Charles Woodson was examining his phone or his laptop’s Internet browser or some 24-hour sports station when he stumbled across something he didn’t like.
The Raiders were 3-point underdogs to the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon. Here comes the aggravating part: At home.
Athletes comb the earth for motivation. The veteran safety found some there, outside the standard logic.
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“I think it’s fine for some people to play from the underdog role, but I don’t like it,” Woodson said. “I don’t like being the underdog. I want to be expected to win games. I want these guys to go out there and be expected to win games. Yeah, it’s a little premature to be thinking that far ahead, playoff-wise, but there’s no reason you can’t think of yourself as a playoff team.”
There it is. The P-word. Cropping up after Week 8.
Woodson said it’s far too early to think about the postseason but, if the season ended today the Raiders would be the AFC’s top wild card team. Sunday’s 34-20 win over the Jets earned that spot.
[BAIR: Top 5 takeaways from Raiders' Week 8 win over Jets]
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The season obviously doesn’t end today. There’s no denying that the Raiders are in the mix, currently among the better teams in a top-heavy conference.
Respect is pouring in from the outside after that Jets win.
“We’re gaining some respect,” Woodson said. “For those who aren’t ready (to give it), that’s fine, too. We’re just going to keep chopping wood.”
(Pause. Anyone else catch Charles' subtle homage to Jack Del Rio?. Play.)
The Raiders will be favored in some games if they continue going strong. They can match up against other top teams – they’ll see two, Pittsburgh and Minnesota, in the next fortnight – and beat them if things go right. Do that enough and you’re in the playoff picture.
Head coach Jack Del Rio signs off on this topic. When you do well, national postseason play enters the conversation.
“There’s nothing wrong with paying attention, but we understand what’s most important is coming in every day and coming in with clear eyes, lot of energy and a willingness to go to work and come in and work with purpose,” Del Rio said. “That’s what we’ve been doing. That’s the process that allows us to make the growth that we’ve made.
“We have a lot of growth in front of us so we have to continue to get that kind of effort, that kind of commitment to be a really good football team.”
Del Rio wants his Raiders to adopt Woodson’s logic and expect to win games. Confidence is desired, and should be fostered through preparation and positive results. Swagger is okay, too.
The Raiders should feel good about winning two straight games, and how they did it. They jumped out to huge leads and sustained them against talented players. The defense held firm against the run and the big play. The offense ran efficiently and made big plays downfield due to blocking and Derek Carr’s cannon arm.
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That’s why this Raiders resurgence seems sustainable. The Raiders play fundamental defense and don’t give away free points. They maintain possession and they have a quarterback.
If they can stay healthy, there’s no reason this level of play can’t continue. Injury issues at certain spots could prove troublesome to another quality draft class away from being deep, but the Raiders have made do with versatile and flexible schemes.
The Raiders have hovered around .500 most of the year, but want to unbalance scales with a winning streak. There is motivation to maintain their current work ethic and routine. The efforts are bearing fruit. That should positively reinforce good behavior and prevent confident from becoming cocky.
“We’re very blessed to be in the situation we’re in,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “I handle it by just being grounded in who I am and how I was brought up and what I believed in. I’m never going to get too high or too low. I’m just going to be excited about where we’re at, but know that there’s a lot of work ahead of us. It’ll never get to my head because first of all I have two big brothers that will fix that.”
Each unit has big brothers, like Woodson and Donald Penn and Marcel Reece and Michael Crabtree keep younger, win-starved Raiders in line and focused on beating the Steelers next week.
[BAIR: Raiders' Crabtree more than a mentor: 'He's a playmaker']
“I know what has gotten us to this point. I know we want more,” Carr said. “We’re not satisfied with just oh we’re over .500, we’re not satisfied with that. I’m not built that way. We’ll go back to work and make sure we keep growing.”
Improvement was expected while transitioning from awful to good, but Del Rio never set limits on the rate of progress. His team has some juice right now, and could turn positive momentum into a real jolt for the franchise.
“I’m proud of our guys, our staff, our players, how hard we’re working at the process of being good,” Del Rio said. “We wanted to come out here (against the Jets) relaxed and be prepared and play good football, that’s what we did.
“There’s more to go. There are things that we have to do better as we go through the season. We will continue to keep the pedal down, keep grinding and look to be better.”