Josh McDaniels on Costly Turnovers in Loss to Steelers

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw three interceptions in the club's Christmas Eve loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Las Vegas Raiders were in the "giving" spirit this Christmas Eve, but not in the way they had hoped.

The club turned the ball over three times in its 13-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, giving away crucial opportunities to come out on top for a must-need win.

"It's tough to overcome," said Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels in his postgame press conference. "If you lose the turnover battle in this league, most of the time, you lose the game. So our ability to take care of the football, I mean, was a strength earlier in the year. Obviously we haven't done a very good job of that in the last month or so. We've gotten away with it a little bit, but tonight, just cost us too many other opportunities. 

"We didn't have possession of the ball much because we turned it over and had some negative plays and penalties in the second half, and that kind of hurt our ability to, I'd say, continue to stick runs in there and try to eventually get something going. ... When you turn the ball over and give the other team more opportunities than you have and give field position, it's impossible to overcome."

Saturday was yet another tight loss that Las Vegas wasn't able to overcome down the stretch. 

"The guys work hard," McDaniels said. "And to not be able to pull out some of these -- we've pulled out plenty, but to lose in this fashion when you have a shot to win, you realize you're close, but close doesn't really count in this league. And so obviously, have to do a better job of trying to close the gap on the things we're not doing well so that we can make the plays we need to make to win."

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