By Richard Seymour: “Our Run Defense Will be a Lot Better Than it Was Last Year”
August 13, 2012 – 10:12 am by Brad Gagnon
The Oakland Raiders are the last AFC team to start their preseason as they prepare to host the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. It’ll mark the beginning of a new era for the Raiders, who have a new regime in place and are entering their first full season sans Al Davis.
Richard Seymour joined Murph and Mac on KNBR in San Francisco to discuss the new front-office regime to start the post-Al Davis era, the run defense and the team’s desire to cut down on costly penalties.
On the new front-office regime, led by new general manager Reggie McKenzie:
“At this point right now I think they have a clear direction in terms of where we want to go as a team. I really enjoy defensive guys, so first speaking of McKenzie, he’s a defensive guy, he knows football, he came from a great organization in the Packers. And understanding there’s a way to do anything, so I like where we’re headed with him. And then in terms of Coach Allen, he’s a no-nonsense, straightforward, smart football guy that you can expect to put you in the right places and make plays. And he wants a smart, tough, physical football team, and that’s what we’re trying to go out and do at this point right now. We have our work cut out for us. There isn’t a pill that we can take to get through camp or anything like that. But these guys are pushing us and they’re letting us know there’s no shortcuts to it. So I understand that, the new regime understands that and we definitely are on the right track, headed to where we want to go.”
On the run defense, which struggled last year:
“I just think it’s attention to detail. I think we have the talent. I think everyone knows that. It isn’t where we don’t have talent to get it done, we definitely have that. I just think it’s everybody committing to our common goal and being where you’re supposed to be. The only thing I can go out and do is do my job, but everyone has to have that same mentality and I think at this point that’s what we’re building now. So I’m not gonna predict anything at this point, but I definitely will say our run defense will be a lot better than it was last year.”
On cutting down on penalties:
“I think even though we won eight games last year, if we take some of those games and just finish the games at the end, we could have added four more games that we could have won and easily been a playoff team if we don’t do some things to mentally beat ourselves. So that’s encouraging for us but it’s also we know we can do it, but we’ve got to go out and do it. That’s something that we have to do. I’m not a big fan of looking back in the past in terms of what we gotta do, but I think you have to understand the type of team that you are in order to move forward. And we understood what held us back last year and, like I said, with the new regime I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction, for sure.”
Listen to Richard Seymour on KNBR here
Tags: NFL Preseason, Oakland Raiders, Richard Seymour
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Aug 14, 2012: Pro Football Zone – Richard Seymour confident the Raiders run defense will improve
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