Raiders quickly moving focus to Chiefs

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Things for the Raiders seemed dreary following the club’s 34-3 loss to the Jets on Sunday. But time stops for no one, and head coach Jon Gruden had at least one positive to start his Monday press conference.

“Tough day yesterday,” Gruden said, “but the sun came up today.”

The Raiders (6-5) had plenty working against them heading into Sunday’s game. Not looking to make excuses, Gruden said Oakland wasn’t caught looking ahead to the Dec. 1 matchup against Kansas City (7-4).

“Not with this team. We had four straight games come down to the last play of the game — Houston, Detroit, the Chargers, Cincinnati,” Gruden said. “Team’s fighting hard — sometimes I think fatigue might be a problem. A six-hour flight, we were delayed two hours coming in. Three-hour time change, East Coast kickoff at 1 o’clock was hard when I coached a veteran Raiders team years ago. And we are not a lot of experienced people when it comes to rain and cold.”

“Hopefully, that got our attention and it makes us better as we prepare for one of the best teams in football in another cold, nasty place.”

It’s true, the Raiders will take on the Chiefs in temperatures that are currently forecasted to be in the high 30s. Given where the Raiders practice, it’s tough to simulate those kinds of conditions throughout the week.

“I’m not a genius, I’m not Thomas Edison — I don’t know how to do that We’ll just try to show pictures of people that are cold that deal with cold,” Gruden said, tongue firmly in cheek. “We’re not going to overanalyze it.”

And Kansas City is coming off a bye week, which makes Chiefs head coach Andy Reid famously tough to beat. He’s compiled a 17-3 record in games after a bye week, though that record is 4-2 with Kansas City.

Gruden said he expects the Chiefs to be “fresh as daisies” after the week off, saying the combination of Reid’s good coaching and good players have led to the post-bye success.

Plus, the Raiders’ secondary has been riddled with injuries — which has in turn affected communication. Jets quarterback Sam Darnold finished Sunday’s game completing 20 of 29 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. With starting slot corner Lamarcus Joyner out and safety D.J. Swearinger playing just his second game as a Raider, Gruden admitted Monday the back end of the defense had issues handling certain shifts and formations.

“You’ve got to make adjustments. Some of these guys are learning the defense who haven’t played together. And I think it’s a combination of that,” Gruden said. “You don’t have to be a genius, but you’re not going to be as good communicating and adjusting on the fly as you would be if you had some continuity there.”

Joyner has a chance to be back for Sunday’s game, which would help. But generally, the Raiders must execute better in all phases in order to even be competitive against the Chiefs.

Gruden said he feels confident the Raiders can put the ugly loss behind them to focus on what’s ahead.

“That doesn’t mean we’re going to go out there and do anything,” he said. “We’re gonna have to earn every first down. We’re gonna have to work hard to get Mahomes off the field.

”It’ll be a great challenge in one of the great places, and great rivalries in football. So hopefully it brings out a much better performance in us.”

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Contact Myles Simmons at msimmons@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @MylesASimmons on Twitter.