Raiders' Josh McDaniels Monday Recap of Loss to the Colts

After watching the film of the Las Vegas Raiders' loss to the Indianapolis Colts, moments ago Josh McDaniels offered his analysis.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (2-7) have hit rock bottom as they fell 25-20 to an Indianapolis Colts (4-5-1) team that many thought was tanking.

Moments ago, Josh McDaniels talked about the loss and the state of the franchise.

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

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Opening statement: "So after looking at the game, much like we talked about yesterday, I thought it was a physical game. I thought we didn't get off to the start we wanted to, certainly on offense. And it really took us a little while to kind of get going and adjust and be able to move the ball productively. Once we kind of figured that out, I thought we were okay. We put together some drives there between the second, third, fourth quarter; we were able to move the ball some. Defensively, we had some stretches where we played well overall, kind of bottled them up a little bit. And then obviously we gave up the big run there in the third quarter. That was the one that we were trying to avoid all week, if you will. But he (Jonathan Taylor) found some space there, and obviously he's tough to tackle in the open field and ran away from us a little bit. I thought we were competitive in the kicking game. I thought we made some plays in the return game yesterday, which we have been kind of working towards trying to improve that part of our game. I thought we got some production. Ameer [Abdullah] ran hard on the kickoff returns. I thought AJ [Cole] punted well. I thought we covered well, for the most part. Offensive penalties hurt us early especially in the game and we had some opportunities there in the fourth quarter, I thought, to make some plays that may have swung the game there. And like I said after the game, they made one or two more than we did. So, it is what it is. We'll learn from it and try to improve and correct it."

Q: Derek Carr kind of alluded yesterday to players caring more in the locker room, whether that's fighting to get on the field if you're injured, doing the right thing in the classroom and in the weight room, all of that. Do you share any of that sentiment that maybe there's some guys in the locker room that don't care as much as they should?

Coach McDaniels: "I think you'd have to ask him more specifically what he was or wasn't referring to. I've talked to Derek. I mean, again, each one of our leaders has a really good pulse on what they think we may need relative to energy, or practice, or mindset, or what have you. I mean, in many ways, it's their team as much as it's our team. And so, I think they have a great understanding of those kinds of things. I would never say that about our football team in general in terms of the guys' attitude and effort to be out there. I mean, you've seen it. I mean, we don't have a lot of guys miss. We have a lot of guys that come back and try to play as soon as possible. That's never been an issue. I would never address that, that way. I can't speak to what he was referring to, specifically. But in my opinion, when you see us out there fighting and grinding and playing hard, and we're right there at the end of the game. I don't have any issue with the effort or competition that I saw on the field yesterday at all."

Q: When two of your leaders of your team are kind of alluding to that, does that concern you at all?

Coach McDaniels: "No. I think it shows that they care, you know what I mean? And if there's some person, or something that they saw, that they referenced, or that they could reference, or speak to, then that's what I would expect them to do. As would I, if I saw it or heard it or something like that. But look, there's a lot of guys in the locker room and not every player takes winning and losing the same. Not every player is ever going to do that. It's just human nature. Some guys take it some ways, some guys take it harder. Some guys don't deal with it that way. I've never tried to get too caught up into that because I think that's trying to make every player the same after a win or a loss. That's tough sledding. We're not the same kind of people."

Q: When you got hired, Mark Davis said it's not a rebuild and we're going to go to the next level. You've lost seven of nine to a coach that never coached in the pros and a play caller that never called a play. Where is the franchise right now? Where would you say it is?

Coach McDaniels: "We are building. I have never used the word 'rebuilding', or anything like that. It's the National Football League, there's not five years to do that. So, we know that. I think there's a process that we're trying to go through. Certainly, slower, and more painful than anybody wants it to be. We share the same sentiment, but it is what it is. When you go through change, there's some things that you're going to see initially, and there's some things that you're going to see over time. And when you have enough opportunity to make those evaluations and then try to get it right eventually, that's the opportunity that you're hoping for. We can control what we can control going forward. Like I said, I have no issue with where our effort is, or our intentions. Certainly, the results are not what anybody wants them to be. But we're going to continue to build and try to do the right thing as we evaluate it going forward. And that's all of us, I know that. I'm not going to stand up here and address that every single week. But we all know we're evaluated on what we do and it's a production-based business."

Q: We saw Mark Davis after the game and you guys had a meeting after the game. How would you describe his level of urgency or pressure to see some progress?

