Raiders' Josh McDaniels Tuesday Recap of Loss to Chiefs
HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders fell to 1-4 on the season after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night.
Moments ago, Josh McDaniels talked about the game after seeing the film.
You can watch the entire press conference below, and read the transcript:
Head Coach Josh McDaniels
OPENING STATEMENT: “After looking at all three phases, much like we talked about last night, I love the way that we competed. I thought we tried to get off to a good start in the game. Defense went out there and had a couple of three-and-outs early, which I thought was important. And then the offense was able to put some points on the board there, made some critical plays in the first and second quarters there to try to get out in front and get a lead. I think we were up, 20-7, and like happens against a really good football team, every play is important, every possession is important; it doesn't matter how much time is left on the clock and they make a couple good plays. We had the one penalty there at the end of the second quarter that allowed them to kind of get into field goal range. Then they start with the ball in the third quarter and made some adjustments and found some success with some things. And then the offense, we went back out there and didn't do much with the football there, and then they scored again. So, the offense had three or four plays there, a couple of penalties, and we went from being ahead 20-7 to behind 24-20. And that's what happens when you play a really good team and you make some mistakes and don't finish the quarters. Like I said, credit to them, they did a nice job in the second half of really fighting and battling and made some adjustments. We had some things that were working periodically and we kind of slowed them down a little bit here and there on defense, and then they found some other answers. So, learning lessons the hard way sucks. But, again, I think our team realizes we can compete with them, but there's a difference between just being in the game and then being able to close the game. And those are the lessons that we're going to have to learn, hopefully soon."
Q: Travis Kelce had a great game, but going in, what was the plan on how to stop him?
Coach McDaniels: “I mean, it was a very unique game, obviously for him. And the plan was, in many ways, effective between the 20s. We hit him, we jammed him, we doubled him. We tried to take him away a number of different ways. And unfortunately, we didn't do a good enough job inside the 10-yard line of executing the same stuff that we were executing, I'd say fairly well at times, during the course of the game in the field. And so, I think it's a matter of execution. Seven catches for 25 yards and all the touchdowns. And it was like the yards didn't kill you, but the critical plays in the Red Zone were the ones that got us. So, as tight as we were at times on him in the field, as much as we bumped him and disrupted him and tried to get [Patrick] Pat [Mahomes] from really being on him and staying on him in the field, we didn't do a good enough job of that in the Red Zone. And then of course, Pat extended a couple of those plays. And then the doubles kind of -- I don't want to say fell apart -- but they weren't as clean because he was able to extend the play and add more time to the pocket. So, this is a hard lesson to learn because you do it right on the field and that's great, but at the end of the day, what matters the most is that we keep him off the scoreboard. And he was obviously an integral part of what they do before our game in the Red Zone, and then he continued to do that and made some big plays for them. And, again, credit to him and Pat."
Q: On the final play where Hunter Renfrow and Davante Adams ran into each other, how much of that was the defense throwing off the timing, and how much of it was time on task with Hunter being out of practice?
Coach McDaniels: “I don't think it was time on task. Honestly, I think a couple of things -- at the end of the day, that play is going to be all about execution one way or the other. They were max pressuring us and we were trying to protect it with max protection and see if we couldn't give Derek [Carr] an opportunity. We had three players in the route, they were bringing seven or eight at us, so that was kind of mano a mano at that point. Much the same as the play was early in the game on the fourth and one -- same concept, different personnel groupings, etc. And the reality was we had a guy who ended up free in the pocket, and Derek was trying to hold it as long as he could. And then ultimately, the two guys ended up in the same area. Certainly, they weren't running the same route. They were running different routes. I thought that the Chiefs did a decent job of trying to get some hands on and disrupt us a little bit at the line of scrimmage with [Davante] Tae [Adams], which kind of put them a little bit in the same area. So, just not good enough execution at that point in time for a play obviously when we needed it."
Q: Setting aside the loss for a second, your offensive line, you look at what Josh Jacobs was able to do, you look what Derek Carr and the offense were able to do. I understand you're disappointed with the loss, but are you happy with how that offensive line is coming together?
