Raiders Josh McDaniels Talks In-Depth Silver and Black
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.V.--The Las Vegas Raiders (1-0) are excited to be practicing this week in West Virginia before heading up the road to take on the Buffalo Bills (0-1) on Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Before the big game, Coach Josh McDaniels gave an update on the franchise's state after seeing the Denver Broncos game film.
Below, you can watch all of Josh McDaniels press conference and read the transcript as well:
Head Coach Josh McDaniels
Q: I want to ask you about two rookies, Tyree Wilson and Jakorian Bennett. Tyree looked like he might have been hesitating a little bit trying to break down what was going to happen when it was coming to him. What did you see on film? And then for Jakorian Bennett, what did you think about his open field tackling and his willingness to put his head in there and get it done?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think all our young guys are going to learn a lot from this tape. I mean, this was their first opportunity to play in a regular season National Football League game. Michael Mayer, Tyree, Byron [Young] and Jakorian, they were all in there for a number of plays, and they're going to see some good things that they did and they're going to see some things that they didn't do very well. And so, a great opportunity to learn from what we saw. I think that's really the case for all of our players, but our young players especially are going to see some things that they can do better. I think they probably felt a much different speed of the game as you go into the regular season from the preseason. It's just a different speed and so everything happens a little quicker. I think that's what we'll see. And JB did a nice job, had a few opportunities there to make some open field tackles and I thought he did a decent job of getting the guy to the ground. Our corners need to do that if they're going to go in there and crack the safeties and all the rest of it, so at some point the corners going to have to be out there isolated on the on the edge one-on-one, and I thought we did a good job of getting them the ground.”
Q: What did you see from Jerry Tillery on film? I know he had a sack and also played a little bit on the outside.
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, JT played a multitude of roles for us, and I thought there were some really good football plays in the running game. Strong on the edge, he did some things in the pass rush. He had the one offside penalty in a fourth down situation that we'll learn from, and then there were a couple things that certainly we can clean up in the run and in the rush, but Jerry's a good football player and he's been unselfish. He's played a lot of different roles, worn a lot of different hats for us and, he contributed to the success that we had on defense yesterday in both phases.”
Q: Any chance that Chandler Jones is going to be joining you guys in West Virginia and for the game on Sunday? And Hunter Renfrow didn't really get involved in the game yesterday? Is that sort of just the way the game organically went in terms of where the ball went?
Coach McDaniels: "I think that's just the way it goes. I mean, there are games where certain things happen and the ball gets targeted to different guys differently. And we're trying to tell our quarterback to read the defense and then try to go to the best spot with the ball as opposed to read the defense and go to one guy with the ball. And so, some games that might mean the player in the slot gets 10 or 12 targets and games it might mean two or three, and yesterday was one of those ones where just the game played out a certain way and the coverage dictated that the ball went elsewhere. So, that's what that is. And I have no updates on Chandler. I'm going to stick with what I said last week.”
Q: Can you evaluate what you saw from Malcolm Koonce on Sunday?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, Malcolm played a number of snaps on defense and also played basically on every kicking play too. So, Malcolm is a guy that wears a lot of hats for us and does a lot of different jobs. He had some pressure on the passer and did his job, I'd say for the most part, in the running game and in the pass rush. Malcolm is a young, improving player that we're looking for some things in Malcolm in both areas.”
Q: How does it help moving forward to win a game like you did yesterday, making those mistakes and overcoming them? And on the other side, how important is it to clean all that stuff up?
Coach McDaniels: "It's obviously the most important thing we can do, is learn from this game and the things that we need to do better, which are numerous across the board, offensively, defensively, and in the kicking game. There are many things that we can do better and need to do better as we go forward. So, that's my job as the head coach. Our job as the coaching staff is to try to identify those things which we have this morning and last night, and we're going to be hard at work trying to improve in many areas. I think that's really the nature of the National Football League, this week and moving forward in the month of September is, a lot of times this is your first opportunity to see your football team play a game and now it's time to really make the corrections that are necessary for you to get better. So, a huge point of emphasis for us obviously moving forward is to try to make progress and improve in every area. And at the same time, it's an imperfect game, it's hard to win on the road in this league, and to win close games and to try to play your some of your best football in the fourth quarter, those are all traits that you're going to need at some point in time during the season and those will all serve you well at the end of the year.”
