Raiders' McDaniels Final Thoughts Before the Steelers

Coach Josh McDaniels of the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) held his final press conference before taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) on Sunday night, and we have it for you.

The Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) are set to play the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) in their home opener on Sunday Night.

Today, for the last time before the game, Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels spoke to the media, and we have it in its entirety for you.

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

Head Coach Josh McDaniels 

Q: Tyree Wilson was out; is he close to returning? Also, Jakobi Meyers, what’s his status? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, Jakobi [Meyers] is good to go, and Tyree [Wilson] will be out there today. It was just some bugs going around, a little bit of that stuff." 

Q: The last couple of weeks, offensive lineman and Josh [Jacobs] have talked about how teams are loading the box and playing more single high safety looks. What are some ways that offenses can kind of make defenses pay for trying to crash down and then sit on what’s in front of them? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think there's a lot that goes into this conversation. I mean, certainly, there's the counter punch where if you go ahead and throw the ball productively when they do that outside and try to force them to play more split safety coverage, then that's certainly an element that can be helpful. At the end of the day, we saw a lot of safety down last year as well, so I'm careful to say that we have to do something else all the time. We have to execute what we're doing too better than what we've done. And so, like I said, we saw a lot of safety down in certain packages last year and somebody's got to do some tough stuff when that's the case because there's bodies near the line of scrimmage. You can't always just throw it when there's the safety down, and you can't always just run it when there's two safeties back. So, kind of all that stuff goes hand in hand, but I think executing whatever the call is when that's the case is important, force the defense to play some other things, but also be able to grind out some tough yards when they do, do that." 

Q: When it comes the execution, [Josh] Jacobs mentioned something he noticed was some chemistry issues? 

Coach McDaniels: "No issues, just working to create all of the things that go into being productive in that area. Running the ball is similar to pass protection and how the quarterback manipulates the pocket inside, and there's sometimes where the quarterback has to move to help the linemen out based on what's going on with the rush or the blitzes. The running game is very similar to that. There might be a designed point of attack and whether that's a double team block or whatever it is, and the runner reading it, the double team being effective, being able to get up on the linebackers at the right timing. So, we didn't start the game -- we didn't start the season last year as productively as we would have wanted either. Doesn't mean we're guaranteed to flip it around quickly, either. It just takes repetitions. I think there's learning the style of the runner, learning the blockers, there's a couple guys up there who -- Greg [Van Roten] is a little new to JJ [Josh Jacobs] in terms of that whole thing. It's not chemistry issues, it's just creating those kinds of repetitions and habits through practice over and over again so that we can be productive when we use them in the game. So, no shortcut to it, just time and effort." 

 Q: I'm sure you've been part of situations where the running game was good to go from the very beginning of the season, but other times where it just hasn't been. Do you feel like being around football as long as you have now in the NFL level, that maybe that's kind of hard to do right out of the gate the way things are practiced and the way preseason might be handled? 

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, the one thing I'd say is we're all under the same -- every one of us has the same restrictions, so I would never use that as an excuse at all. There's teams that are running it well right now and they had the same limited number of padded practices or whatever it is that we did. So, I've got to do a better job, we've got to do a better job as we work towards each week here putting together the right idea, the right plan, and then just executing it a little bit better. But this is not a one person problem, this is everybody's got to do their job do their part and together we'll all be the solution." 

Q: With a Steelers front seven that likes to send pressure as much as they do on the quarterback, how important is it for your running backs to also be affecting the pass protection as well? 

Coach McDaniels: "We're going to get tested, for sure. So you've got to be physical. These guys are not guys who are going to try to run around you. So, the physicality portion of blitz pickup this week will be on full display. We worked at it in pads on Wednesday, you're going to need to do that multiple times during the course of this game, and our backs understand that we know what the challenge is going to be. And I think it starts with your assignment, knowing who you have and making sure we get a body on those guys. And the thing about them, it doesn't matter if you pick up the blitz once, twice or 15 times, you're still going to get it. They're going to keep coming, and that's just part of who they are, part of what they do and what they believe in. So, we're going to need to do a good job in our pass protection and our blitz pickup all game." 

Q: How difficult is it to get that offense in a rhythm when you really haven't possessed the ball that much this year so far? 

Coach McDaniels: "There's the chicken and the egg on that one. We've got to do some things better to hold it. You know what I mean? So, complementary football, I wouldn't say -- the first game of the season was very strange as we all talked about that with the number of possessions we had. I didn't think we did enough things well last week offensively after the first drive to kind of continue our rhythm and convert third downs and stay on the field. And again, you've got to play good football. So, stopping them on defense on third down, creating opportunities, that's how you want to play if you want to play complementary football, and we're going to need to do that better as we go here." 

Q: Would you like to see some more aggressiveness from your defensive play calling on a Sunday? 

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, it depends. There are a lot of things that go into that. We blitzed a number of times last week, and sometimes we had a chance to get there and other times they did a good job in pass protection. So, I think Pat [Graham] calls the game the way we set it up, and he does a good job of that and adjusting if we need to. I'm not going to put out the game plan right now, so we'll see how it goes." 

 Q: We've seen Nate Hobbs back in the slot a lot this year. What have you thought of the way he's played? 