Coach McDaniels: “We meet every week after every game, including the preseason. So, I want to make sure -- that's a normal occurrence for us. He's been great. He's been great. He has the same urgency that that we all do, if not more. He's been here a long time. He's seen this when it's been good, and he wants to win as bad or worse than anybody else does. And he feels the frustration at the same time. He's been incredibly supportive. And that's important, obviously, as you go forward. But we're all here because of him, and we want to do well for him. And we want to do right by him. And so, whatever he feels, I want to know what it is. I think that's my role, my job. I hope I always understand where he's at, and he doesn't hide anything from us. I appreciate the way he leads and his support, and you feel his urgency to try to do whatever he can do to help us get to where we want to be as fast as we can be there. I don't know what else I could ask from him."

Q: When you look back at the tape from yesterday, what did you see from Sam Webb and Luke Masterson. Can you talk about the progress they've made from training camp to now?

Coach McDaniels: "I think both really are two quality young players that we were fortunate to get them when we did after the draft. I think just two good examples of guys that have really been out there every day and they've really progressed throughout the course of the of the year, whether it's on the scout team, which a lot of their reps for the first, I'd say, couple months here have been on the scout team. But they're competing every rep, making our players on the offensive side of the ball better, or they get some reps on defense and then have an opportunity to contribute there as well and learn and grow and improve. I think both of them have factored into the kicking game literally since the beginning of the season. Unselfish, durable, out there every day improving, work very hard. Study the game plan, whether they're going to play 65 snaps or 10. They're both into it, they both are going through their process as rookies of how do they take care of their bodies, they're doing a good job of maintaining their health. All good examples of what we're looking for from the young guys on our team that ultimately earn opportunities to play in games like yesterday and show decent for themselves, clearly. There's going to be some things we're going to be able to correct today on tape for both of them, but I thought both of them really played with good effort, made some plays that helped us, and we’ll continue to look for that from them going forward."

Q: What stands out you about why you couldn't establish more of a pass rush yesterday?

Coach McDaniels: "I thought they mixed in some different things relative to the way they were throwing the ball. The RPO stuff, when you throw those, your kind of playing run while they're throwing it. Those are some things that obviously your pass rush is a little limited there. They definitely paid some attention to Maxx [Crosby] for sure yesterday with some chips and tight ends and those kinds of things where they put a lot of bodies over there on his side much of the time. I thought they mixed in some of the quick game stuff that the ball was coming out pretty quickly, which usually limits the rush and the production. We have to do better on the downs that we can do better on. If we can create some third and longs, some obviously passing situations to be able to provide more rush. But give them credit, they did some things to kind of slow down some of the things that that we wanted to do, or we would have been able to do on early downs. I thought they took into consideration with their planning."

Q: Defensively as a whole, when you're having struggles that you're having on that side of the ball. Is there a threshold where you start to consider maybe some wholesale changes, whether that's starting lineup, coaching staff or things of that nature?

Coach McDaniels: "You look at where you're at and what your production has been. I think anytime you consider changing a scheme, or a system, or a player, or anything for that matter; you have to look at all sides of the equation there. What's the alternative? Is the alternative better? Do you think you have an opportunity to improve? If you do, then you would consider anything. I think that's our job to look at that and consider it that way. But I also think throwing things out there just because you're frustrated with the results doesn't necessarily mean that the results are going to change for the better at all. Matter of fact, they could get dramatically worse. And so, I think the kicking game is an example of that. Like, we've been frustrated during the course of the year with our lack of production in the return game and we've continued to try to drip water on the rock and improve it. And I think we're starting to see some improvement there. We didn't wholesale change everything and throw everything out the window and say, ‘Man, this is all terrible.’ We just continued to try to build and work through it and improve it. I think there's other areas of our game that I would say are similar. But when you're not as productive, I think you've got to consider what the alternatives are before you start throwing things away and saying it's not good enough. Because again, the idea is there's probably a reason for it , and whatever the reason is -- if it's execution, if it's the call itself, if it's the plan, if it's the player, whatever it is; we'll figure that out and try to improve it as best we can."

Q: At what point does seeing what you have for the future in some of the younger players come into play?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, look, I think that's all a part of this. We have to look at it as if, look, this is a long-term process where we're going to try to do something where we can sustain it. Nobody's happy with what we've done so far in terms of the results. But when you look at the part of the evaluation where you're saying, ‘Okay, how are we going to be next year, the year after?’ Those are all parts of the process that are frustrating to talk about, but the reality of the National Football League is not every player is going to be here next year. Not every coach is going to be here. That's just the way it is. Every team goes through those changes. People grow, the young players grow and improve, and some of the veteran players sometimes move on or retire, whatever it is. And so, we've seen a lot of young players play. I mean, you guys have seen Thayer [Munford], Dylan [Parham], Luke [Masterson] and Sam [Webb]. There's been a lot of young players to get an opportunity to play, and they've earned those opportunities. I think we're still in that portion of our year. They've got to earn it and we're not giving up on anybody at any point in time. We'll let the competition at practice kind of declare who's going to go forward and play and participate on Sundays. But we promote the competition every week, and I think some of those guys have really done a good job of earning the opportunity."

