Raiders' McDaniels Franchise Update

The Las Vegas Raiders (3-3) are headed to Chicago to play the Bears (1-5) on Sunday, and Coach Josh McDaniels gave his franchise update, and we have it for you.

LAS VEGAS, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (3-3) are headed to the Windy City this weekend to meet the Chicago Bears (1-5) and get to above .500 for the season.

With that game looming, Coach Josh McDaniels of the Raiders gave his Silver and Black update, and we it for you.

You can watch the entire video above or read the transcript below:

Coach Josh McDaniels' Opening Statement: "So, update before we get going on Jimmy [Garoppolo]. There was some concern yesterday that there was an internal issue. We did a bunch of scans yesterday and last night. It seems like we've dodged a big bullet in that regard,so that's good news. We're still doing a couple things this morning and we'll kind of make sure we do all the right things here as we go forward. But the prognosis is a lot better than it might have otherwise been. We don't know yet for this week, relatively speaking. So, there's a lot still to, I'd say, uncover in that regard. But it's good news relative to what it might have been. Other than that, we've got some bumps and bruises, some things like that. Roderic [Teamer] couldn't come back in the game. But other than that, it's just a lot of bumps and bruises. And as I said after the game, I liked the fight of our team. We had some stretches of good complimentary football. Certainly, being able to pin them back there at the end and then play good defense to try to finish the game and then a good special teams play there to handle the onside kick after a safety concept. Hunter [Renfrow] handled that the way we wanted to. And then there is plenty for us to improve on, obviously in all three phases so that we can play our best football as we go forward here. There is a lot to clean up and a lot to work on. I'm happy we're doing it after a victory. Again, I'm proud of the way our team competed." 

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels looking for answers to the Silver and Black's offensive woes / Darrell Craig Harris, Raiders Today

Q: Both Aidan O'Connell and Brian [Hoyer] have shown that they can handle themselves well when called upon. Does that change any urgency to get Jimmy Garoppolo back? 

Coach McDaniels: "I think we'll just protect him for sure and make sure that we're not putting him at risk. That would never be something we would want to do. So, again, that's going to be a medical thing for us relative to following their orders. Again, we're very happy that we obviously dodged a bad scenario. So, we'll just kind of take their advice. We don't even have everything we need yet to make that determination. But the fact that we've played three guys already certainly doesn't hurt. It's not ideal in terms of what you want to do. But they've both have game experience, they both have had to operate our offense in critical situations in close games. So, that's helpful for them too." 

Q: We've talked about teams stacking the box and blitzing more. For your offense, how imperative is it to have the threat of the deep ball for it to be successful?

 Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I think you always want to be able to do that. And at times, we've had opportunities. We threw it down the field a handful of times yesterday. We hit the one to Tre [Tucker] down the middle of field, which was a big play there in the third quarter. And we missed some other opportunities, so those plays generally come down to a lot of people doing the right thing. You never can predict when you're going to have a really clean opportunity to do that based on what the defense chooses to do. But when they do it, as the Tucker play would show us, when they do that and leave the middle of field exposed, or the deep part of the field exposed, it really comes down to an execution play then. Does the quarterback make a good throw? Does the receiver run a good route? Do they finish the play with the ball? And we had some opportunities yesterday, and I'm disappointed we didn't come up with a few more of those. but we're going to keep working on them because they obviously can help us. That cuts out a ton of plays from a drive. Instead of having to execute seven more plays, you get one. So, I'd take all of them that we can get, clearly." 

Q: If Jimmy Garoppolo doesn't play, does it come down to who you think gives the team the best chance to win? 

Coach McDaniels: "Always. No question. I mean, that's all we're about now. This isn't about anything else. Whatever would give the team the best opportunity to win, which might be Jimmy [Garoppolo]. Obviously, we'll have to see how that goes." 

Q: Yesterday, it seemed like early on in the game you kind of had almost a play-by-play rotation at right tackle? 

Coach McDaniels: "No. It was more when we use the jumbo tight end and we can't keep him in there at tackle after that play. There was no rotation. It was just when we went with the two tackles in the game at the same time, then Thayer [Munford Jr.] had to come out on the next play because by rule you can't keep him in there and put him back at tackle. So, he can't go from an eligible player to an ineligible player and stay in the game. So, nothing more than that." 

