Raiders' Josh McDaniels Wednesday Silver and Black Update

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels took time to offer his Wednesday update on the state of the team, and look ahead to the Indianapolis Colts.

HENDERSON, Nev.--Coach Josh McDaniels of the Las Vegas Raiders has the Silver and Black sitting at(2-6) and ready to get back on the field.

McDaniels knows that taking on the Indianapolis Colts won't be easy, and he took time moments ago at his Wednesday update to discuss the state of the Silver and Black.

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

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

OPENING STATEMENT: “We’re on to Indy [Indianapolis]. I know there's been some changes there in the last few days, but like we talked to our football team about today, there's a lot to sink our teeth into here. They got a lot of good players on all three phases, I'd say. And then expecting or assuming [Jonathan] Taylor will be back offensively. Obviously a really important guy for us to be able to bottle up and try to stop, which is very difficult. Nobody's been better than he has the last few years. Offensively, the big skill guys they have offensively have all contributed and made plays. [Alec] Pierce, the young rookie receiver, we watched him this morning. He's obviously made a lot of significant plays for them. The defense, one of the top defenses in the league, clearly. Impactful players at all three levels. The defensive front, probably as good as we'll see from top to bottom throughout the course of the year. Disruptive inside, lead the league in tackles for loss. Certainly a good pass rush, especially if you're playing from long yardage or behind. This team can really get after the passer. Gus [Bradley] has always done a really good job of preaching going after the ball, which you can see that on tape, it jumps out on you. Added [Stephon] Gilmore to Kenny Moore [II], so they got a couple Pro Bowl corners there on defense. The linebacking core is fast, athletic, and that's not even including [Shaquille] Leonard playing as much as he has in the past. I know he's working his way back. And then they're good in the kicking game. Two good returners, punter has been excellent at downing the ball inside the 10-yard line. They don't commit a lot of penalties in the kicking game, which they usually end up winning the field position battle week in and week out. This is a team, second in their division now, been in a ton of close games. Had one tie and a bunch that were right there at the end where they could have won or lost them. Excited obviously to be back home after the trip down south and get back home and really get ready for this one."

Q: When you have somebody who has no coaching experience, you have no clue what he's going to do. Does it make it difficult on you to try to figure out a scheme they're going to come with?

Coach McDaniels: "Well, first of all, I do know Jeff [Saturday] in terms of the person. This guy was a great, great football player. I think he knows the game really, really well. Again, I'm not in their building so I don't really know but I would assume that they're going to let the coaches that have been there to coach. And the scheme isn't going to dramatically change on offense, defense, or in the kicking game. And we talked this morning, they're going to be ready to go because Jeff will have them ready to go. He's a football player at heart. He's a football person at heart, and he knows what goes into winning and losing. He was a tough player when he played. They're a tough football team. They're all about field position and trying to take care of the football, trying to create turnovers on defense. So, we're going to be ready to go. I know he'll have them ready to go, and I don't expect that the scheme will dramatically shift although that's something that obviously they could talk about and change. But defensively, like I said, they're ranked highly in basically every category on defense. I don't think that will change at all. They're very good in the kicking game. And then offensively, I know they've had some turnover issues, but they've historically been very good running the football with this group there. Got a lot of big play receivers and tight ends. So, I think Jeff will really focus in on what do we want to do to play a complementary game. That's what I'm expecting from them, and I'm sure we're going to get their best effort for sure."

Q: You have gone against Gus Bradley six times in your career. You were 2-0 as far as when your head coach and when he was head coach. But as a coordinator, you’re 2-2 against one another. Does that familiarity make it a little simpler when going against him?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, obviously he's been doing it for a long time and very well. It's a big challenge because they're so connected. They know exactly what they're going to do. It's not an overly complicated team. They don't need to be. They let the players go out there and do their thing and, like I said, they got disruptive guys at all three levels. It's one of those teams where you can get kind of mesmerized by saying they don't do a lot, but they do it so damn well that there's not that many opportunities. And so, we talked to the offense this morning about that, like don't get into some false sense of, ‘well, we know what it's going to be on every play.’ You might know what it is, but you still got to do something productive, and you got to win your one-on-one matchups. And so, it'll be a big challenge. It always has been with him. And again, if you're not taking care of the football on every play, then you're going to create problems for yourself, and they do as good a job of going after it as anybody."

Q: Yesterday, you guys released Johnathan Abram. What kind of went into that decision?

