Derrick Johnson: “We’ve gotta go back to the drawing board”
By Matt Conner
Derrick Johnson admitted after the game that the loss to the Oakland Raiders hurts more than most because of the way it went down.
The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Oakland Raiders on Thursday Night Football, a close 31-30 game that featured multiple endings due to penalties. Overall, the Chiefs had a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter and somehow gave it away due to the Raiders ability to move the chains at will and further officiating miscues that were a part of the entire evening for K.C.
Derrick Johnson admitted after the game that the final outcome was hard to take. The Chiefs veteran inside linebacker spoke to reporters after the game while in the locker room and discussed what he was taking away from the game.
“You gotta just make a play at the end of the day,” said Johnson. They needed everything to go for them going down for the last score and they had everything happen in their favor, including penalties. This is a tough game. It’s a tough game to win, but this one hurts.”
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Moving forward, Johnson, who had 7 tackles on the night, was clear that he still believed very much in the players around him and yet he was also not ready to completely turn the corner into the typical platitudes that coaches and players say after a game, win or lose.
“We’ll respond the right way,” said Johnson. “We have to. We have a lot of veteran leadership on this team. We have a good team, a good team. I’ve won a lot here at the Black Hole and came up short this time, but we have a good team. It’s not what happens to you but how you respond after something happens.”
Even more importantly, Johnson admitted that the Chiefs have a lot to figure out now that they have lost two games in a row, something they haven’t done since the 2015 regular season.
“We’ve gotta go back to the drawing board. Losing two… we haven’t done that in a while around here.”