Q: You guys had some pretty long sustained drives, but then got to the red zone and bogged down. Is there a disconnect? 

Coach McDaniels: "There's no disconnect. To me, it's when you get down there, there's a premium on everything we do. And so, we had multiple penalties down there that cost us. We had two holding penalties and an offensive pass interference that put you now in first-and-20 orsecond-and-20 in an area where that's really difficult to overcome. And we missed some opportunities. We had opportunities, whether it was in the running game or the passing game, we just didn't quite capitalize on them. And again, down there it's all about details and execution. There's very, very little margin for error. And when you make an error, it usually is exacerbated, and it ends up in either a negative play or you're kicking field goals. So, we fell behind the sticks I think three times down there in the red zone. And when you do that, it's very difficult to overcome. So, obviously we have to do better. I have to do a better job of trying to get us to play penalty free and be able to capitalize on the opportunities that we have. The good about that is, is if you play good enough to get it down there as many times as you do. Now, let's fix that. Let's fix that area of the field and let's play our best football down there going forward. What does that look like? What's that game going to be? And so, in that regard, I'm a glass half-full guy and we're going to try to fix that, and we're going to do everything we can to do that. I thought we played well enough on third down yesterday to get it down there and now we've got to capitalize on our opportunities." 

Q: Yesterday, running back Zamir White had more of an expanded role making runs and on a couple of plays in the passing game. What went into the process of getting Zamir more involved? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, he's been practicing good, and I think it's always good to get those guys involved in the game. And JJ [Josh Jacobs] plays so many snaps and every once awhile it's a good opportunity to let him come over and catch a breath and let Zamir go out there and get the football a few times. He had a great chip on the edge one time on an edge rusher, caught the ball out of the backfield, did his job the right way. And then he runs hard when he has the ball. So, I've got confidence in all of our skill guys. Our (running) backs, all of them basically contribute in some way, shape or form. The receivers all had an opportunity to contribute yesterday. The tight ends definitely showed up yesterday in the passing game. So, just trying to get as many guys out there who can do something good with the ball in their hands. And he's earned that right." 

Q: What do you see that’s clicking better with the defense in Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham’s system with players this year as opposed to last year? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think all those guys from the staff simplified some things for us as we looked at ourselves last year. We talked about that in the spring. Really just tried to identify, alright, what do we really need to be? And not what we what we wished we were, what do we really need to be with the group of players we have and what can make them the most productive. And then our guys, the players, have really done a great job of just absorbing the information. We stay true to who we wanted to be in the spring and in the summer. It wasn't perfect right away, but we kind of kept at it. And I think the consistency of the approach and the amount of ‘same as’ as we're trying to carry over each week, and then you sprinkle in a few little wrinkles. But the players have really done a good job of taking ownership with the defense. I feel like we're playing faster, more sure, more connected. Fewer big, big errors. Again, there's always going to be something, but that's football. Whether it's a missed tackle or they beat us on a scheme or something like that, but I like the effort we play with. I think we're connected more on defense. We work our butts off, those guys work their butts off every week to make sure they understand who the opponent is, what they do well, what the strengths and weaknesses of the team that we're playing are. And then try to go out there and play as good of a football game as they can, and I just love the effort that they've competed with the last few weeks. They're on the field at the end against Green Bay, they were on the field at the end yesterday with an opportunity to close the show. I mean, that's the reality, and so I just love the way that they're competing." 

Q: How crazy was it that there also was pressure from the defensive tackles? The interior got a lot of push yesterday. 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, they did a good job of creating some games and picks for each other. Jerry [Tillery], Adam [Butler], Bilal [Nichols], Jenk [John Jenkins], they all showed up to some degree in there. That's super helpful because the guys on the edge get so much attention. There are bodies here and there trying to put extra protection, and so it gives them opportunities inside. And whenever there's something in the face of the quarterback, and that always makes everybody's life a little easier. So, I thought they were aggressive for four quarters. We didn't expose ourselves and let the quarterback just step up and have nobody there in front of him, so he was throwing seven-on-seven a lot. Those guys have been more and more disciplined as the season has gone on. And there was obviously some disruption yesterday within that group." 

