.
32:05 I apologize if I stopped at your tailgate and I don't remember the name that you had
32:12 for it.
32:13 I met a ton of people, so I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I'm going to come back.
32:17 I'm probably going to come back for the Broncos game.
32:20 That's kind of what I'm thinking, is I'll be back.
32:23 Wait a minute, that better be the game I'm talking about because Kansas City and Indianapolis
32:27 are on the road.
32:28 So anyways, but I'm going to come back.
32:32 But next year, Dexter will be a little bit older.
32:36 I told my wife, I'm going to bring her to a tailgate there.
32:39 I want her to just meet all you guys and I want my son, Dexter, he'll be two and a half
32:45 next year, to enjoy a tailgate.
32:49 I want them raised around enjoying the game of football.
32:53 I just want to say this to you, Raider Nation, this win tonight, I hope you enjoy it.
33:02 This has been a rough several years for you.
33:05 It's been a long time.
33:08 I know it's not a playoff win.
33:09 I know it's not like you just beat Kansas City, but you beat an AFC West rival that
33:15 you lost to earlier in the year and you did it dominant.
33:18 You set NFL records, you set franchise records.
33:25 That's pretty cool.
33:27 And there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic.
33:32 There's a lot of reasons to have hope.
33:37 And I know after last week, a lot of people were having trouble finding those, which surprised
33:44 me because I thought special teams and defense were so good.
33:46 That's two thirds of the game of football.
33:49 That right there should have told you how close you were.
33:51 But you got a coach now who's not afraid to put a boot in people's rear.
33:58 He's proven it.
34:00 He's an attacker.
34:01 I'm sorry.
34:03 I know this makes people angry.
34:06 I wish you could read all the email I get when I say I'm not a fan.
34:10 I'm not, but I'm a respecter.
34:14 And I respect this franchise and I respect this fan base.
34:17 And when I was growing up as a little boy in Michigan, you knew almost every Monday
34:23 night it's going to be Raiders.
34:26 And one thing, and because I'm from Michigan, by the way, I met a lot of people today tailgating
34:33 from Canada.
34:34 So it was great to meet all my Canuck brothers and sisters up there.
34:37 So nice to meet fellow people from the North country.
34:41 It was kind of weird.
34:42 I joked with one of them.
34:43 I said, it's kind of weird being here in December with no snow.
34:47 So anyways, but you knew the Raiders attacked, attacked, attacked, attacked, attacked.
34:56 Now I've been telling you this for several weeks.
34:59 If you watch that game, you saw the Raiders defenses hounding people.
35:02 Boy, they're physical.
35:04 And tonight you saw the offense attack.
35:07 They're not going to go put 63 on the board at Kansas City, but they're going to go to
35:12 Kansas City with more plays in the playbook, rested, and they're going to attack.
35:19 It's going to be a whole different team than the Chiefs played here at Allegiant.
35:25 You got a head coach that has that locker room wrapped around that finger.
35:32 They trust him.
35:33 They believe in him.
35:35 When he speaks, they listen and they respond.
35:41 And you got coaches and players putting in maximum effort.
35:46 That's a good deal.
35:49 That's a recap.
35:51 Christmas came early Raider Nation, and I hope this gave you a jolt.
35:56 Nobody's fooling anybody.
35:58 This isn't a complete package, but it's a better package and it's getting better.
36:05 It's already got a better head coach and it's moving in the right direction.
36:10 Here's your complete recap.
36:12 Eight players scored.
36:15 Eight.
36:17 Eight franchise record points scored in the game.
36:21 Now remember, you had Al Davis coaching in the AFL and he never put that many points
36:28 up.
36:29 There was hope, optimism, in my opinion, other than when the Raiders played the Chargers
36:37 to go to the playoffs.
36:38 This was the best crowd as far as noise and being into it the entire game.
36:44 I didn't hear a Chiefs fan cheer one time.
36:47 I'm sure that they did.
36:48 I'm just saying I didn't hear it.
36:51 This was a Raider crowd tonight and you did it on national TV.
36:57 Look how terrible you looked against Detroit.
37:02 Luckily, the Minnesota game wasn't a national game, but Detroit was.
37:11 Tonight on national TV, you demoralized the Chargers.
37:16 You beat them in every way.
37:20 You demoralized them.
37:22 There's a lot here, a lot to chew on.
37:26 I appreciate you.
37:28 Merry Christmas.
37:29 I have a big surprise coming for you.
37:31 I think Monday, a big one, big one, real big.
37:37 I think you're going to love it.
37:39 I'm not going to say anything because I want it done and in the bag before I tell you about
37:45 it, but you know we're going to have podcasts every single day, articles every single day
37:50 telling you the story of what's going on with your Raiders.
37:53 Very much reasons for you to be optimistic.
37:59 If you don't want to be, that's great, but I'm a reporter.
38:03 So my job is when things are bad to tell you things are bad.
38:08 It's my job to tell you when things are good.
38:10 Right now, things are good.
38:11 Again, I'm not a Super Bowl team.
38:14 Yes, there's holes, but they're improving in every direction.
38:19 Lot to be happy for.
38:20 So remember, you can follow me on Instagrams, IG @HondoSR, Hondo Senior.
38:28 You can follow me on Twitter @HondoCarpenter.
38:30 Remember, you can watch our podcasts also on Spotify or Apple where they're just audio
38:40 only and on our audio only places.
38:46 We also do a second podcast every day that's really, really cool.
38:53 That's just five or 10 minutes.
38:55 It's an exclusive for our audio only.
38:57 So I do two podcasts a day.
38:58 Hope to see you all there.
38:59 Thank you tonight or this morning for watching, listening, and being a part of it.
39:05 This one was for you, Raider Nation.
39:08 That was a gift you needed and to all the players.
39:11 Good people.
39:12 I tell you all the time, I love to see good people succeed.
39:16 This organization is run by good people and so are their fans.
39:21 Thanks everybody.
39:22 God bless you again.
39:23 Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.