Coach McDaniels: “Those are always difficult decisions. I think we ultimately want to try to do what we think is best for us and then also for the player. His role was changing a little bit as we were going through the season. Tre'von [Moehrig] was playing more and we brought Isaiah [Pola-Mao] now up to the roster as another young player. Those aren't easy decisions. John's done a lot for this organization obviously and wish him well. But just thought that this was you the right time. He'll latch on with somebody else here and have an opportunity, and we'll try to move forward here with our process."

Q: In terms of having a play caller who has never called plays before, how do you try to pick up tendencies and things like that when you just don't know?

Coach McDaniels: "You don't. You just go like this [covers face]. I mean, there's no way to do it. We know what the tendencies are of the team that we've seen and scouted on film. I think the most important thing for us is to prepare for the players. You know what I mean? For us to sit here and spend a lot of time and energy guessing on how they will or won't call the offense this week, I think we would just be wasting our time because we really don't know. What we know is, usually football teams have a core group of things that they do. And we have a core group of things that we believe in and that we try to do well, and we usually do them over and over and over again each week. They show up somehow, someway in the game. It’s just not enough time in the middle of the season to sit there and revamp the entire process or the entire offensive scheme or foundation of what you're going to do. So, like I said, they've got good players; that's the most important thing. We know what those players do well. If we do that, I think that I'll give ourselves an opportunity to go out there and be aggressive and try to play fast. If the scheme changes, that's one of those things that, as a coaching staff, if we're seeing something completely different in the first quarter, we're going to need to be ready to adjust. In many ways, that part is a little bit like opening day, where you just don't know. Are they going to go no huddle? Are they going to be in empty? Are they going to throw it the first 22 plays of the game? I mean, none of us are going to be able to predict that. I know this – they run a football well, they've got a really good back. They've got, like I said, big, skill players, a couple great linemen up front. They've changed quarterbacks recently, so we don't have an inordinate amount of tape on him. So, get ready for the team that we've seen, get ready for the team that we've scouted, know what their tendencies are so far, and then we'll have to adjust on game day if it changes."

Q: It seems like Maxx Crosby has been getting a lot more attention in the last few weeks especially. Can you put into perspective the seasons he has had, even with the extra attention and how he's been able to kind of shine?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, that's the nature of the beast. It's not a whole lot different than what you see with Davante [Adams] on the other side. I mean, when you're a productive player in this league, most coaches and teams will put a little bit more attention into trying to limit your production if they can. Maxx has had a great attitude the entire year about that. He wanted us to chip hi and double him in the spring, so that he could anticipate kind of what this was going to be like as he goes into another year and has more attention given to him. So, like always, when there's people that are assigning two people to another player, there's opportunities for others. There’s opportunities schematically to hopefully try to do some different things. And Maxx's attitude has been phenomenal. So, that isn't going to deter him in terms of his attitude or effort to do his job well and to make plays, and I think he has. He's really done a good job. The thing that doesn't get talked enough about is what he does in the running game. He's very difficult to block in the running game. He's got tremendous chase and effort from the back side when the ball goes away. I just appreciate so much everything about this guy's game, the way he comes to work and prepares. He gives you everything he has on every snap, and that's all I could ever ask of him."

Q: Can you just describe the commitment to coming in and working hard every day and not letting up despite the results?

Coach McDaniels: "I think that's the way to do it. And I think they deserve all the credit for that. We're trying to be as consistent as we can be and not go up and down. We've had some losses that we know we had a chance to change the outcome, but we didn't. So, we've tried to learn from those and improve as a football team. Again, it's a long season. Whether you hit a rough stretch at the beginning, the middle, or the end, whatever it is, your mindset and your attitude and your approach, what you do when you walk in the building every day, it's important. Because if you allow yourself to really get down in the dumps no matter what it is, it's hard to really practice and get better. So, our team has showed up every single day. I love their attitude and approach to it. Keep fighting, that's what we're going to do, keep fighting. You string some wins together and that's how this league works. Some of the guys that were here last year, they understand. I think we lost four or five out of six last year at some point and they kept fighting. And eventually you kind of end up in a position where you have a chance at the end. So, that's where we're at and that's what we're going to do. And again, like I said, they come in here with a tremendous approach every day."

