Las Vegas Raiders Assistant Head Coach Marvin Lewis from OTAs

Las Vegas Raiders Assistant Head Coach Marvin Lewis spoke from NFL OTAs, and we have it all for you.

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders are riding a wave of optimism under Antonio Pierce's leadership, and as they barrel towards training camp, OTA season is well underway.

Las Vegas Raiders assistant head Coach Marvin Lewis, one of the finest gentlemen in the game of football, spoke from OTAs about Antonio Pierce, the Silver and Black, and much more.

For your convenience, you can watch the entire press conference below or read the full transcript, allowing you to engage with the content in the way that best suits you.

Assistant Head Coach Marvin Lewis

Q: I was just curious what about this role at this stage of your career was so appealing? Coach Lewis: "I think just the opportunity to really assist AP [Antonio Pierce], from the time that I first met him and had the opportunity to coach him, and then the opportunity to kind of reunite again later on at Arizona State. So, I was kind of in a similar role at one point there with him there as well being in support of him. I just have been really impressed all the time with him back to 2002 with the now Commanders, I guess. So, just this opportunity, the rest of the coaching staff I spent time with last year ironically with the guys particularly on defense - I coached Mike Caldwell, I had Ricky Manning on my staff at an all-star game, I met Gerald [Alexander] in '19 at Cal Berkeley, Robbie Leonard's career. So, really these guys and in association with them and all they've done, so just excited about the opportunity and the offensive staff as well."

Q: It's probably a role that is defined not only by you, but like how people are approaching you and asking you and tapping into your knowledge. How has that gone so far? And what do you define the role as? Coach Lewis: "I define the role as kind of speak when spoken to. I'm here to support them, and anything I can do that way as well as the squad, the players. But that's the thing that's important to me that I try to keep things levelled out for them as much as I can."

Q: At what point did you realize that Antonio Pierce was coach material? Coach Lewis: "Well, I don't know that then, I knew he was driven as a player. And I said that to him, I guess it was 2021 at ASU when he became the coordinator and we flipped roles, and I went back off the field. He came to me during the bye week, and he said, 'How am I doing?' I said, 'Man, you're doing really good, but you also need to take some time for yourself and take a deep breath as well,' but he's so driven and I said, 'That's how you became such a great player is you're just so driven.' And he also, I think based on how things happened in the fall and so forth, once he took over and reaching out to Coach [Tom] Coughlin and reaching out to myself and the people that he had come in and be around just so he could bounce ideas off of. He's not stuck on himself that way. He wants to hear other people's point of views and so forth that way, and that's good. But he has a great direction himself as a leader. He takes responsibility for providing direction and reinforcing it each and every day."

Q: When you first became the head coach, you were roughly around the same age as Antonio Pierce, so you know some of the firststhat he is going through. How beneficial do you think it is to him to have somebody that's gone through a similar journey in that sense? Coach Lewis: "Well, I hope it is. I think I've benefited from having the opportunity to work for two guys who became head coachesfor the first time, Brian Billick and Bill Cowher, and then Coach [Steve] Spurrier, who had been a head coach but the first time in the National Football League. So, I think those were helpful to me when I got the opportunity to become a head coach. And hopefully I can help benefit AP [Antonio Pierce] as well that way."

Q: Did you envision or see eventually getting back in a role like this or has this all just kind of come organically because of Antonio Pierce? Coach Lewis: "It came pretty organically, but I'm excited about it. I had a couple of other people inquire at times about my interest in doing something similar. The proximity to where I've made my permanent home also helped, the fact that it's not very far away from Scottsdale. So that's the good thing, and my three grandsons that I miss."

Q: There's another young coach on the staff that I think has head coach possibilities and that's Patrick Graham, another defensive coordinator. How has it been working with Patrick? Coach Lewis: "It's been a real pleasure. I didn't know Pat [Patrick Graham], I knew of Pat prior to last fall, but my opportunity to be around and with him in December and January and through this whole process has just been awesome. And anybody that asked me, I'm very supportive of him becoming a head coach, hopefully in this next cycle. I think he's deserving, both from ability, knowledge, his ability to handle the players and so forth. I really am impressed each and every day. So, I'm trying to also be helpful to him as he goes forward with this process as well."

