McDaniels on Raiders, Patriots Practices

Josh McDaniels discussed the Las Vegas Raiders, New England Patriots joint practices, and more.

HENDERSON, Nev.-The Las Vegas Raiders' Josh McDaniels is detailed, precise, and constantly alert.  Those are all great traits for an NFL head coach. 

But this week, his former team, and mentor came to town and while the Patriots are struggling to deal with the loss of McDaniels, he isn't struggling without them.

He spoke about the joint practice, the state of the Silver and Black, and much more.

You can watch the entire video below, and read the transcript.

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: What was it like working against your former team yesterday?

Coach McDaniels: "It's great. Yesterday was a great opportunity, today will be another one. I thought it was two teams that had the right idea about how to go about this and really get the most out of it. I know they came in here with the right mindset of trying to improve as a football team, work on things that they want to work on, and compete against somebody different, which is exactly what we tried to do all day yesterday. I think that showed, we had a lot of film yesterday to go through. We spent three hours talking about what we learned, and that's really the benefit of these things. You can kind of control it, so that you avoid the piles, and I thought both teams practiced exactly the way you'd want to practice in a joint endeavor. Obviously we got a lot out of it, we learned a lot from yesterday, and I would assume that we're going to learn a lot today."

Q: Do you think that joint practices are more valuable than preseason games?

Coach McDaniels: "I think both are valuable, certainly. But again, we can't get this on our own. You're blocking different people, you're covering different people, you're running routes on different people. We saw different coverages, we saw different schemes on both sides of the ball, we had to block punt rushes that we don't use. There's really no way for us to simulate this other than to try to use scout team cards and do those kinds of things, which it's just never the same as letting somebody else run their stuff and you have to use your rules and follow your rules to do it. It's as much like a real game that we can control the finish of every play. And then like I said, compliment both teams on the way they handled that because we had nobody on the ground, nobody tackling anybody. I thought we just competed hard, worked well together and hopefully both teams got better."

Q: What has been your reaction to how the Patriots have tried to fill in some of the roles that you left behind there?

Coach McDaniels: "I really don't know exactly what everybody's doing over there. I just know that they've got a lot of really good coaches. I was in a position once where I was on the defensive side of the ball for a couple of years, and then I moved over and coached quarterbacks for one year and then all of a sudden, the next thing I'm doing is being ready to call the offense after being on the offensive side for one year. I remember nobody believed that that was really the case. Look, I think at the end of the day, Bill [Belichick] has a plan for whatever he wants to do. That plan sometimes - he has foresight that some of the rest of us don't have. I didn't have it when he pushed me ahead and he helped me do that. I've got a lot of friends over there; I've got a lot of people over that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. Coaching is coaching; you learn something new every day. I don't have every answer on offense, I don't have every answer on defense or in the special teams area, that's why you have a staff. You work together and try to produce the best result you can, and from what I saw yesterday, that was as competitive a practice as we could have asked for in every phase. We lost plays in every phase, we were competitive in other plays, that's just what you're going see. I think that those guys are going through their process. Look, I'm here and we're going through our process. We don't have it all figured out right now in terms of going through a change, we have a new staff. Every team goes through this, it's not unique to us or them. We'll all figure it out, somehow."

Q: How collaborative between you and the position coaches is the process of making roster cuts?

Coach McDaniels: "Every day. We go through it every day. [General Manager] Dave [Ziegler] is on top of everything like that. But he and I talk every morning, every middle of the day after practice, after we've seen the film and then at night before we leave. There's an element of constant communication and effort put in because there's a lot you learn each day. Things change pretty quickly, plus you have injuries and things like that to consider. There's a lot to go into it. Again, I have great faith and trust in him because he knows exactly what we need to do when we need to do it. He usually sets the table pretty well, and then we try to get all the best information we can from the coaches, the scouts, the people that are watching practice every day and see the players in every single drill to try to make the best decisions we can. It's a tough time of the year for everybody, we know that. We've been working with them for a long time. You'd love to keep 80 guys on the team, that's what you'd love to do. We'll see how it all plays out, but it's definitely a collaborative approach every day."

Q: Some Patriots players mentioned they've simplified the offense to try to play quicker since you left. Are you installing your offense with the Raiders, and how has it gone? Did you feel the need to streamline some things?

