Raiders' McDaniels Midweek Presser Before Detroit Lions

The Las Vegas Raiders (3-4) are headed to the Motor City to take on the Detroit Lions (5-2) on Monday Night, and Josh McDaniels held his midweek press conference, and we have it.

DETROIT, Mich.--The Las Vegas Raiders (3-4) will duke it out on Monday Night in the Motor City against the Detroit Lions (5-2).

Coach Josh McDaniels tackled many issues surrounding the Silver and Black in his regularly scheduled midweek press conference.

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

Head Coach Josh McDaniels 

Opening Statement: “On to Detroit. This is a good football team in all three phases. It's a team we don't know all that well, so we're kind of getting familiar with them. Obviously trying to introduce them to our guys, but they are an explosive team really in all three phases. They have good skill players and use them all. They have good balance in running and passing. Quarterback (Jared Goff) is playing very efficiently right now. (The offensive) line is good, most of them are young and physical. The defense, a very good rush. (Defensive end Aidan) Hutchinson is a really good player, great effort. Their front, I think doesn't get enough credit, there are a lot of guys who are disruptive. Two linebackers, two safeties are their top tacklers, and they do a good job of flying to the ball. You can see the way that they play and they're very opportunistic. They get their hands on a lot of footballs, a lot of PBU's, a lot of opportunities for turnovers that they create. The kicking game, the punter is probably as good as we're going to see. Great hang-time, placement. We know about his accolades as a passer, he's done some of that, too. So, it's a very aggressive team. Nobody's gone for it more than they have on fourth down this season. So, you can see their style and their philosophy kind of rings true in all three phases. Obviously, this will be a really good test for us on the road. I'm sure it will be a great environment. The only other thing on the roster is we're going to start Curtis Bolton's clock for return today, so he'll be out there on the practice field." 

Q: Any update on Jimmy Garoppolo?

 Coach McDaniels: "He'll be out there."

 Q: Is he playing on Monday? 

Coach McDaniels: "Hopefullly. Yeah, as long we don't have anything that goes the other way. We're very hopeful that will be the case." 

Josh McDaniels is looking for his $102 million dollar offense to take off on Monday in Detroit / Darrell Craig Harris, Raiders Today

Q: You mentioned Adian Hutchinson and how disruptive he can be; how much does it help to have a guy like defensive end Maxx Crosby for the offensive line to practice against? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, their styles are a little different. And their defense, they play a little bit of a different defensive structure than we do. But, obviously practicing against a really talented player on the edge is only helpful in these cases. Again, it seems like every team has one. You hope they don't have two, but whether it was [Khalil] Mack or [Nick] Bosa, we've played a litany of them so far this season. This guy plays with an incredible motor, great effort. If you ever stop playing before the play is over, he makes a lot of plays in that regard. He finds the ball, is very savvy player. He understands when the quarterback sets and is going to get rid of it quick, he times and stops his rush and jumps, and tries to get his hands on the ball. So, we've just really a lot of respect for the way he's playing and how he's playing so early in his career." 

Q: The Lions are a team that doesn't blitz a whole lot and they kind of rely a lot on their front four. From an operational standpoint in the passing game, what kind of challenge is that? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, there are more people in coverage. And (Defensive Coordinator) Aaron (Glenn) does a great job of mixing it up. He played in the secondary for a long time in his career, so he understands the trouble that can provide in the passing game. They have a lot of different variations of zone, they do a great job of disguising the coverage. And when they don't blitz, there are seven guys back there who they can utilize to try to disrupt throwing lanes and get underneath a pattern, so on and so forth. They have vision on the passer, they understand route concepts, and that's why they are I think fourth or fifth in the league in passes defensed. And so, for a team that doesn't play a ton of man-to-man coverage on first and second down, that's a glaring statistic. It means they're getting to the football and they're reading the quarterback well. You have got to do a good job of protecting the middle of the pocket. ... I've always thought the best zone teams can feel the rush and when it's about to get there, then they just go ahead and go to where they think the ball is going to be thrown.  It's going to be a real test for our protection to keep ourselves safe in the pocket so that that doesn't start to happen and then they start to get extra time to break on a football. So, it's just a well-rounded team, well-rounded scheme, they don't give up a lot of big plays. The are the only team that hasn't given up a touchdown outside the red zone this season, so they're going to make you drive it, make you be disciplined and detailed, and execute for the length of the drive." 

Q: When you look at your offensive problems this season, is it too simple to say you should be more aggressive? Is there more to it than that? 

