Terry Blount, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Winless Raiders coming to Seattle in good spirits

RENTON, Wash. -- The Oakland Raiders come to Seattle this weekend as a 15-point underdog with a 0-7 record. That would tend to be a downer for a lot of teams, but rookie quarterback Derek Carr said it’s not the case for their players.

"I can assure you no one is turning their back on anybody in this building," Carr said Wednesday on a conference call with Seattle Seahawks reporters. "If you were to walk in here right now, you wouldn’t believe that we are 0-7. It’s not where we want to be, but we know the only way to get to where we want to be is by staying together."

Tony Sparano, who took over as the head coach in Oakland when Dennis Allen was fired at the end of September, said no one is hanging his head.

"The mood of my team is outstanding, and I’m not just saying that," Sparano said. "They’re in good spirits. The frustration of the team is we work hard and see ourselves getting better over the last three weeks, but we don’t have the validation of how [hard we] work by getting a win.

"But they are as upbeat as they can be looking forward. We have good veterans here that have been through a lot of wars. Just because it doesn’t go your way early doesn’t mean you can’t turn it around. Every week in this league you get to measure yourself, and this week it’s against one of the best teams in the National Football League, if not, arguably, the best."

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