TODAY’SGAME RB Justin Fargas
I've said it before but it's worth
repeating, particularly right now
as we have our backs up against the
wall: You get what you deserve in
the NFL.
Three weeks ago we were 9-3,
and now we're 9-6. I know people
were writing us into the playoffs
when we were 9-3, and I'm sure
people are writing us off now. But
it's never that easy.
We put ourselves in a good
position by coming out of the third
quarter with a 9-3 record; that's
what we wanted to do. But, at that
point, we still had to take care of
business, and so far we haven't
been able to do that. There are a
lot of reasons why we lost the last
three games, but I'm not here to
make excuses. We got what we
deserved. Now the point is to
focus on what is still possible, and
realize that we can still achieve our
goals. Yes, we need a little help
now, but we can still take care of
business on our end, and we can
still get what we deserve…in a
good way.
I can tell you this. Nobody on
our team is spending much time
worrying about what's going on
anywhere else in the league.
There's a lot of pride in our locker
room, a lot of players who expect to
win and don't take losing very easily.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Oakland Raiders
Even if we didn't have a playoff
spot on the line, I can guarantee
you that our guys would come out
today ready to leave it all on the
field. These guys have worked too
hard all year to accept losing. It's
not a good taste in our mouths. We
want to finish the season on a
strong note, and if that means a
trip to the playoffs too, then we're
ready to continue the fight.
All you need to know about
how badly our guys want this is
that our training room has been a
busy place lately. That's not an
excuse, that's a compliment to a lot
of these players who are showing
incredible toughness here in the
last month of the season. We've
had to overcome a lot of injuries –
just like most of the teams around
the league – and we've done it with
some guys stepping up and some
guys playing when they're not 100
percent. That's one thing I'm really
proud of this season, how these
guys have worked to fight through
every obstacle. We had a lot of
players at less than full strength
against the Chargers but they
sucked it up and gave us everything
they had. Heck, Jeff Garcia was
bloody at the end of that game but
he wanted to go in and play the last
series.
Now we have to show some
mental toughness. This isn't the
best position we're in, but we've
got a shot. We have to shake off
the last three weeks, focus completely
on this game and just get
the job done. It's not going to be
easy. Nothing is in this league.
The Raiders aren't going to lie
down for us. They're obviously still
fighting, too. You saw that last
weekend when they took it to a
Houston team that came into that
game red-hot. They've got a lot of
talented young players and some-
Jon
Gruden