Coach McDaniels: "I'm probably a unicorn in this regard, because I've been in one system my whole life. And most of the coaches - which is why we have a staff full of guys that aren't that way, so that we don't all think exactly the same thing at the same time. From the time I got there in '01 to '08, it was the same for me. Then I went to Denver and it was the same, and then Coach [Steve] Spagnuolo allowed me to use our system in '11 in St. Louis. And then I came back to New England and it was the same for me again, and then I came here and we're kind of using that as our foundation. Again, everything evolves and changes I think. We're running things we've never run before because they came up in the spring or we thought about them with our personnel, and we figured this might be a good direction to head in, but the foundation part of it relative to the communication and the terminology is definitely the same for me. Again, it's new for everybody else that hasn't heard it before, so it's a process. There's definitely a process involved there. The guys are working really hard at trying to get that, and we've said this before, we're going to have to start where we are. Wherever we are at the beginning of the season, that's the only place we can start. We can't start at third base. If we're on first, we're going to start on first base, and we're going to try to do that as well as we can. But yes, it's the terminology that I'm familiar with, and again we have additions from all over the place relative to Edgar [Wide Receivers Coach Edgar Bennett] and KP [Running Backs Coach Kennedy Polamalu] and guys on the staff that have good ideas, but the foundation is the same."

Q: How important is it to have guys on the roster and on staff that are familiar with your system like Jarrett Stidham, Brandon Bolden and Isaiah Zuber?

Coach McDaniels: "And Bo [Hardegree] an Mick [Lombardi] and Carmen [Bricillo]. We're fortunate that we had opportunities to add some people. I wouldn't just say it was players or coaches, but people that have a little bit of familiarity with that. Not because somebody else can't learn it - because all the other guys are doing a great job of picking that up and really trying to push forward and figure out exactly how it all fits together - but just in terms of how you communicate it to the rest of the room, there's just more understanding. We're big on really one word, and it's 'why'. We're going to do this today and this today and this today, and here's why we're going to do it. So those guys that have experienced that and lived through that, they're an extension of us in terms of being able to explain that. I think the guys we've had here, Jakob [Johnson], Brandon [Bolden], Duron [Harmon], Zubes [Isaiah Zuber], Jarrett [Stidham], they're so unselfish in terms of their approach and the way that they've helped other players in their position room that they're competing against. I've been so impressed with that, and I think it's helped our football team immensely."

Q: Is Dylan Parham starting to settle in? And can you talk about the process of him earning some of the opportunities that he's been getting?

Coach McDaniels: "'Settle in' is a grand phrase right now for a rookie. He's learning every day, I think that's the best thing to say. That's the first time he's seen Christian Barmore in a one-on-one pass rush drill and those kinds of things. There are great gains to be made, whether it's a hard lesson to learn or not. And I think a lot of our young players are in the same boat. Our safety saw different routes, our back saw different blitzes, our offensive linemen blocked different people. Each day is a new experience for them in many ways. I think they're all working really hard to try to be able to play for us as early as possible. But Dylan [Parham], same thing - he played all three positions and that's not easy. When you're doing that as a young guy, and then you're having to communicate at center and guard. He's working really hard. I think a lot of our young guys are doing that. These practices, like I said, you can't measure the value here because we can't produce this on our own."

Q: When you took the job here you mentioned your Denver experience. How would you assess your own personal growth as a coach?

Coach McDaniels: "Well, we'll see. I'm at peace with the way we're trying to do it. I know this: I can only do what I can do and what I know how to do well. I think that being able to just defer to someone else who knows better than I do in certain situations, be a resource for other people, is really my number one job, and try to lead our team each day and provide them with a plan for the day so we can be successful. That's really what I'm trying to be good at, and we've got a lot of people around me that are really good at their jobs. So I know that, I'm very aware of that and trying to use every one of them to the best of their ability and let them do their jobs very well. Like I said, I come in knowing what I have to do and what I can do to help us each day, and I think our staff does a great job of helping me along the way."

Q: After watching the film of the practice yesterday, how much of the Patriots offensive looked new to you versus the system you ran?

Coach McDaniels: "I saw plenty of things that I'm familiar with. Like I said, I don't know everything that they're doing. They probably saw as many things from us that they've never seen as we did them. I think you fit it to your personnel, and like I said each year is an evolution. Honestly I've never wanted to stay the same from one year to the next because I've always been fearful of what that result would produce. You stay the same in this league and there are great coaches and players on the other side and they just run you down. Then you're trying to run the same thing as you ran last year, and you wonder why they're not working as well. I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of coaches over the years, and that's really the same comment we all make is what worked one year everyone studies, and then it doesn't work the next year. I'm sure they're evolving, we're evolving here. There's plenty of things I saw yesterday that I knew. I thought it was funny, we didn't have noise yesterday, so we were calling out some things in the two-minute offense, and their whole sideline is yelling what it is. I thought that was funny, we didn't have much success with it, but anyway. I think there are definitely elements on both sides. They're probably seeing that going, 'Oh, I know what that is,' and then they're seeing something new and going, 'Oh, that's a wrinkle here and there.' We all evolve, that's the reality. I'm not in their meetings, I don't really know exactly how that's being produced and all that, but some things that you saw were clearly from what we've done and some new stuff."