Q: Neil Farrell Jr. and Matthew Butler were both inactive. Can you talk about that decision and what went into that?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, we had three guys on defense that I'd say just we're going to keep that internally for us. We've handled what we had to handle and hopefully that will change going forward. But I think two young guys that are learning how to do everything the right way, and it's just one of the parts of the process that is sometimes painful. But I think in the big picture, trying to create a team that's disciplined and accountable and those kinds of things is really important for us. Tough decisions sometimes to make, but it's the right decisions in our mind.”

Q: You're talking a lot about kind of the future and the plan. It sounds like Mark Davis has given you an indication that you're good to go and you have a future plan in place that despite all the noise that's out there?

Coach McDaniels: “I mean, not anytime in like the last two to three weeks. We haven't had some big, clandestine meeting about that. Like I said, that’s not really my concern…if somebody tells me that my time is done, then my time is done. You know what I mean? I'm not going to coach like that. I'm going to coach these guys the same way that I've coached them and try to lead the right way, with a good positive attitude and outlook. And I think part of the process is just trying to improve and figure out, how do we get better? Yes, in the short term, but also in the long term, and that's sometimes difficult to hear. Because everybody wants the results immediately, and I understand that. I get it. I've been in it long enough to understand the why. So, no, no big meeting like that. When we came here, we felt like this was something where there was going to be an opportunity to try to establish that as we go forward. But ultimately, those are decisions that are not in my control. So, I'm going to control what I can control and do the best I can at my job and part of that is continuing to think about the future and next year and what goes on beyond the next few months here.”

Q: When you see Derek Carr as emotional as he was at the podium yesterday, what does that do for you as a coach? What's your reaction?

Coach McDaniels: “I appreciate it. Derek cares a lot. Derek cares a lot. I think you saw the same thing from Davante [Adams], a little different, but two guys that care a lot and want to win. (They) put a lot into it, and I think that's just them. Sometimes the raw emotion of a leader is a good thing to see, you don't see that every day. So, I appreciate that, and I know how hard they work, how much they put into every week to try to do the best they can to help us. It means a lot to him, and I think we got a lot of guys like that. I really do. I know not every guy goes to the podium and gets an opportunity to speak like that, but I think we got a lot of guys that are disappointed in the result, but also a lot of guys that really have worked hard and banded together to try to put us in position to win some of these games and we've fallen short, and that comes back to me.”

Q: When you took over in January, did you anticipate some of those long-term things that sometimes maybe fans don't want to hear about?

Coach McDaniels: “I mean, we all try to work to win every week. I mean, that's what we're doing. That's what we spend all our time on. So, to sit there and think about that and talk about it, I mean, we're not trying to do anything other than win every game. And that's what we will continue to do. I think the reality is, I do understand the short-term history of this place. I was educated on it. They talked to me about it when I came here, same thing with Dave [Ziegler], and trying to get something together that can last and sustain and win and win and win and win and win. And again, we're not doing enough of it now. We understand that, but at the same time, that was the vision for us to try to figure out, ‘Okay, what is going to be part of the future? What isn't?’ And how we proceed going forward is going to impact that, and who those people are and who they're not. I mean, there's a lot of people that are going to make decisions on that. And so, that's one of the things that we were excited about, is there was some urgency to try to figure out like, how do we do it and sustain it beyond one year? And how can we get it to the point where we have a culture and the kind of people on the team that continue to try to uphold that year after year after year? So, that you're not going out there in free agency and trying to do too many things to just try to take one swing at it. And then, ‘Alright, that didn't work, take another swing at it,’ and eventually you got something where there's a lot of guys here that know what this organization has been about for a long time. And that’s what we're trying to build to. Like I said, I understand the short-term frustration. I get it, I really do. But we're going to keep trying to work every week to win. At the same time, we're going to have one eye on what we need to do going forward to try to make this place a sustainable winner. That's what we're going to try to do.”

The Raiders return to action next week when they head to Denver to take on the Broncos. That game kicks off at 4:05 p.m. EST/1:05 p.m. PST. You can see that game on FOX.

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