Josh McDaniels Final Thoughts: Raiders vs. Saints

Coach Josh McDaniels' entire final thoughts on the Las Vegas Raiders vs. New Orleans Saints

HENDERSON, Nev.--Josh McDaniels spoke at team headquarters and gave his final thoughts and analysis of the Las Vegas Raiders versus the New Orleans Saints moments ago.

McDaniels has his team finally grasping what he wants and how to do it, and the results have the Silver and Black winning two of their last three and trending upward.

You can watch his entire interview below, and read the transcript:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: Alvin Kamara of the Saints said this in the locker room: ‘We’re going to whoop their ass and make DA feel good,’ talking about the Raiders. Do you take quotes like that and make sure that your players are aware of them?

Coach McDaniels: "Depends on the situation or the circumstances. I have a ton of respect for that player and this organization. Look, we all want to try to do the right thing. We all want to try to play hard. We're all going to get ready and do our best here this week, I know they are. I have a great deal of respect for Dennis [Allen], their whole organization. And I know that players say things sometimes, coaches say things sometimes that when it's said you can take it a lot of different ways. I think that's probably the way he feels. I hope we feel like we're going to go down there and we're going to play a good football game. And hopefully, we're going to come out on top. So, I tend to, I'd say, take those with a grain of salt. That's not going to win or lose the game either way."

Q: You've played some top five safeties already this year in Derwin James, Budda Baker and you're facing another one in Tyrann Mathieu. When evaluating the game film, what jumps out on film for you when you evaluate a guy like him, who can line up in a multitude of different spots?

McDaniels: "Yeah, he's been so productive for so long. He's got great instincts. He really plays the game within the game before the ball is snapped, and I've had a chance to play against some really good ones. Ed Reed, Earl Thomas, Troy Polamalu, and Tyrann, he's very slick in terms of trying to give the quarterback one look and then play something else. Safeties, to me, they have a few jobs -- No. 1 is to protect the team from big plays. He generally does a good job of that. I would say the other thing is that he does a really good job of getting his hands on the ball. And the safeties who do that are always the ones who concern me the most, because they create turnovers. And turnovers obviously can swing the game. I think he's like second since he came in the league in terms of overall interceptions and ball disruptions. So, that speaks, I think, volumes to his skill set, to how intelligent of a player he is, how well prepared he is, how well he knows the defenses that he plays in, and just what kind of a football player he is. So, he's very dangerous. We need to know where he's at, at all times. He plays multiple positions. He's not always going to be in the same spot on every play. He's a guy who we've pointed out many times so far this week and we're going to need to know where he's at.”

Q: What's the latest with Davante Adams?

Coach McDaniels: "I hope that you're going to see him today. I mean, we had a little bug going through the team basically. And so hopefully, you're going to see him out there today. Most of our guys I think are getting on the other side of it. Knock on wood that we don't end up with another four or five of us getting it, but I think most everybody will be back.

Q: Given the times, with what's going on, is it even more important when guys catch the bug you kind of keep them away?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah. We're doing a good job. Three or four years ago, and earlier than that, we didn't have masks, we didn't wear masks. I'd say now at least we know that can help us from spreading it. If the player's healthy enough to be here and be able to be in the meetings and around some guys here and take part in the day to day, we’d just put a mask on him and try to avoid the spreading of it. So, some guys have been in masks this week. Some guys have obviously had it a little worse than others. But I think we know how to maybe handle it a little bit better, and that's what we tried to do."

Q: When you were 0-3, I mentioned to you about how in the locker room nobody was blaming each other, and I asked you about them about getting your process. Now you've won two of three, same mood in the locker room. You saw it when losing and now that you're winning, are you happy with how they're embracing the new culture?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I like the consistency that we approach each day with. And I think that I've learned myself to be better at that over time. It's not always easy because we all have a high standard of what we want to try to do. And so, whether it's a poor play in practice, as simple as that sounds. Whether it's a poor quarter in the game, whether it's a mistake that was made in a walk-through or a loss. All of them are varying degrees and can create frustration. I think the better the leaders handle that and the more consistent we all approach the next phase of whether it's the day, the game, the week; the better off we're going to be. And I think it's real when you say to focus on the process, not the results. You really have to do that because if the process becomes better each week, then the results will change. And so, that's basically what we've tried to stick to.”