Coach McDaniels: "I really think they're battling, giving Josh an opportunity to get started. Some of the plays -- we always talk about keeping the line of scrimmage clean and getting the back an opportunity to hit the hole and have an entry point. And I thought that was some really good blocking done up front. I would add Jakob [Johnson] in there, I would add the jumbo tight end did some really good work for us there. And then Josh makes some great runs. I mean, he sees things that some other backs just might not see. And God blessed him with that ability to do so. And so, I think they've really taken some pressure off some other people. When you can run the ball for 130, 150 yards, whatever the number is, you make first downs on the ground. It's not every series, it's got to be third-down conversions. And I think they've done a really nice job of doing that. I think they're getting better, together. Look, there's always things we have to improve; there's definitely things we can make progress on. But I like how physical they're trying to be. I think they're trying to establish that kind of mentality. And we obviously need to keep doing that going forward."
Q: What are the priorities and discussions for the bye week?
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I think the big thing obviously for us is, first would be bumps and bruises. We got some guys with bumps and bruises from yesterday. I mean, we're going to need to take some time to make sure that we're healthy as we go into the following week against Houston. And then you take this short period of time, and you try to evaluate, what are we doing well? Let's keep doing that. What are we not doing well enough that we have to be doing better? And then we have to try to find a solution and see if we can make some progress and improve those things. And then I think there's always a bucket where you say, what are we not doing well enough that maybe we don't need to do anymore? And is five games a long enough sample size to make that decision? Maybe you'd like it to be eight or nine. But I think at some point, you've got to call it what it is, and so maybe there's a few things we're doing in each phase that haven't been as productive as what we would have liked it to be. And so, I think you've just got to make a smart decision at that point about whether it's fixable, whether it's something you want to work on, or whether you want to just go ahead and say: ‘Hey, you know what, let's shelve that. And let's really put our time into something else.’ And so, I think this is all about providing solutions and improving, and there's definitely been some progress we've made in certain areas through five games. I think that's what this opportunity gives us to do now, is to stand here, and we have a five-game sample size of five tight games. How did we do in the Red Zone? How did we do on third down, short yardage? How did we start the game? How did we play in two minutes at the end of the second quarter? What are we doing well in the kicking game in each phase? And then try to make some good decisions here and give the players some information that will help us. Look, we don't have 10 days here to practice. We're not going to have that, that doesn't exist anymore. So, we're going to try to make some really good decisions here in the next 24 to 48 hours and provide them with some opportunities to improve and get better, and then we'll try to work like heck on it next week.”
Q: Last night, Davante Adams apologized for pushing a cameraman down after the game. The person filed a police report. So, from your perspective, what's your team stance on what happened with Davante? And are you kind of expecting something to come from the NFL in terms of punishment?
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I don't know that, in terms of like what may or may not come. I'm aware of what I'm aware of at this point, which honestly isn't too much. I mean, I know what happened and those kinds of things. I’ve spoken to Davante. I support Davante wholeheartedly as a human being, as a person. He's a great guy. I know that was an unfortunate situation. We obviously don't want any of our guys to be doing anything like that. He knows that. He's very well aware of that. But I know the person, I don't think there was any intent behind it on his part. But whatever they ask of us, whatever they need from us, obviously we will comply. I'm not sure exactly where we're at, at this moment, but we're kind of wait and see at this point.”
Q: What happened with Darren Waller during the game? Was it his hamstring?
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah.”
Q: How do you five games in get these guys to learn that final step of finishing games?
Coach McDaniels: “I think it's becoming more clear to them. Again, I think experience and actually getting it done under pressure gives you confidence that you can do it again. And we did some of those things a week ago against Denver, and we had our chances yesterday. Nobody can sit here and say we didn't have opportunities last night, that's not a true statement. So, we had every opportunity to really do a good job of trying to win the game, whether that was get further ahead after the first half or come from behind and close the game out somehow, someway on offense at the end of the game. I don't think anybody here is discouraged about the fact that we're not close. I think now it's about, what do we need to do in practice? What do we need to do carry it over to the games to be able to really make the plays that are winning plays at the end so that we have an opportunity to close out a lot of these close games? Because that's what the NFL is, it's a lot of close games every week. And when you start learning how to win them, and finish them, you start to get a confidence and swagger about yourself, and then when you get in the next one, you feel good about it. So, I don't think there's any shortcut. We got to eliminate the bad stuff. Too many penalties. We didn't turn the ball over, which is a good thing, but too many penalties, untimely penalties on our end that allowed either them to put us in a hole offensively or kept drives alive for them, or in some cases give them an opportunity to extend a drive and score touchdowns. We got to clean some of that stuff up, obviously, because that doesn't help either.”
Q: A lot of teams would rather have a later bye week, but are you glad you have an earlier bye to regroup the guys moving forward?
