Josh McDaniels Final Thoughts: Raiders vs. Texans

Coach Josh McDaniels' entire final thoughts on the Las Vegas Raiders vs. Houston Texans

HENDERSON, Nev.--Josh McDaniels spoke at team headquarters and gave his final thoughts and public analysis of the Las Vegas Raiders versus the Houston Texans.

The Raiders understand that at 1-4, the margin for error is slim if they are going to resurrect their goals for this season.

You can watch his entire interview below, and read the transcript:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: It seems like Maxx Crosby has really taken a big step forward as a run defender from the start of his career to now. I know you weren't around him in the past, but what kind of growth have you seen from him in that area?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think the first thing is he's really embraced that concept of trying to be a complete player. And we've asked him to do a few things a little differently than the previous staff did relative to his responsibilities and some of the technique things that we ask of the edge players. But I don't think anybody works harder at it. He wants to be good at anything that we ask him to do. And when you want to do it, you have a good attitude, you work hard at it, generally you improve. He's done a nice job of trying to set the edge. He's certainly difficult to block when he's moving and certain things like that. Using your hands, being able to try to press the blocker back and gain control of the blocker is really a fundamental aspect of run defense that we're trying to improve on daily, honestly. And every opportunity that we get to go on pads, we work on it, and there's no shortcut to that. It's a physical thing, and Maxx [Crosby] has really embraced it."

Q: You flipped Dylan Parham over to left guard after playing right guard in Kansas City. Are you still kind of trying to figure out which side works best for him?

Coach McDaniels: "Nope. Again, that was that was a strategic thing, and I think we're kind of in the same boat this week. So, if there's a reason to do that - again, he's played all those spots so it doesn't really affect him I don't think a whole lot at this point. Maybe on the first day of camp it did, but the communication between the guard and tackle, center to guard, I think we're honing in on what we want to ultimately end up doing here. And I think those guys are getting really comfortable with each other, playing beside one another, pass setting, double teaming, all the things that they have to do. So, yeah I expect it to be very similar to what we've seen the last few weeks."

Q: What does it say about Dylan [Parham], a player so young that he can kind of seamlessly do that?

Coach McDaniels: "He's mature, he works hard, it's important to him. He's a highly intelligent young man. We've asked him to do a lot from the day he got here, and he has embraced all of it. I think he's earned the trust and respect of the veteran teammates that are around him. So for that, it's been very impressive. He's a great kid. We're fortunate that we were able to select him when we did."

Q: When the injury report comes out in a while, what statuses should we expect to see by Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow?

Coach McDaniels: "I'm hopeful that both of them are going to be positive. I think you'll see Hunter [Renfrow] for sure today. We'll see how Darren [Waller] is doing, but I mean I'm hoping we're moving in the right direction with both guys."

Q: We saw Neil Farrell, Jr. in there last game for the first time, what has he done to develop and grow overall?

Coach McDaniels: "Working hard in practice, working hard after practice, really trying to put in time and effort to improve his understanding of his role, the things we ask of our defensive lineman, our defensive tackles in specific. And we've just continued to try to – as we talked in training camp – you have to use the season as an extension, especially for the young players. So we set aside time each day, we call it 'basic periods' where the guys that are really trying to develop and learn how to play within our system and gain a strong foundation, they get an opportunity to rep against each other, and they do it at full speed as much as we can, especially if we're in pads. And so he's tried to take advantage of those opportunities, and he's improved. So, any young player, the whole goal is to just continue to work with them, see the improvement and the growth and hopefully feel like they're ready to go in there in a game in a regular season game and perform his job. He earned the opportunity, and we're going to continue to work with all of our young players in that manner."

Q:One of the things you noted the other day about areas for improvement was the return game. You haven't really taken a whole lot of chances, there haven't been many opportunities. I guess would you like to see them take more chances in the return game as far as maybe on kickoffs coming out of the endzone or on punts? I guess how do you generate more opportunities?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean look, some of the circumstances don't really warrant you bringing the ball out. They kick it nine, eight yards deep in the end zone, we're not looking to make poor decisions. And that's not on the returner, that's certainly not what I was referring to when we talk about that. We have a plan each week, we'll advise the returners on what we would like them to do. And look, there's a lot of factors that go into this. You talk about some of the kickers we've seen already and some of the punters that we've seen, hang time is a very significant part of this equation, because if they put the ball up with a significant average hangtime and it's into the end zone, you're talking about the coverage units being a lot further down the field by the time you get to the 10c or 15-yard line than somebody that would kick a lower ball, a lower flighted ball - and then you have the ball in your hands a little sooner, and you get a chance to get going and maybe you can kind of make a stand outside the 20, 25-yard line. Same thing with the punt return game, when the ball – we've played some of these punters, I mean the average hang time on some of these guys has been right around five which is almost unheard of – but the ball is up there so long that you almost don't have an opportunity to do anything other than field it cleanly. So, we've obviously got to do a good job of trying to block the people that are covering, we've got to handle the ball properly, and then when we get our opportunities, I would say making smart decisions to get an opportunity to advance it. That's what we're really talking about, not doing it just to do it because statistically we haven't done it a lot. Like that's not the point, the point would be when it's the right opportunity, let's see if we can create some yards and some extra field position for our offense."