Q: How much has Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick influenced your coaching style, yet you're not trying to be Bill and be yourself?

Coach McDaniels: "Again, I think how I've learned, what I've been taught over 22 years about how to try to go about winning in this league is really all from him. I was 23-24 years old and he started to teach me then how to work, how to be a professional, how to try to do my job the best way I could each day and how to listen and get better. All the philosophies about trying to win the game - like I said, I've learned more from him than I have from anybody else and that will never change at this point. I think for me, who I am and who he is, we're just different people, which we all are. I saw my father for 20-some years coach, and I've seen Bill [Belichick] do the same thing, and I've worked for Nick Saban and none of us are the same person. I think I just feel more at peace with who I am in terms of I don't know how to do it any other way other than be myself each day, come in, have good relationships with everybody in the building, try to build the culture the way that I feel comfortable doing it, which again, some may be the same as I've learned from somebody else and some may be different because it just doesn't fit me the same way. But how to win, how to run practice, some of those philosophies, I mean those are tried and true, so I try to stick with those as much as I can and be myself along the way."

Q: Are you concerned on the extended absence of Darren Waller, and do you expect him back by Week 1?

Coach McDaniels: "I'm not concerned. Like I said, he's doing everything he can to get out there as soon as he can be. I don't want to make a prediction on whether he will or won't be ready here in a few weeks, but I see him every day, he's in every meeting, he's doing everything he can to get out there as fast as possible. We don't have that many guys that are in that boat right now, Darren certainly is one of them, but (he is) working his butt off. And I feel like he knows that he's going to be a big part of this team and what we want to do, and he's right there in every meeting, but I'm not concerned about it."

Q: Are you comfortable with the progression that the offensive line has shown as a whole throughout this process?

Coach McDaniels: "Like I said, we learn every day. I think with training camp being so condensed, meaning relative to time, time in pads - we're still in single digits in terms of number of days in pads. So I think of it more along the lines of are we continuing to make some progress. I don't think anybody will start in September where they're going to finish, so we're going to try to get to a certain point and be as good as we can be. And like I said, if that's first base, that's first base, and when we make it to second, we'll make it a second. Part of those things we do every day - and this is what I think sometimes gets lost - failure is part of this process, and we do it on purpose. We have to try things that may be difficult, may be hard, maybe we're not ready to do them. And when we do those things, we learn a lot about ourselves. Whether we learn how to do that technique or that scheme better, or we learn that that's not something that's for us right now. If we just did what was safe, and we just did what everybody knew, I don't know how much progress we would make. And I'm speaking for every every team in the league, it's the same thing. If you never put them in a hard position, you're not going to learn a whole lot about them. So right now what we're doing is we're challenging them. We got significantly challenged yesterday, and we saw things we haven't seen all year going back to OTAs. So that's the nature of these practices, and it was great because we can't really simulate that otherwise."

Q: Mac Jones is someone you worked closely with last year. Was that tough to leave him at that point? And what have you seen out of him?

Coach McDaniels: "I love that kid, I really do. I spent a lot of time with him obviously last year. He's a great human being, he's got a bright future. (He's) a really competitive guy that wants to do it right, everything. He wants to do everything right. So yeah, those are always things that are difficult when you leave and you go somewhere else and there are going to be people that you miss maybe more than others, but you're going to miss them all. I saw him yesterday battling, and that's basically what happens at this time of the year. I thought he made some really good plays, and there were some other situations where we're trying to make it as hard as we can on him, and they obviously got the better of us there at the end. Finishing practice was a huge point of emphasis for us, and we obviously didn't finish it as well as they did on either side of the ball. But I think the world of the kid, I really do."

Q: Are the injuries to Thayer Munford and Brandon Parker long term or short term? What have you seen from Jermaine Eluemunor this camp?

Coach McDaniels: "Jermaine has been out there every day and batting. We've played him at multiple spots, which again the more you can do, the more value you might provide. He knows that. He's played at guard, tackle - both sides - which is a unique skill for Jermaine. (He) has really been a dependable guy. Like I said, he gives great effort out there every day, he's put himself in a position here to really factor on our team and play. I'm excited for what he's been able to do, and the other guys are just working through their stuff same thing as the other guys are. Our list is not long, we're fortunate right now. I'm hopeful like I said, I don't want to put a timeframe on anybody because I don't really know, but I know they're working extremely hard to get back here as soon as possible and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later."

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