Raiders' Josh McDaniels Monday Recap of Loss to the Saints

After watching the film of the Las Vegas Raiders' 24-0 shutout loss to the New Orleans Saints, moments ago Josh McDaniels offered his analysis.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders were shellacked by the New Orleans Saints 24-0 on Sunday, and moments ago Josh McDaniels reflected after seeing the film.

You can watch the entire press conference below, and read the transcript as well:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: I know that the score kind of dictated pulling Derek Carr out of the game there, but I also know that he was dealing with something this week of practice. I was wondering if there’s any continuation of that, or if anything happened yesterday along those lines with an injury?

Coach McDaniels: “No, I just think that at that point, the game, the score, and the time remaining in the game kind of dictated being smart with that situation in general. We also took out Davante [Adams], so nothing extra.”

Q: You guys obviously haven’t had the start that you wanted this season, but kind of looking across the league at the standings, is there still optimism that you guys can turn this around and try to push for a postseason run as the season goes on?

Coach McDaniels: “Absolutely. Again, it’s a long year. I believe we haven’t reached our best football yet and it’s going to take work and progress and improvement in order to do that. But, again, at this point in time nobody’s really qualified for anything, and nobody’s been eliminated. And that’s common. I think there’s 12 or 13 teams right now that have a winning record and there is so many games and so much football left to be played, and there’s a lot of things that we need to do better. We need to coach and play better to earn better results. Consistency is going to be what we’re going to try to push for. If we can do that and start playing our best football here and start stringing together some wins, you look up at the end of the year and a lot of things can happen. Certainly, that’s our goal. Our goals are still out there. We’re going to need to play better, coach better, to earn them.”

Q: How close was Darren Waller to playing? Any updates on his status?

Coach McDaniels: “I have no updates about today. I know they were over there working out at IMG today. Like I said, he practiced last week some in a limited capacity. We’re trying to make a smart decision. Those things can be a little tricky. We have a handful of guys that are dealing with soft tissue issues. If you push them back too early, we’ve all seen what can happen, and then all of a sudden, you're missing another month. So, we just err on the side of caution as best we can and try to make sure that the players are healthy and ready for the load that we would like them to play in the game.”

Q: Is there ever a danger in a situation like this when the anticipation was so much higher and the expectations aren’t there yet?

Coach McDaniels: "I think the best thing we can all do is, one, be truthful and honest with one another. Treat one another the way we've treated them all year. We have a really high character locker room; we have a bunch of great people in there that work really hard at their job. I fully trust and believe in them. Again, yes, as disappointing as yesterday was, we've had some signs of progress here and really just try to stay consistent as much as we can here. We learn from the things we don't do well and hopefully we can improve and get better. Like I said, it's not unique to us, we're not the only team that loses games. And again, as hard as yesterday was, hopefully we'll be able to learn the lessons from that and be better. I think people respond to just direct, honest, open dialogue, and that's what we're going to do. And our guys have always been accountable to that and I have a great deal of respect for every one of them."

Q: Yesterday, in the locker room, Josh Jacobs said that he's expecting for guys to be hot and angry this upcoming week of practice and kind of practicing with a different level of energy because of it. As a coach, is that something that you want to see coming off a game like this?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I think we all probably should have more urgency, more attention to detail, more focus. And whatever we can do to help our team perform better, I think that's what all of us should look to do. And it doesn't surprise me that Josh would say that. Josh practices hard every day. And I think he'll try to demand that from his teammates, and I think his teammates will do the same thing. So, our team has always worked really hard and responded well to any adversity or challenges that we faced. And our leadership has been very good, very consistent. And I think this is, again, you get put in situations like this sometimes to see how you respond and I think the response to any adversity is, really, in many ways, as important as anything else you're going to do. And so, we've had some adversity this year, and we've tried to respond to it. This is another one; we're going to need to respond to it. And regardless of how it feels today, our goal is going to be to go out there and have a good week this week down here in Florida and try to get ready to go and play another good team in Jacksonville and do the best we can to try to compete and win."

Q: What’s your level of concern with where the defense is right now after seven games and the confidence it can get turned around?

Coach McDaniels: “Look, it is what it is. When we do the right things and we’re all connected, that’s how defense works. And another team is always going to try to make that difficult on you. So, a good team defense, there’s no shortcuts to it, whether it’s run defense, pass defense, pass rush, pass coverage, third down, red zone, turnovers – there’s things that we can do better. Again, I think the process – I know that gets tiring listening to that – but there’s no other way to do it. We have to work on the things we can work on to improve it and shore it up in certain areas and try to make more consistent plays together. Again, there’s no magic pill we’re going to take to solve any issues we have or had. We’re going to need to work at it and be connected and play good as a unit. That’s the only way to play good, solid defense over and over and over, play after play.”

Q: Is that one of those games where you check out the film and then you just kind of throw it away and say, ‘Hey, let’s not dwell on that. We just got to move forward and don’t go back and study it too much?’

Coach McDaniels: “I’ve been a part of a few of these before in my lifetime and they’re never fun to go through. I think the reality is you have to pull out the things you need to learn from this tape that will make us better and hopefully help us improve, and then you got to move forward. I mean, if you sit here and dwell on it all night tonight, all day tomorrow, that isn’t the way to go. The way to go is, let’s learn from it, let’s be honest with one another, let’s be open to the positive corrections we can make. And then, let’s bury the tape and move on to next week and start getting ourselves and our minds ready to go for a good practice on Wednesday. I think that’s the best way to do it. Again, if you coach or play long enough, you are going to have one or two of these, and if you let it affect you longer than what it should then that’s shame on you. Because like I said, there’s a lot of teams that go through this and nobody likes it, but sometimes it can be a learning experience that you really look back on and say, ‘Man, we needed that. That set us straight and really taught us a lot of hard lessons.’ So, we’re going to try to look for those this morning and this afternoon with our players, be open and honest with them, and I know they’ll be receptive to that. They’ve been great all year and then we are going to move on and get ready for Jacksonville.”

The Raiders travel to Florida to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars 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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