Q: Even from the Commanders to Arizona State and now Arizona State to the Raiders, what would you classify as Antonio Pierce's biggest area improvement from those three stops? Coach Lewis: "I don't know that I can put my finger on a biggest area of improvement. I think the biggest thing that I think where he has really done a nice job is understanding the pulse of the football team, and I think he did that at ASU when I was with him. He would come to me when when I was supposedly the defensive coordinator and he was the linebacker coach assisting me, he said, 'I think the guys need to run today. The defense needsto run today after practice.' I said, 'Okay, just make sure we don't kill them,' and I think that was evident to me at the end of the fall last year, and I think it's been evident through this process now, how we began, the OTA process and so forth. He's really conscious of the physical condition of the players and making sure we get all of our right guys to the gate. And I think that's really important as a head coach in the NFL. There's a degree of schematics, a degree of toughness, conditioning and all those things we're trying to get to, but the key element is when September - whatever date that is rolls around, we've got all the right guys out there, suited up as many of them as we can, and I think that's really important. I think he has a great sense of that."

Q: What have you thought about his vision in building this team and implementing what he wants to see out of this group thus far? Coach Lewis: "I think he's done a really good job. I think with him, Mr. Davis and the things that he has said AP [Antonio Pierce] and what he wants, what he knowsthe Raiders to be, what a Raider is, and I think along with Tom [Telesco], they've done a nice job of really setting the blueprint of that and trying to make sure we work really hard to put people within those parameters."

Q: That goes back to culture, and Antonio Pierce has talked a lot about culture. When you were at Cincinnati, you had to do a lot of changing of the culture. How did you go about doing that? And how does he achieve that? It looks like that's what he's doing here. Coach Lewis: "Ithink the first part of thatis getting the right people in that lockerroom with you, alongside you. And that was the one thing I thought was really evident here last season is the best players worked extremely hard on the field, and that's contagious and that builds from the bottom up and that's what you need. You need your leadership to be out there on the field because we can't go out there in the huddle with them. And I think that was the same thing true is bringing the right kind of people in and so forth as you continue to build the roster and build the football team. But there's already a great nucleus here, and we're able to continue to build upon that because these guys that are there here are really driven that way and there's a lot of energy that way."

Q: I know it's early on, what excites you most about this year's group that you've seen so far? Coach Lewis: "I think a lot of the things were talked about offensively is working hard to be more explosive on offense, and I think trying to put playmakers in position on offense and so forth. I think that's really important. I think defensively, picking up where the squad left off and really being able to - a lot of the starters are returning, and then the addition of Christian Wilkins into that group and then the evolution and the growth of these young players that maybe were spot players last season, that now are seeing an opportunity to raise their lot and get more playing time and so forth, maybe become a starter and so forth or a role player. I think Malcolm Koonce is one that watching what he did at the end of the year, I think everybody looks around and says, 'Man, look what Malc did, I can do that,' and I think that's really important, and I think that's the atmosphere that's been created throughout the football team."

Q: Speaking of the defense, I know you got a good look at this team up close towards the end of last year, so even now in OTAs, do you see some of the qualities from Maxx Crosby that you saw from Hall of Famers like Ray Lewis and Rod Woodson back on the Ravens? Coach Lewis: "I do. I see a driven player. I also had the opportunity to be around Bruce Smith and Darrell Green for a season and Champ Bailey, you see guys that have become at the pinnacle - Shannon Sharpe - of their game and how they go about their business each and every day. You can set your watch by Maxx Crosby now. Somebody said to me he'd to be easy to assassinate him because you know where he's going to be at all times. He's phenomenal, and being over there in Arizona, I got to spend a lot of time with the Cardinals and watching J.J. Watt at the end of his career. And the very last practice J.J. Watt had for the Arizona Cardinals, he looked like Maxx Cosby looks every day out here. And I think to me that shows you what a great player is like. I was influenced as a young coach in the NFL by Rod Woodson, and then later was fortunate enough to draft Ray Lewis, and then we brought Shannon Sharpe, so I've been watching how these guys who've become Hall of Fame players, how they go about their day each and every day, and Maxx has those qualities."

