Here is a quick transcript of Hue Jackson after the Raiders got eliminated from the postseason. This is one of the most amazing documents I ever transcribed in my life. A few points. This is edited. I did not write down every word – but I did most. You’ll notice this sign ***. It indicates quotes I may use in my column which I will start writing now.

Jackson’s opening statement: Didn’t look like a football team that was hungry enough to go win an AFC title, had every opportunity. I didn’t know about the Denver game (Denver lost) until after the game was over but we didn’t play. I’m not going to sugar coat it. We didn’t score. We didn’t slow them down. Those guys had 99-yard drives. We didn’t score in the scoring zone. We couldn’t stop them. It’s unfortunate. I thought this team was ready to take the next step. Didn’t get it done.

***It’s my responsibility I understand that and I’m pissed to say the least.

At whom? (Lowell question)

***I’m pissed at my team. At some point in time as a group of men you go in the game and you can say whatever you want about coaches, you win the game. Here’s your time. Here’s your time to make some plays. We didn’t get them stopped and we didn’t make enough plays. Yeah, I’m pissed at the team. Like I tell them I always put it on me but I am pissed at my team because when you have those kind of opportunities you’ve got to do it and we didn’t do it.

****Why weren’t they ready (Lowell question)
****Maybe they thought that team was going to lay down. I told them all week I knew they wasn’t. This team in San Diego – this is pro football, teams don’t lay down and decide not to play. They’re going to play. After that first (scoring) drive maybe we thought it was going to be easy. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. This is pro football, you have to play every down as hard as you can.

Why no pressure on Rivers?

I wish I knew. We didn’t touch him very much. We didn’t sack him. We didn’t get our hands on him. We didn’t harass him. We didn’t do a lot of the things we did the first time. We got no pressure. We got no nothing.

Is it worse that Denver lost?

It’s going to feel worse once I put on my clothes because obviously we had a chance to win the West. We had a chance to win this division. That’s what you’re trying to do. This was the game, I told them that somehow, some way we were going to get in. All we had to do was take care of our business and win the game. This team understood that. We didn’t get it done. That’s disappointing. We didn’t get it done. That pisses me off.

Is that what you told the team?

You doggone right that’s what I told them. I’m pissed at that football team because I think we’re better than that. You can’t fight as hard as we fought in Kansas City and give yourself a chance to come at home and you play at home and you play like that with an opportunity to win the division. I don’t have an answer for that. I’ll fix it as I continue to move forward.

On the defense:

***I’m not making excuses for nobody. I’ve taken this thing on all year. Bottom line is we don’t tackle very well in the secondary, don’t make the plays you’ve got to make in the secondary. We’re not where we need to be. We’ve been hanging on defensively all year and you get exploited by a good quarterback and that’s what he did.

Was it one thing on defense or overall?

I think it was overall. Eleven guys gotta play together. Their 11 guys on offense played together and ours (on defense) didn’t. And on offense we had chances. We’re kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.

***Do you need new players on defense?

***I’m not going to say. I know one thing, this team needs an attitude adjustment. The killer instinct has got to exist here. It’s something I’ve talked about. When you don’t finish games at the end like we haven’t, this has been going on all year. I mean, this feeling I’ve had has been there all year and you try to change it, change it, change it and I haven’t been able to get it changed. I know what needs to happen and we’ll move forward.

He is asked about the defensive scheme.

I think there are a lot of adjustments we gotta make. Obviously, what we just did ain’t good enough. It’s not good enough for the National Football League.

What was your game plan?

It was to cover these guys, get after these guys, harass the quarterback. We didn’t get there.

***Do you have the killer instinct? (Lowell question)

***You’re doggone right I do.

***You were not able to infuse that into the players. (Lowell comment)

***Absolutely. Obviously, I wasn’t. I’m pissed about this but it’s going to push me into this next season to really make everybody that’s here understands – because this is going to burn me for a long time – to make everybody understand what it takes to win consistently. I’m turned off hearing we don’t have good enough players. We have good enough players.

More on defense:

***What I’ve seen today is kind of what I saw, I’ve seen the same thing. When you play defense in the National Football League you’ve got to hunt. You can’t give up 29 (38) points and expect to win. I’ve challenged our guys. Obviously, they’re not responding to it.

How much of the defensive problems are on defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan?

***We’ll see. I think Chuck knows how I feel. I’m disappointed over there. I have been. It’s not like we haven’t had conversations. Chuck knows what I feel. It’s not good enough.

Will he be back next season?

I’m not going to answer that right now.

Re: penalties:

***It’s a problem. It’s not why we lost today. It’s a problem on this football team. I know this is not what Coach Davis left me to do. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

***Will you take a stronger hand in the defense?

***Let me tell you something, I’m going to take a stronger hand in this whole team this whole organization. There ain’t no way that I’m going to feel like I feel today a year from now. I promise you that. I ain’t feeling like this no more. This is a joke. To have a chance at home to beat a football team that is reeling after being beaten in Detroit, who’s one of your rivals and they come in here and beat us like that. I’m going to take a hand in everything.

Are you sorry you didn’t say this a couple of weeks ago?

***Sorry for what? Why did I need to say this a couple of weeks ago when we still got a chance to win this division? I didn’t need to do that. I mean, come on, I’ve taken it all year for this football team because I’m the leader of this whole thing, but I know what the issues are. This team isn’t dumb. But hey if I throw people under the bus I’m not a good leader that way. I’m not doing that. I’m not throwing them under the bus now. We are not where we need to be. I need to get them better and we need to make some changes and some adjustments and that’s what we’re going to do.

 

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