The Las Vegas Raiders (7-9) are set to face their AFC West rivals, the Denver Broncos (8-8), on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in what will be the finale to the 2023 NFL regular season.
The season will end with more questions than answers for the Silver and Black.
What will Owner Mark Davis do with the direction of the franchise?
Despite the questions, this team is united behind the leadership of Interim Coach Antonio Pierce, and they want him to land this job permanently.
A terrific performance on Sunday will be the last impression the 2023 Las Vegas Raiders can make to their owner, and I expect them to do it.
Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham addressed the media for his usual press conference ahead of the Broncos game, and we have it all for you.
Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham
Q: Your defense is performing at such a high level right now. With only one game left in the regular season, do you continue to push for:
‘Hey, let’s leave the last game as our best game?’ Or are there other things you may be looking at? What’s your mindset?
Coach Graham: “Push to the finish, we’ve got to finish what we started.
The goal is to play great defense and play it consistently.
Thankfully, our last game is here at home in front of our fans, and we want to put on a good showing there.
We want to limit the explosives from Denver, try to limit the running game, tackle well, get off the blocks and all the stuff we talk about, that’s the goal.
That’s always the goal. And turn over the ball.”
Q: Considering you’re going up against a familiar quarterback in former Raider Jarrett Stidham, what are some challenges that he presents? But also some of the pros that come along with knowing him as well as you guys do?
Coach Graham: “The thing that stands out to me is, again, the quick decision making.
He does have an arm, he’s mobile in the pocket.
It looked like last week he had a pretty good understanding of the offense that Sean’s [Payton] running, so all the normal challenges.
Each week we have to prepare for multiple quarterbacks because you never know what could happen in our sport.
Any game, the next guy could be up. So, we’re looking forward to the challenge.
They have good weapons offensively and then the scheme from Sean is top notch.
He’s one of the best ever to do it, in my opinion. So, we’ve got our hands full this week.”