Q: When you look back at the last nine weeks of last year, you never know how that's going to go sometimes as an interim coach, but how invaluable and important now that you look back was that experience not only for Antonio Pierce, but the players and setting the tone that they set last year to kind of create the momentum for this year? Coach Lewis: "I think the biggest thing is everybody knows each other. There's no surprises. He didn't change throughout and he kept that fire and that drive with them, and I think that's really important. So, there's nobody wondering about how this team is going to work through adversity. One of the things that I have said, I came in this building three times after losses - after the first Kansas City loss, after the Minnesota loss and after the Colts loss, and nobody was hanging their head. There was no people walking around poor me, and they went right back to work with that drive in their eyes and you could see it and that's hard to do man, believe me I know. Because you have some losses that hurt. You get knocked from the playoffs, the Minnesota loss, those are hard things, and they bounced right back, and they came to work Monday morning. That was the key element and there was no hangover and that's so important."

Q: You talked about your general role, specifically have you gotten into what your gameday role be? Will you be in the box or on the field? Coach Lewis: "I don't know that. I don't know where I’ll actually be. That press box looked awful crowded up there last year. I know if I'm on the sideline I betterstay back or I'm going to be like Coach [Chris] Finch. But I don't know what AP [Antonio Pierce] thinks and where I can add value, we'll see."

Q: After that experience last year, were you sure that you wanted to be back if Antonio Pierce became the Head Coach, or did it take some convincing? Coach Lewis: "No, it didn't take any convincing at all really between he and Mr. Davis, I don't think it took much. I'm excited for him, that's all I can say. Each and every day when he was going through the process after the season and so forth we talked probably every couple of days, not every day, but every couple of days, and then as he began to put the staff together he would check in with me and just tell me how things were going and what he liked, what he disliked and so forth and the anything I could do to help him to research coaches and so forth. That's what my role was."

Q: How would you describe Antonio Pierce's maturation and growth last season? Coach Lewis: "I think he really did. I think he grew. One of the things people ask me, 'What do I need to know when I become a head coach? And one of the things I would tell them is tomorrow will be better. And I think you learn how to the try to level out a lot of those peaks and valleys, and I think those are the things that are important. There was a couple things that occurred where they made roster decisions, and I think you learn from every time you have to make one of those decisions during the season where you're changing players in and out and so forth. And I think that's also part of this job is having a certain pulse and a feel for that, that you can't necessarily hurry into decisions you've got to make sure you always weigh the pros and cons of those things."

Q: You talked about some of the players in the past that compare to Maxx Crosby, but a guy like Jack Jonesthat will make a play and then tell you about how he made that play, what doesthat bring to kind of the rest of the defense? Coach Lewis: "We want to have some consistency of things and we're trying to iron Jackie [Jack Jones] out a little bit all the time. He's a very talented player, and I've had the pleasure as I told him again, 'Jack, it's been five years now. Let's move on, let's get this moved to step B. We're still on step A.' But yes, he's a very talented young man. He has a knack for making football plays, and he just has that about him. And I think it's just still in the process of learning to be a pro day in and day out, and I think that's important. But his teammates know what they're going to get out there on the field, and we've just got to make sure we keep all those things positive all the time. I mean, I remember the end of the season he made just a great play in the Denver game where he came across and tipped the ball in the end zone and the next play he didn't move. And that's the thing, that's the toughest position on the field. I mean, you've got to cover a guy that you can't touch. He knows where he's going, and you can't touch him. Other than that, it's easy."

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