Q: Derek Carr and Davante Adams have talked about sometimes don't let the coverage look make you turn away from throwing to Davante. In other words, it might look like a double team and might be a double team and maybe it's counter intuitive what a quarterback is taught to throw in that direction. But there are times and maybe wide receivers who can beat those coverages. What's the fine line there between taking those chances and doing what you're almost always taught to do and look elsewhere?

Coach McDaniels: "I think the second touchdown in Kansas City was clearly a double team, but the route was a route that based on the way the double - because there's a million different ways to double- you could double in and out, you could double high and low, you could double from somebody else coming from the other side of the field. There's a lot of different varieties that you could see, and we've probably seen most all of them so far. I think what it really comes down to is what the route is, and does the route have an opportunity to work based on the type of double you're getting played with. At the end of the day, that's what we're trying to make a decision about. If Davante [Adams] had had a route that wasn't going vertical on that touchdown play, but was going to sit down and have two guys just squeeze on either side of his shoulder, then certainly that's probably not a high-percentage play. It just so happened he had an opportunity to go vertical and he did, which provides an opportunity for the quarterback to make that decision. So, there's no shortcut to this. I think they're both right when they say that, that a double doesn't necessarily have to take a player away, as we found out the hard way in Kansas City. We were doubling their tight end most of the time in the red zone, and I mean it is what it is. Sometimes you can get it and sometimes the offensive player runs a route a certain way and it's a difficult opportunity. I'd say going through your progression is the discipline and not going away from the first or second part of the read too quickly so that you have a chance to evaluate whether or not it is going to work or it's not going to work. You know what I mean? Sometimes they can take it away based on the route too."

Q: When you look at the secondary and that next-man-up mentality, when you have Anthony Averett coming back, what dynamic does he bring? And also, when you're trying to bring up a young player like Sam Webb, what's the mindset of the coaching that you're trying to put into him if he has to go out there and get reps?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean first of all, they're all getting ready to play because like I said, in the situation we have, we only have a handful on the roster currently. And if Anthony [Averett] actually comes up to the roster, which we think that will happen, then they all have to be ready to go. As we've seen, we've incurred some bumps and bruises and some injuries during the course of games. So, we practice them in such a way that basically they're all starters. They all take starter reps, they all take plenty of opportunities during the course of the practice week to work with each other, to work with the safeties, to work with the linebackers, to see different things: third down, first and second down, red zone. So, they're preparing to play as if they're going to play the entire game, which is the way they should play in practice. They all have a great attitude, they're unselfish about taking opportunities in practice. Sam [Webb] has done a tremendous job of trying to improve weekly as well with some of our other rookies. I think Sam has also made some big strides in the kicking game too and really been helpful to our team on some of the kicking units. That group obviously has faced some adversity relative to health this season, but I think their attitude and mindset has been tremendous, and I don't see anything different this week."

Q: Injuries are obviously part of the whole deal here, but when it comes to Hunter Renfrow, when it comes to Darren Waller, how much tougher does that make it when they're missing so much time and they're key cogs for the offense to gel. And then secondly, who do the Wolverines got this weekend?

Coach McDaniels: “The (Westwood High School) Wolverines got Hopkinton (High School) tonight. Big game, 5-1 and 5-1, so I'm excited for my son. It's challenging, I would say, to get into a rhythm and I would go back to like Andre [James] being out after the first game and then coming back and then what happens there with the communication and the dialogue that goes on between those guys that are on either side of him. And then you look at the skill group and it's a different dynamic, but it's still the repetitions, it's the body language, it's the route technique. It's, ‘Hey, I'm going to throw it here when I see this look, and here's what I want you to do.’ It's just the consistency of the habits that we're forming together because it’s not just Derek's [Carr] habits on his own, it's Derek's habits and techniques with the skill players he's throwing the ball to. So, anytime you have injuries or delays in that process it's going to take us a little longer to develop them. Certainly, he's thrown to these two guys, so I think for that reason, I think there's already a history and a foundation there. But I'd say just in general terms, every team that goes through this, you have to be patient. Getting frustrated about an injury when they happen to every team in the league, it really serves no purpose. We just got to be patient and allow them to come back at full health and then continue to work and get better at the process that we're trying to incorporate. So, maybe 10-15 years ago I would have held my breath and stomped my feet, but it is what it is. I want them to get healthy. That's the most important thing for our team and hopefully long term view our best football, like I said, is in November and December and hopefully beyond. So, that's where the mindset is now.

Q: Is it even more so ramped up because of the how key they are to this offense?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I think so. I mean, look, we know they're really good players, that's why we've extended both of them. Excited to eventually have what we think is a pretty talented group out there that can continue to play and progress together. Again, we can't do anything about it until it's able to happen. We have ambitions for what it might be able to look like if we're able to get out there and stay out there for a long period of time.”

The Raiders return to action on Sunday when they host the Houston Texans at Allegiant Stadium. That game kicks off at 1:05 p.m. PDT and can be seen on CBS.

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