Raiders DE Justin Tuck: Expect A Bloodbath Against 49ers
The Oakland Raiders found the perfect tonic for the team's most lopsided loss in more than a half-century: the schedule.
Instead of spending Monday dwelling on a 52-0 loss to the St. Louis Rams, the Raiders have already turned their attention to this week's game against the Bay Area rival San Francisco 49ers in a contest defensive end Justin Tuck believes will be a "bloodbath."
"Everybody in this area has been waiting for this game for a long time," Tuck said. "I think that's the best thing that could have happened after a loss like that, is to have this type of game where all of your attention has to be focused on the 49ers going forward."
It's quite understandable that the Raiders don't want to look back at Sunday's game for too long. They did watch the film and make the necessary corrections. There were quite a few after the team's worst loss since falling 55-0 to Houston in the opener of the 1961 season - two years before Al Davis first joined the franchise.
The defense allowed Shaun Hill to lead St. Louis to five touchdowns on the opening five drives of the game as Oakland (1-11) had no answer for the Rams' speed on the outside with Tre Mason, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey.
The offense didn't generate a first down until the deficit was 21-0, turned the ball over a season-high five times and converted just 4 of 18 third-down attempts.
That led to rookie Derek Carr getting pulled in the fourth quarter after going 24 for 39 for 173 yards and two interceptions for a season-low 50.5 quarterback rating.
"There was just no need to keep Derek out there at that point any longer," interim coach Tony Sparano said.
Matt Schaub took over and committed two turnovers, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Trumaine Johnson. Schaub lost his starting job in Houston last year after setting an NFL record by having an interception returned for a TD in four straight games.
It all added up to quite a step back after the Raiders finally broke through with their first win of the season 10 days earlier in a 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
"It is unacceptable," receiver James Jones said. "We're all pros in there. Everybody has to hold themselves accountable, and that was unacceptable to go out there and put that type of game on film after a big win."
Tuck said some players might have basked in the first win a bit too long but expects they have learned their lesson about turning over a new page each week.
Sparano doesn't expect that to be an issue when the team begins practicing for San Francisco on Wednesday.
"This team's always been great about bouncing back and they're really good about being resilient and they're really willing," he said. "That's one of the things I love the most about this group, is their will to kind of fight back. I don't anticipate that being a problem this week, but we will get work in."
NOTES: Sparano said he was hopeful RB Latavius Murray would be back this week after missing Sunday's game with a concussion. ... Sparano said he was concerned about the health of TE Brian Leonhardt, who has been knocked out of the past two games with concussions. ... There was no update on the status of RT Menelik Watson, who left the game with an ankle injury.
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