Coach McDaniels: "I think that’s part of it. We can. I think part of it is, I think there are definitely elements of that. But I think you can point to a number of different things that we could do a little bit better. I don't think we have to do everything different. I think we have to do a lot of little things a little bit better, and part of that could be that. I mean, just giving ourselves more opportunities maybe on some things like that. Aggressive, what does that mean? Does it mean throwing 50 yards down the field? Maybe not every time, you know what I mean? I think there are ways to be aggressive without throwing bombs and those kinds of things, too. So, I think we just have to execute, give ourselves some opportunities, and like I said, do a lot of little things a little bit better." 

Q: When you look at running back Josh Jacobs in practice now, are you seeing the same Josh Jacobs as last season, or any differences? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, no, I see the same player. We've talked about this a lot, it's a team effort in terms of being able to do the right things and provide opportunities for ourselves in the running game. But, no, I see the same JJ." 

Q: A lot of the offensive line is back from last season. I know you guys had a little bit of a slow start in the running game last year, but you started to build some momentum after a couple of weeks. Why do you think that hasn't translated to the start of this season? 

Coach McDaniels: “Like I said, if there was one thing, I think we would have already done whatever that is. I think we've got to settle on what we're doing and try to do it better. And if we need to do less things and do it more times, then that's what we’ll try to do. I think just in general terms, it's working together. We're all the solution, it's not only one player or one thing. I think all of us have a role to play in that and I think our guys understand that and embraced the mentality that we need to have. We've talked a lot about it, but it's time for us to go out and do it better.” 

Q: Throughout your career you've been somebody who has been known to use a lot of different run concepts, pretty much the whole menu. Have you had success in the past with maybe condensing it in certain situations? 

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I mean, I think every team is different. Every year is probably different, too, in terms of what you do, how well you can do it, and trying to play to the strengths of your team, whether that's tight ends, your guards are good pullers, your tackles in space. And so, I think we just have got to try to really nail down exactly what have we done well and what haven’t we done well. We do that every week and we're trying to obviously focus on the things that we do the best and keep doing them as well as we can, and try to improve maybe in some other things, so we don't become too predictable because you're so simple that now you're getting everything defended. So, there's got to be some complimentary run schemes to help those things last as you go through the course of a long season.” 

Q: You were part of a team that saw a young Jared Goff in the Super Bowl. Seeing that Jared Goff compared to this Jared Goff now, anything that you've seen that he's doing differently or better?

 Coach McDaniels: “I think he's had a really good career, so far. Early in his career it was a lot of deep throws, a lot of deep balls, a lot of big plays. Obviously, the L.A. [Rams] had an incredibly explosive team and he was a big part of why that was that way. I think if anything, as he's matured, you see his efficiency go up, his decision making is really good. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes with the ball. He's aggressive when he should be and he's really smart and protects the ball if something's not there. I see a really good football player, who really has matured and improved as his career has gone on. Obviously, he's been in two different places with two different schemes, relative to what they used to do in L.A. So, I just have a lot of respect for him. I think he's a really good player, and obviously it'll be a big challenge for us on Monday.” 

Q: After a game like last week, are you looking at making personnel changes? Or do you have your best team already on the field, do you think? 

Coach McDaniels: “You always look at everything. I mean, I think if you have a game or a stretch where you don't do as well as you want, I think you look at it and what are the ways we can improve? Is it just performance? Is it execution? Is it personnel? Is it decision making? Is it play calling? I think there are a lot of ways to improve, so we've tried to look at everything. Having the longer week always gives you a little bit of extra time as a staff to try to put some more into that and make some decisions that you think will be productive, which is what we've tried to do so. We're going to consider everything we can to try to put the people in the right spots and then put them in the right positions and call the right stuff.” 

Q: You guys did bring in a kicker this week. Is there any concern for Daniel Carslon? 

Coach McDaniels: “I mean, yeah, obviously you've got to protect yourself. That's what we're doing and we'll kind of see how this week goes. But if that's the case, there's nothing more important than being able to do that. So, we'll just see how Daniel is feeling as we go through the week and make the right decision at the end of the week here, based on how that's going, whether we need to do something else in terms of elevate him and all the rest of it.” 

Q: How big of an emphasis will there be this week on tackling and making sure you’re in position not to miss tackles like last week? 

Coach McDaniels: “Angles, breaking down, being under control, using your help. We had a stretch there where we were doing a really good job, I thought, of cornering the ball carrier and trying to really stop the added yards, and last week certainly wasn't our best. So, I think they know that. We want to get back to the right mentality of playing good team defense, getting to the football, and just trying to stop all the extra yards that we gave up last week.” 

The Silver and Black will stay on the road to take on the Detroit Lions on Monday night, Oct. 30, at 8:15 p.m. EDT/5:15 p.m. PDT.

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