Raiders 20, Browns 16
Q. Gardner, could you talk about your rookie linemen tonight?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Huge roles in our win today, man against a really good defense, a really good defensive front. Those dudes stepped in and didn't hesitate and did exactly what we needed them to do. Cool.
Q. Obviously this team has wanted to run the ball effectively all season. Today it finally did. How much easier was your job knowing that these guys could get the critical yards in the critical times?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Yeah, it was huge, man. Hats off to their line. They locked it in. They've been challenged these last few weeks, and they turned it on today and played a great game. And our backs, Z and Alex ran hard, got some big plays, big first downs, and when you're able to do that, and the play-action stuff starts working, makes everything easier.
Q. When you were down 10-nothing, what was your mind-set?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Just gotta score the next drive. These games are long, they're always long. You've got to keep punching, give yourselves chances and have faith in our defense that they're want going to keep giving up points. They tightened the screws and shut them down. That's the reason we won the game so, I mean, keeping the faith on the other two sides of the ball was big.
Q. Gardner, coming off Carolina without Maxx and Davante today, what does that say about the fortitude of this team?
GARDNER MINSHEW: It's huge, man. A lot of adversity this week, no doubt about it, but happy to see how we responded. Friday practice, we kind of turned the corner. The overall mood of the team changed, and everybody was feeling it again. So it was fun to get out there and play some real team football, and I'm excited to build on this and keep moving forward.
Q. Gardner, how important is it for a quarterback to be able to get so many different players involved? You literally had a multiplicity of guys touch the football. How important is that to be successful in this league?
GARDNER MINSHEW: It's huge. That's what balance is. It's not always run/pass, but how do you get all of your players touches. We had guys that even with a couple of touches, had an impact on the game. DJ, speed sweep, huge. Brock on that first speed sweep. He didn't have as many yards for catches but like really impactful plays. We had several guys that filled that role today, and it was awesome. It felt like a real team win.
Q. How fun was that for you just to see the flashes of speed, not only in the end zone for DJ Turner and Tucker, but also bring a new life to the stadium and the crowd as well?
GARDNER MINSHEW: Absolutely man. Those dudes, Trey, real deal burner. We gotta figure out how to let him run, get him the ball and let him run, and same with DJ, man, from preseason, from camp that dude has just continued to make plays and be a really good player. Gotta continue to build with them and excited for where this thing can go.
Q. You lose the first game. You go on the road, have a big win against Baltimore then the let down against Carolina. Now you have the momentum again, but you're going on the road against Denver, a division game. How do you keep it in check to make sure what happened last week doesn't happen again?
GARDNER MINSHEW: For sure, I think -- I don't know, I felt like the vibe was off last week. I feel like as long as we continue to foster that, the celebrations in the end zone, the celebrating big plays in practice, as long as we're having a smile and enjoying what we're doing and enjoying the people that we are around, I think we're a really good football team. Thank y'all.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports