Head coach sets a tone and a standard during first press conference of the summer
The Las Vegas Raiders brought in head coach Pete Carroll this offseason with hopes that Carroll’s pedigree as a championship-winning coach would allow the organization to finally have a leader who can actually change the team’s culture. Over the last 20 years or so, the Raiders have had plenty of people stand up at the podium and say they were going to turn things around, only for them to fail.
But there’s something different when a coach who has three trophies (two in college, one in the NFL) hanging on his mantle says it, and the soon-to-be 74-year-old hasn’t minced words since taking the job, stating he wants to “win now” several times. So, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the message continued as the Raiders opened training camp on Tuesday.
“Oh, we are going to win a ton,” Carroll replied when asked what constitutes success for his team this season. “We are going to win a bunch of games. I can’t even imagine anything else. I’ve been winning 10 games a year for 20 years or something, you know?
“I mean, what are my expectations? We are going to win a bunch, and I don’t care who hears that. It doesn’t matter to me. It ain’t about what anybody hears. It’s about what we do. And so, that’s why expectations are really high. The standards need to be [set], so that the expectations can be met. We’ll see what happens. I wish I could guarantee it to you, but I can’t even think of what else it could be, other than being really successful.”
Carroll is clearly sending a message to the locker room that there’s going to be a high bar this season as practices are about to get going in Las Vegas. But the time for talking about it is coming to an end, and as he mentioned, it’s about what the Raiders do moving forward. We’ll find out soon enough if the team lives up to its coach’s expectations.
In Other Raiders Links:
- Flurry of veterans added: The Raiders signed five free agents as the team reported for training camp, including safety Jamal Adams, who played for Carroll in Seattle.
- Quinton Jefferson works out: One more veteran could be signing with Las Vegas, as the team hosted the defensive tackle for a workout, per ESPN’s Ryan McFadden. Jefferson played for the Raiders in 2021.
- Tom Telesco headed to media: The former general manager is joining Sirius XM NFL as a radio host with Bob Papa.
- Early 53-man roster projection: Silver and Black Pride takes an early stab at predicting who will make the cut at the end of training camp.