Q: It's probably easy to say that the success of the running game has led to the success in play action passing. But is it that simple? Or did you guys also kind of find something in your play action game that has kind of moved along as well?

Coach McDaniels: "I've always looked at it like both can help the other. Sometimes there are games where you need to throw it first and back them off a little bit to be able to maybe make it a little easier, create a little bit more space in the running game. Certainly, if you run it well and they feel obligated to get down there and do more things defensively to stop the run, then that can present opportunities. But I think the execution of either, you can't guarantee anything anymore in today's NFL. You can't say: 'Well, we're going to get a post safety,' or: 'We're going to get an eight-man box,' or 'They're going to play cover two.' You really can't guarantee any of that, certainly can't guarantee it this week with Dennis [Allen] and the way they play. They do a lot of different things; we're going to have to be able to handle whatever the look is that we get. And it's great to say: 'Well, we throw it versus this and run it versus that,' I mean that's not real life. I think more importantly the execution of whatever the play is that's called, I think the players have done a really good job of doing that, and I think any success we've had should start there with the players."

Q: It has become more trendy for defenses to play two-high safety looks, and that's not the first time in NFL history this has happened. How do you guys approach that as an offense when teams try to take away those big plays and try to limit you from going deep?

Coach McDaniels: "Again, it goes back to being able to -- you've got to be able to function and execute against whatever they do. And if they're going to try to protect the deep part of the field and not give up a bunch of big plays, I think that comes back down to execution and discipline for us. I mean, if you have to drive it 10 to 12 plays to score, then you're going to need to be able to be disciplined enough to do that, which means eliminating penalties, eliminating negative runs, eliminating sacks, because the minute you start falling behind the sticks and then you're saying you've got to drive 12, 13 plays, it's really difficult to do. So, I think it starts with discipline, then you've got to go to execution because -- this is simple, but it's the reality of the of the league -- the more plays they make you execute, the more chances they have that you're going to make a mistake and they can get off the field. So, in many ways our defense we've had game plans where we try to do that too, make them go the long, hard way, that's what we say. So, if you can make them drive the ball and execute 12 plays and convert three third downs instead of six plays and one third down, it's kind of simple math. But when teams choose to do that, you have to be able to execute well enough to be able to last for 12 plays, 80 yards, whatever the drive might be and do that. Every team we've played so far this year has a split-safety defense or multiple split-safety defenses. It's just a matter of how they choose to employ them and how many times they play them. That's really what it comes down to."

Q: How beneficial is it to your offense when you have a receiver like Davante Adams who can beat those double teams and those safeties like that?

Coach McDaniels: “I mean, he's a unicorn. That’s what I’ve said since we got him, and he’s a different player. When you have players like that, it doesn't always mean that teams are going to play with split safeties or double or anything like that. There's teams that choose not to do that and play their defense, and play it well. But I think that it definitely gives you an opportunity if teams don't choose to do that, then you have a shot one-on-one with certain players. If they do, and you still want to try to get them involved in the game, they have a skill-set that gives you the ability to try to do that too. So, I think he's been productive against every coverage. I've seen basically everything he's done for most of his career, and he knows how to attack it -- outside, inside, split safety, post safety, man-to-man coverage, zone. He's a very smart player, very cerebral, learns really quickly. If you tell him something, five seconds later he can pretty much do it. So, a very unique player, very unique player.”

Q: You always want to get off to a good start, but when you're going up against a team that potentially has big firepower, how important is it to get off to a hot start?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I mean, it's always important, like you said. The start of the game there's such a correlation toward having some element of control and we kind of played the first few weeks of the season, I'd say, backward a little bit, where you fall behind and then you lose balance. The other team has balance and you've got to defend everything on every play. And so, I think it just benefits every team. Every team would play better with a lead. So, going down there, hostile environment, good football team, tough place to play, well-coached. Obviously, they want to try to get themselves rolling here too, and they've got a good football team. So, I think getting ahead and trying to start as well as we can, obviously that'll be a big point of emphasis. It doesn't mean anything at the end of the day. The score at the end of the first quarter doesn't mean the game is going to go our way or not. But I think everybody would agree that it's better to try to get off to a good start.”

The Raiders travel to the Big Easy to take on the New Orleans Saints next Sunday. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT) and can be seen on CBS.

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