Q: When you can have confidence like you do in your defense to get stops, how does it make you different as a play caller? 

Coach McDaniels: “That's a trick question. We had the ball in the four-minute offense there and we threw the ball a few times in that situation because we felt like they would load the box and they were going to try to go ahead and make it tough. And those plays are always hit and miss at times because you're in the four-minute offense and you want to try to keep the clock running, but you know if you throw an incomplete pass, there's a situation where you're actually helping them if they end up with the ball back, but at the same time you're trying to win the game. So, I think for me, just based on the situation, based on the circumstances, based on the opponent, based on how the game is going, based on how we feel in all three phases, that's really when I'd say the head coach part of me really has to be in sync with the play caller on offense. And you have to understand the way that we're punting the ball, the way that we're playing defense, also the way we're protecting, what we're seeing on offense that might give us an opportunity there in the passing game, and there's a balancing act. We threw it a lot in the four-minute drive in Denver to try to win the game there, and we ultimately did. And yesterday, it didn't necessarily go our way in terms of being able to capitalize on that. But I think yo would like to be aggressive and win it when you have the ball in your hand as much as possible. And if that doesn't work out, then you keep playing, and I have a lot of confidence in our kicking game, our punter, our punt coverage and our defense has definitely has hown the ability to do that too.” 

Q: How much of Davante Adams’ dip in production the last couple weeks has to do with the injury that he's dealing with? And I guess what do you guys need to do to get him more involved? 

Coach McDaniels: “I mean, like I said, he's as tough as they come. I think that's more about us, just making sure we're doing all the right things so that he can impact the game the way that he needs to and should and deserves to, whether that's through the scheme and or the execution of the play. There's definitely some times where there is no way you can throw it to him based on what they do. I mean, there were a couple plays yesterday where there were three people running around chasing him and the [Tre] Tucker play only happens because the free safety double-teamed him, you know what I mean? So, there's a balance between being very smart with the ball and seeing the defense and not doing enough to put the ball in his hands. And so, this is not the first time that I've gone through this. I've coached a number of receivers that would fall into the category of they are this type of player. I certainly am not going to compare all those guys -- Randy [Moss], Brandon Marshall, Davante, Gronk [Rob Gronkowski], but there's definitely an element of where they take him away sometimes and sometimes they don't. And you just have to really do a good job of being disciplined because you might only get a few opportunities a quarter, but you got to take advantage of them. And there's some execution that goes along with that on everybody's part, but there's chances and we need to do a better job.” 

Q: Sometimes being disciplined may cause frustration because maybe the ball is not going to him as much as he wants, or any wide receiver for that matter. What's the job for you to kind of manage that? 

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, like I said, the truth is, is that there's opportunities and so we just got to capitalize on those opportunities and do that. There are a lot of things that go into making it hard for the defense to just stand there and take one player away. If you stand there and keep them at one spot the entire time, that's easier to do for them. And so, we move him, and we've tried to do that with a lot of players over time. This is our issue, and we’ll keep doing the right thing, coaching it the right way and trying to get the ball to the right players, and he certainly is at the top of that list.” 

Q: I think it's been three games since Maxx Crosby has missed a snap. One, how crazy is that? Two, is that something you guys have talked about as a staff or are worried about? 

Coach McDaniels: “It is something we talk a lot about. I would say there's an element of taking the whole week in totality and trying to figure out how do we manage the week so that we get the most bang for our buck in the game. And so, sometimes he's been limited. And again, he's dealing with some little things here and there too. But the reality is, if you limit certain things during the course of the week so that you get 60 snaps out of him on game day, then that's the given and take. There might be times where we go ahead and try not to do that as much. I'd say when we have the ball as much as we did in the first half yesterday, that certainly can alleviate some stress on somebody like that in terms of the snap count getting crazy early in the game. I think we had 40 snaps on offense and 20 on defense in the first half, which is helpful. Early on in the year, that was kind of flipped around on us a little bit. So, everything goes into it, but if we needed to take him out, we would certainly do that. The longer the drives go, the more you consider doing that stuff, but obviously we'd like him out there as many snaps as he feels good about.” 

The Silver and Black will head on the road to take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Oct. 22, at 1:05 p.m. EDT/10:05 a.m. PDT.

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