TINA NGUYEN: Daniel, Monday Night Football, primetime Packers versus Raiders. This one a special game for you as you'll be facing your younger brother, Anders. What does a game like this mean to your family?
CARLSON: I mean, it means a lot. It's obviously, you know, playing Monday night are always a treat. It's always special to a player. But to play against your little brother, have all the family there and stuff. It's a really cool experience that, you know, you dream this day maybe comes eventually, but there's a lot of hard work to get here.
NGUYEN: How's the group chat right now? Is it pretty quiet, does big brother have to kind of come in and step in and cool things off?
CARLSON: I mean, there's a lot of logistics—people flying and saying 'hey, what are you wearing?' Because you can't, you know, just wear Raiders gear or just wear green gear. So a lot of plans of, you know, hey, let's celebrate, but also a little trash talk. So it's it's a good mix.
NGUYEN: We love that. We love that. So, from being in the yard to spending a season together at Auburn, what does it mean to have made it in the NFL with your little brother.
CARLSON: Yeah. It's really cool because obviously, growing up as brothers you know, you have all that brotherly competition and fighting. And so we've we've gotten lots of competition in the past, but this is the first time we'll actually be competing on a field, a football field together. Realistic is and then yeah, we were teammates at Auburn together and I kind of got to take him under my wing and that was really special.
NGUYEN: From breaking franchise records to all the game winners that you had so far, what's been your most memorable kick?
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I would say the one to send us into the playoffs against the Chargers. And what was that? 2021? That was just really special, you know, to make it to my first playoffs ever. And it was just such a unique situation with the game being tied. And, you know, both of us are going in if we tie it. You know, there was just so many jokes about it throughout the week. But to make that kick and just know what it meant to the team, the organization, the city, all the fans, all of Raider Nation was just really special.
NGUYEN: What's one thing about kickers that people don't know about that maybe really do need to know about?
CARLSON: Oh, that's a good question. I would say a lot of people think I mean, we are football players and I think the beauty of football is there are so many different and unique positions out there. I like to say a lot of times we relate to golfers out there because we are kind of like mercenaries that we're just out there once every 20, 30 plays. But when we do go out there, it's not a physical sport, but it is a very mental sport.
NGUYEN: You've been living in Las Vegas for about four years now. So what's your favorite thing about living in Vegas?
CARLSON: I mean, besides the heat, obviously, in this summer, the weather here is incredible. You love having access to, you know, all the world famous entertainment, restaurants, whatever it is. But also, you can drive 15 minutes, be at home and feel like you're in the suburbs. You don't live in a city. And I love that side of it. Having the balance of the best of both worlds.
NGUYEN: What is your favorite restaurant in Las Vegas?
CARLSON: Well, if I'm going for a nice dinner. There's I mean, there's so many great options and I don't want to single one out. But if I'm going for, you know, just a casual dinner or lunch. Taco Y Taco down on Eastern. Go there a lot with the wife and kids. And then we walk over to Nielsen's Frozen Custard. I've got to give them a shout out. And we kind of do that maybe once a month or so—they have some of my favorite stuff there.
NGUYEN: Daniel, As we are in the endzone here, what do the Raiders need to do on Monday to get a win over the Packers?
CARLSON: Yeah, I think we just need to be ourselves. You know, every game in the NFL's a tough, tough fight and so you know just be ourselves All the X's and O's get handled this week. All the preparation gets handled. So you know, just use that we've been practicing well and take it over to game day.