Coach McDaniels: “I wouldn't say that. I mean, sometimes when you lose, the first thing you want to do is play again, you know what I mean? I think that's generally the feeling that most guys have, most coaches. So, it'll kind of eat at you for a little while here because you have the time off. I think whenever we have the bye, whenever they give it to us, it's always the right intentions to just: ‘Hey, take your mind and get it away from football for a few minutes here, a few days, and try to regroup and get ready to go,’ because obviously we’re going to have a long stretch here when we come back. So, that's really going to be the goal; find some things we can do better, get our minds off of football for a little bit, allow the players to kind of rest and recover, and then get ready to go and try to play our best football as we go forward.”
Q: We're you surprised that on that 4th and 1 on Davante Adams' first touchdown that it was a cover zero and Davante had one-one-one on the side?
Coach McDaniels: "We weren't, and honestly that has been part of their philosophy. I wouldn't say that it's always very predictable, but certainly Coach [Steve] Spagnuolo is a very aggressive coach in those situations. We tell our players they try to defend every blade of grass on every down, and that's a testament to the way that they play and coach. Give them credit, they've been very good in those situations. Honestly, I don't think that they're sitting there saying: 'Well, if you're going to throw a 50-yard bomb on fourth-and-one every time, that's probably not going to be a high-percentage play as you go forward.' But I'd say that their call and our call married up together and gave us an opportunity. We trust our players, and I thought that the line did a really good job of blocking what they did on the play, and Davante [Adams] ran a good route and Derek [Carr] made a good throw. So, it just comes down to our players doing a good job of executing."
Q: You addressed the decision to go for two last night, but I was wondering just what the thought processes are? You're big into analytics. If you scored, was it in your mind to go for two, or was it just kind of a personnel thing? Would you have done that in New England as opposed to here? Do the analytics play a big part?
Coach McDaniels: "We are certainly aware of the analytical portion of the data that's available to us. I think at some point your feel for the game is not unimportant. I was trying to feel the game out, and look, I fully am aware of when you make decisions like that there's going to be people who agree with it and people who don't agree with it, and I get that. I thought that our team, we were kind of having a little trouble stopping them a little bit on defense in the second half, they had kind of got it rolling a little bit on us. And [I] just felt like if we could score -- and again, we happened to score a little quicker than maybe I was thinking or hoping we would -- but hey, such is life. And I wasn't unhappy that we did, when we put it in, we had kind of already decided that we were probably going to do that, when we went out there on the field at the beginning of the possession. If you gain possession of the lead at that point it forces them to potentially try to get into field goal range or score a little bit quicker, because they're behind. And if you tie the game up, there really is no downside to them taking their time and moving it down just systematically trying to get it down there and potentially end the game with the ball. So, there's pros and cons to both. I understand both arguments. I have no idea what we would have done in the past with a different team and a different nature. I just felt like in that situation, I also liked the play we had up, and it had options on it and so on and so forth. So, unfortunately, we didn't get it in, but I don't regret that. I thought our players executed those things well in practice last week, and like I said, during the course of the game I felt like that was the right thing to do."
Q: Would you like to see a change in the roughing the passer call, maybe make it reviewable?
Coach McDaniels: "With the way they're protecting the quarterbacks now, I mean it's such a tough call on the officials. I'm not sitting here saying that that was the right or wrong call, I'm not getting into that. I mean, it's a tough thing to do. We talk to our pass rushers all the time about -- now we have to coach when you sack the guy, you've got to make the effort to roll off. Those are things you didn't have to worry about five, six, eight, 10 years ago where you just sacked the guy and just landed on him. There's some things obviously that happened to shoulders and those kinds of things, but it's football. Look, I like the opportunity to protect the quarterback as much as the next guy does, because I think that that position is so unique and important to our league and our game. I also understand the perspective of the defensive player, he's trying to make a hell of a play, and in many cases they do. They made a great play and here we go. And now it's like they get penalized for something that -- whether it was or it wasn't, I don't know. It's a tough call on the officials. I'm not in charge of those rules. We try to coach them the best we can, but I'm not going to sit up here and say it's easy to try to teach a guy who is going full speed and has a great chance to make a play on the quarterback to try to do something at the very end to avoid getting a penalty. I mean it's tough, it's not easy. But I know every coach in the league is dealing with the same thing and trying to coach it the best that they can."
The Raiders have a bye week for Week 6 of the NFL season. They return to action in Week 7 when they host the Houston Texans. That game kicks off at 1:05 p.m. PDT and can be seen on CBS.
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