Q: Along those lines, how did you feel about kind of how the team responded to getting a victory and were you happy with how they took it? And then also, did you have an update on Jakobi Meyers?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I don't have any update on Jakobi. He's in the (concussion) protocol, so that's all I can say about that. Look, when you win a game in the league, you should be excited about doing that. It's hard to do that. Every game is hard. It doesn't matter who you play, it doesn’t matter where you play. They're all difficult because every team has good players and good coaches, and it's tough to win. And so, I think our team responded appropriately to winning the division game on the road against a good team, who's also well coached and has got good players. And so, that's a good thing. They should be happy about that. And at the same time, I think they knew right away, it didn't take very long. We weren't even on the plane, and they knew that there's a lot of areas where we need to improve, and we can improve. I loved our attitude this morning. I've already seen everybody this morning. So, they have a great focus. It's about trying to fix the things that they didn't do well, individually, or collectively as a unit, which obviously will only help our team.”
Q: 47 snaps for Josh Jacobs. Are you surprised by that? Or what did you see from him coming out after missing all of training camp and the offseason and going out there going full-bore?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, like I said last night, it was an interesting game because I think he played in the teens in the first half, and normally you'd like your play count to be a little higher. So, just by the nature of how the game went, I didn't think we would be able to push it to 65 or 70. But because we were so low in the play count in the first half, I felt like we would just let him kind of determine how he felt as he went into the second half. He's a football player and he wants to play football. We love having him out there. Again, there's going to be things that we're going to see. Nobody is more critical of his own performance than JJ, so he'll see things that he can do better, and he'll work really hard at improving, as will our team. So, I was not surprised that he was okay to do it, and like I said, the game was a little strange in that regard.”
Q: In that fourth quarter you go on a touchdown drive, you force a three-and-out and then you run out the clock the last five minutes with an 11-play drive. Are those things that you could put in the memory bank in the good way?
Coach McDaniels: "100 percent. Again, I think there are many lessons you learn every game you play, and I would actually start with the roughing the punter (penalty). We had an opportunity to make a play there and block a punt and just missed that opportunity and then ended up getting called for the roughing call. And then the defense ultimately has to make a red zone stop there to force a field goal, which preceded the scoring drive that took the lead, and then the three-and-out, and then the four-minute drive. So, I thought there was a lot of mental toughness and resiliency required from our team in that situation on the road, and I thought our maturity showed up. We didn't flinch. The guys hung in there, just kept trying to focus on doing their job and thought we played some of our best football at the end of the game, which obviously you're going to need that in close games.”
Q: I want to ask you about the right tackle rotation; is it possible it's making those guys better and the offensive line better as a whole?
Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I just think that Thayer [Munford] and Jermaine [Eluemunor] busted their butts and really worked hard at competing with each other. I think they're very unselfish. I thought both of them did some good things yesterday in the football game. Thayer obviously helps us as the jumbo tight end. So, he's on the right and the left kind of just by the nature of playing some of that position as well. But to me, it's if you have good football players and they've earned the right to play -- I know most people don't consider that. We didn't rotate them the entire game long, but we have more than two receivers who can play, we have more than one back. And so those guys earned that, and I think it only helps us if we're going to need it eventually in the season, which obviously at some point we will and that’s what the game of football tells us. So, I think they both acquitted themselves decently and they both earned this opportunity. But I was really happy with the way that they played when they were in there.”
Q: Last thing to kind of follow on that, just the overall the pass protection that you guys got. What does that say just about the cohesion of the group as a whole? And how much flexibility does that give you as a play caller when the pass pro is holding up like that?
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I've said this for many, many, many years -- people always said what's your passing game philosophy or what do you like to do in the passing game? And I've said, protect the quarterback, stay inside out, and give him an opportunity to read the defense and throw the ball. It's not about plays. It's not about formations. It's not about schemes. It's really not about that. If you're going to pass the ball successfully in the NFL, it needs to start with the guys up front and giving the quarterback an opportunity to do the things that he needs to do. I thought for the most part, we did a good job of giving him a chance to do that. There are definitely some things that we will work hard at cleaning up this week that we didn't do perfectly, but when you can give your guy an opportunity to stand in there and read the coverage and try to make some big throws in critical situations, that's a good place to start.”
The Silver and Black remain on the road this week as they travel to play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 1:05 p.m. EDT/10:05 a.m. PDT.
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