Q: Can you describe the challenges that DeForest Buckner presents when evaluating his game?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, he's a very unique player. You don't see many players that have his height and length inside all year long. It's a different body type, and he moves. Obviously, he's very agile, quick, strong, uses his hands well, disruptive in the pass rush, makes negative plays in a running game and he plays a lot of snaps. He's got a running mate in there, [Grover] Stewart, that leads the league in tackles for loss, I believe, now at nose tackle. So, he's really coming along and then DeForest is the three technique most of the time too. So, as I said, he's kind of the catalyst up there, but I'd say across the board they've really put a lot of time, effort, and resources into their defensive front. Draft picks, high draft picks, and you can see it. It's paying off for them obviously with how disruptive they've been. But he's certainly going to be a challenge. We're going to need to know where he's at on every play, which isn't generally hard to figure out, but we've got to stop him from making those disruptive plays as much as possible."

Q: Both of those bigger moves we've seen the last few days, releasing Johnathan Abram and signing Sidney Jones IV, both in the defensive backfield. Is that an area where you felt like you guys kind of needed to do something a little different and needed a spark?

Coach McDaniels: "We only had the four corners on the roster for a while now and then we've been elevating somebody on game day. Sidney [Jones IV] was out there. He's played a lot of football and just felt like it was an opportunity for us to potentially add some good depth. A player that has some experience, some wisdom, knows how to play. At this time of the year, you don't get many opportunities to do that. So, fortunate we were able to get that done and we're excited to see how this goes going forward with him. Look, we're trying to do this across the board. We've tried to do this, I'd say, all year long and try to figure out what the right balance is. We're giving young players opportunities in practice to continue to grow and develop and hopefully contribute during the course of the season. I think we've been honest with them; they've produced in practice and then they've earned opportunities in the game. So, this is no different."

Q: It seems like these last few games Darren Waller has been trying to go. We've seen him on the field pregame, but what's the latest there on his progress?

Coach McDaniels: "I think we're in the same boat. I think you'll see him today and hopefully we take another step forward. I'm not a doctor. I don't have a medical degree. It's very difficult to predict some of these things. Muscles and those kinds of things are always a little tricky, especially for a player that his number one skill, or one of his certain top traits, is his ability to run and open up and go. There's no timetable. Some guys come back a little quicker than others. At the end of the day, the reality is if you come back too quickly from one of these, you usually end up out longer. So, we're just trying to let his body tell us when the right time is, and hopefully that's sooner rather than later. But we just can't do it magically, snap our fingers and make it go away. We'll give it another shot this week and hopefully we can turn a corner."

Q: Colts quarterback, Sam Ehlinger, he's a guy that you don't have a lot of film on. Is he a guy that you would potentially look at his film coming out of college?

Coach McDaniels: " It's a great example of one of the things that we certainly talk a lot about when we value the scouting process in the offseason. And a lot of people will say, you're not evaluating so and so because you won't have a chance to get him or whatever, or you guys don't need this player at this point in time. When you go through the draft process and you have every opportunity to watch all these guys, learn about them, do all your research at the combine, at the school, get all the scouts information, go through the draft process as if you were going to draft all of them because at some point or other, you're either going to play against them, or you may have another opportunity to add them to your football team two, three, four years down the road and now you have a lot more information about the person. In many ways, you have a relationship with them. I don't have one with Sam, but certainly did a lot of work on those guys when he was coming out. Know some things about him certainly as a football player that you can share with your team now. Tough kid. Obviously had a very good college football career, can do some things with his legs, gritty, smart. There's a lot of positives to his game. So, he earned an opportunity and I'm sure he's excited to have this opportunity to play now. We'll see how we do this week against him.”

Q: Regarding Johnathan Abram, you said we want to do what's best for the team and the player. Why was it best for the team to release him? Did he know ahead of time? Or he did he find out as the news surfaced?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, Dave [Ziegler] did yesterday. You know, like I said, when we when we make these choices and decisions, there's a lot of things that go into him. Obviously, we're in all the practices, all the meetings, all the game films and all the rest of it. And like I said, his role had kind of been changing a little bit. His play time was decreasing some just because of what we were doing and how we were doing it. And so, like I said, there's never one perfect answer. There's never one thing that makes the decision final or not, it's just the number of things that we go through and look at and evaluate and try to figure out if you this might be best to just make a change at this point. Go ahead and go with some of the younger guys. Give them an opportunity to play and go forward and move on really at that point.”

The Raiders return to home Allegiant Stadium next Sunday to take on the Indianapolis Colts. That game kicks off at 4:05 EST and 1:05 PST, and it can be seen on CBS.

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