Raiders' Josh McDaniels Entire Comments Post Beating Belichick
LAS VEGAS, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders had one of the most historic finishes tonight after beating the New England Patriots, 30-24, at Allegiant Stadium.
Now standing at 6-8 on the season, the Raiders' NFL Playoff dreams are still alive. Josh McDaniels spoke after the game to break down the win.
You can watch the entire press conference below and read the transcript.
Raiders Head Coach Josh McDaniels
Opening Statement: "Well, I’ve stood up here a lot this year after some crazy finishes. I just told the guys in the locker room; we keep fighting and keep playing with great effort. We obviously have a lot of character in our locker room and continue to fight and press on even what it felt like it was hard. Lost a lead there late the fourth quarter and guys came back and made the plays that they needed to make to win. I mean, its football, the ball bounces crazy, crazy ways. It's not a predictable game sometimes. And obviously the ending was probably the most insane ending I think I've ever been a part of, but we'll take it. We'll take it for sure."
Q: How much pride do you have in them [the team] for following what you've taught?
Coach McDaniels: “A lot of pride. They've been through a lot; it's been well documented. We've been in every game except for one and all that, and we certainly haven't been perfect in any of them. But you can't take away from their effort and their ability to handle adversity and the character that they have. They just continue to fight and continue to give great effort. And fortunately, here the last month or month and a half, the ball has bounced our way a few times and we've made the plays that we needed to make at the end to win. I mean, sometimes it's not pretty. It's not about style points, it's just about the result. Very proud of the effort and the result today."
Q: When Chandler catches it on the last play, what were you thinking?
Coach McDaniels: “Don't get tackled by the quarterback. I mean, literally I just was thinking -- I don't know what the word would be, but once Rhamondre [Stevenson] pitched the ball to Jakobi [Meyers], I figured we'd probably just tackle whoever had it and then that would be it, and we'd go to overtime. And then, when he lateraled the ball, I had no idea. It didn't seem like a lateral play to me when they handed the ball off to the back. So, when they handed it to the back, I though: ‘OK, tackle him and go to overtime.’ And then when I saw the ball up in the air and then I saw Chandler underneath it, I’m thinking: ‘Oh my god, we might have a chance at this.’ And then when he caught it, I saw Mac [Jones] was back there, and just hoping that he could avoid whatever effort Mac had to tackle him and then hopefully had enough juice left in his body to get to the end zone."
Q: Can you just talk about that final drive to tie the game?
Coach McDaniels: “In that situation, everybody in the stadium knows you're throwing it, and I really give credit to our offensive line at that point. Dylan [Parham] went out, and then we had Hroniss [Grasu] in there and Jordan [Meredith] was playing quite a bit of snaps today. He and Hroniss, they hadn't played football – the two of them haven't played in a game since August. So, I give them a lot of credit for fighting and battling and being able to hang in there on that drive. Gave Derek [Carr] enough time to make some throws. I thought Mack Hollins really kind of got us going there on the fourth-down play, and then had another one. Darren [Waller] made a good catch down the middle and then Keelan [Cole]. Like most teams have done, they paid a lot of attention to Davante [Adams]. Trying to really avoid him beating them, which they did a pretty good job of that. We had a couple opportunities, but I thought the other guys really had to come up and step up big, and they made the plays they needed to make."
Q: Can you talk about the penalties today?
Coach McDaniels: “I mean, it seemed like we were in between silent cadence, using a cadence. I mean, obviously, they had a little bit of a showing here from their side. They are unforced errors. And so, we like to pride ourselves on not beating ourselves, and we certainly put ourselves in a lot of holes today with a handful of offensive penalties. And then we had some, I'd say some special teams penalties. Like, we had a good return, but then the ball comes back to the nine-yard line. So, we lost quite a bit of field position in some of those swings as well. We definitely have things to clean up for sure. We've got to do a good job of trying to address those and fix them. No excuses."
Q: How does it make you feel knowing that you're 2-0 against Bill Belichick?
McDaniels: "Yeah, it's really not about me. It's really about our team, obviously. That team over there and that organization, I mean, they've been the standard for a long time. Our team knew the type of challenge this was going to be, we knew they would be disciplined. We knew they would be competitive, physical, tough and play hard in all three phases on every down, and that's what we got from them. I thought they really did a good job of – they had some adversity early in the game. We blocked the punt, we scored right before the half, and then they were able to sustain the momentum they created there at the beginning of the third quarter and eventually take the lead. I obviously give Bill [Belichick] a ton of credit for some of the adjustments that he made in the game and got them back in it and ahead. And just grateful for the effort and performance of our team here down the stretch."
Q: On the Keelan Cole catch, did you get a good look at the catch. Were you surprised that held up over review, or did you think he was in?
Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I obviously saw him catch the ball. I think the biggest thing they were trying to determine was, was there really a clear angle that you can say without a shadow of a doubt that has to be overturned. And usually when they call it a touchdown and it takes that long, if you're the team that wants it to be a touchdown, that's usually a good sign. So, I think they were struggling with trying to determine whether or not his toe was actually on the white or did his foot hit and then eventually got to the white, or did it not hit the white. So, they just said it was inconclusive and so they left it up."
Q: From the opposite vantage point, is there ever really a way to expect something in terms of this adjustments?
Coach McDaniels: "I think the one thing you can expect is that if you're hurting them with something, that they're probably going to adjust and stop that from hurting them. It doesn't matter what phase of the game it would be in. So, I thought we had some success running the ball early, and then that obviously tapered off a little bit. We stopped them with some things early, and then they kind of made some adjustments and found some success certainly with the running game there in the second half. He's the best, ever. And to sit there and assume that you're just going to hurt him with the same thing over and over is silly, they're not going to let that happen. So, I thought they did a really good job of preparing their team and then they made some adjustments there in the second half that really hurt us."
Q: How important is it for your team to be on the other end of one of these games today?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, we've had our fair share of close losses and ones we let “quote unquote” get away. And so, I love the fight of our team and the fact that they came back and tied it. I mean, none of us would have expected the last play to happen the way that it did. So, that was just good fortune. But I think our team continued to fight and play hard and never got down on themselves. And that's a good football team over there, clearly, and they made things hard on us especially in the second half. Just proud of the effort and the fight and the finish of our team."
Q: With your relationships with the Patriots, what are you feeling right now doing that to them?
Coach McDaniels: "I mean, look, it's football. I obviously have a lot of people over there that I have great feeling for and admiration and respect. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the people there. So, I'll never forget that. But I think I'm happiest for the group in our locker room. The ball has certainly bounced a couple of funny ways for us this year and I think our team was really thrilled to have that kind of bounce our way today, and in a crazy ending. I spent some time on the field after the game because there's a lot of people out there who have helped me to get to where I'm at. And hopefully I did my part when I was there."
Q: Have you seen in the past where some crazy ending like this can propel teams? Or is this over tomorrow and you go on?
Coach McDaniels: "It's funny, isn't Saturday the anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. I don't know what they’re going to call this one, but it'll probably have a nickname here shortly. Yeah, I don't know. Look, every week is hard in our league, as you guys know. And Pittsburgh, obviously [Coach] Mike [Tomlin] does a tremendous job, and this is going to be a huge challenge for us on the shorter week to go there. So, we will not count this toward any points on the scoreboard for next week. We've got to go back to work and get ourselves ready to go and try to win a tough football game on the road against a tough football team."
The Raiders return to action on Christmas Eve, on Saturday in Pittsburgh versus the Steelers. That game kicks off at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST and can be seen on NFLN.
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