Coach McDaniels: "He's primarily manned that spot for us obviously the first few games here, and he's a good player. He's physical, he's fast, he's aggressive. I've kept him out there in some situations where they've been not in three-receiver groupings. So, he'll tackle, which I really like his toughness. Just a young player who's continuing to improve and get better -- and he's healthy; last year he kind of fought a few things there. So, just looking to continue to have him grow and improve, making progress, adds an element of speed and toughness to our defense I really like." 

Q: Jerry Tillery is a guy you've been able to move around the defensive line, just kind of from the interior and also as an end. How beneficial is it to have a versatile guy like him on that line? 

Coach McDaniels: "JT is an unselfish guy, plays a lot of roles, wears a lot of hats, does a lot of dirty work, sometimes it doesn't get noticed. He's been very durable for us out there all the time. Guys like that, you don't have 10 of them, so it's really beneficial if you can have one or two guys who can kind of provide depth on the roster on game day in multiple cases, multiple spots, in case you run into some injury. He's a valuable part of our team." 

Q: It's obviously a small sample size, and maybe you didn't even expect him to have to play this much early on, but what have you seen from Tyree Wilson thus far? 

Coach McDaniels: "I still think we're in the phase of kind of working toward where he will ultimately be. When you miss that kind of time -- we talked a lot about Jimmy [Garoppolo] when Jimmy came back -- there's an element of just missed repetitions that you just have to work through until you kind of build up enough of those things to start really just playing without thinking about what the call is and all that stuff. So, I think he's working hard at it, as much as he can. Obviously, the last day or two has been a little bump in the road, but we'll get back on track here. First game learned a lot. Second game, definitely some things that were improved. And I think that's really true for all young players. Everything's different -- speed of the game, the scheme that you're seeing, the players they know what they're doing, they're very used to handling certain things that you're trying to do against them. So, for rookies it takes time to really get acclimated to the National Football League and all the challenges that it presents to you every week and each week is different. This tackle is different than that one on the same team, then you go to the next week and it's completely different. The running style, the pass protection, how quick the ball's coming out. There are a lot of things that go into rookies getting totally comfortable in the game, and we're playing a lot of them. [Jakorian] JB [Bennett] is playing a lot, [Tre] Tuck [Tucker] played a bunch last week, Michael Mayer. So, there are a lot of guys whot I would say are going through the same process right now -- Byron [Young] -- of really seeing a lot of stuff, maybe it's the first time, maybe it's the second time. But it's certainly this isn't like they're seasoned veterans yet. So, you've just got to keep pushing forward with a lot of these young players, because their best football you're probably not seeing it right now. Your best football is going to be in front of us, and you just try to improve every day that we're out there with them." 

Q: I think this is your fifth-straight season with a new starting quarterback. In your experience, how long does it take to take to get the quarterback and the coach the offense in sync? 

Coach McDaniels: "I don't think there's really a timeline. I don't have one -- I wish I did, I would have already used it, the magic wand. But I think it's just repetition, understanding each other, understanding the system, applying it week after week. I firmly believe that nobody's playing their best football right now. I mean, it would be hard to do that. You want to be playing competitively and you want to be playing good football, but to think you're going to play your best football in September, I think there's a long way to go. A lot of repetitions, a lot of things we haven't seen together that we're going to see eventually, and a lot of improvement that will be made. And so, I think part of doing that is patience. A couple of years ago, I think we were 2-4 and at the bottom of the league a number of categories and kind of improved along the way and got better in certain areas. Last year, one of the worst running teams in the league at the beginning of the season and JJ [Josh Jacobs] ends up winning the rushing title. So, there's elements that we're just -- nobody is there yet. So, the thing I love about our team and our group is how hard they work, how much they're putting in, whether it's a team period or something off to the side or after practice on their own just trying to get those things nailed down so that we can make progress every week. So, I love that about our team." 

Q: Is there a little bit more juice and excitement? It's the season home opener, it's prime-time action? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yes. You can tell that, 100 percent. Plus the opponent, it's a rivalry game for us, for them and it's a historic match-up for our franchise. I mean our alumni, anybody who has competed in this game, this rivalry -- it's not a division game, but it matters a significant amount and it's important. We're excited to have an opportunity. I don't believe we got an opportunity to do this last year, play a home night game in our stadium, which obviously we feel is, if not the best, one of the very, very finest in the league. Excited to compete, play in that slot, and when you're playing in that spot, you know you're the only one on and a lot of people watching you. I think our players are excited, our coaches are excited. I know our fans are going to be excited. So, Sunday night should be electric." 

Q: You mentioned you started 2-4 one year and you got that turned around, obviously. How much does that experience kind of help you keep an even keel? You're not going to call it a season a few weeks in, there's a long way to go here. 

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I think you have to kind of ignore the immediacy of all the reactions sometimes because, I mean I've lived it too many times to know that sometimes when you start really well, it's not a good thing, either. Because maybe you are playing your best too early, and then you start to decline a little bit. So again, we want to play as well as we can play, we want to coach as good as we can coach. But I think having some understanding that the players in the locker room, the coaches, what we're doing, the goal is for it all to get better. And once it's all two, three, four months in, now how good is it? And so, you've got to be careful about overreacting, try to maintain some kind of a semblance of normalcy regardless of the outcome -- win or lose -- and not ride that roller coaster going up and down emotionally, and just focus on the things we need to do to get better. So, I'm hoping that that's a positive for all of us. You've gone through it a number of times, you kind of know how to handle it a little bit." 

The Silver and Black return home to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 8:20 p.m. EDT/5:20 p.m. PDT.

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