Raiders' Josh McDaniels Wednesday Silver and Black Update

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels took time to offer his Wednesday update on the state of the team, and look ahead to the New Orleans Saints.

HENDERSON, Nev.--Coach Josh McDaniels of the Las Vegas Raiders has the Silver and Black coming off of a great win (2-4) and ready to get back on the field.

McDaniels knows that taking on the New Orleans Saints won't be easy, and he took time moments ago at his Wednesday update to discuss the state of the Silver and Black.

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

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: Was the trade of Johnathan Hankins a sign that some of the younger guys are coming along?

Coach McDaniels: “I don't think that's just a sign of anything. I think Dave [Ziegler] and that group upstairs does a great job of trying to evaluate every opportunity that comes their way. They've tried to do that all year; we've tried to do it as a group. Just making decisions that we think might be able to help us either now or as we go forward. We're trying to focus on the Saints, but at the same time, there's a long-term view here that you have to keep in mind. Really enjoyed John, he did a great job for us, and it's just an opportunity that presented itself and you try to evaluate each one of them individually and see if that's what you think is best for the team. And we do have some young players, hopefully they can step in there and play some good football."

Q: Any thoughts on the trade deadline coming up?

Coach McDaniels: "For me, no. Honestly, it's been all New Orleans. Really trying to get familiar with a team that I'd say our team doesn't know very well. They're obviously in a different conference. So, this is a completely I'd say a different style of football that we're getting ready to play than what we played last week or even a few weeks before that. So, I've been totally invested in that. Dave [Ziegler] and Champ [Kelly] and those guys do a great job. This is always a busy time for them, there's a lot of conversations that are had and those kinds of things, but if something comes across my desk then I'll take some potential interest in."

Q: You were talking about getting ready to play a different style of football in New Orleans. What would you describe that style so far just watching the tape?

Coach McDaniels: "Very physical. This is as tough and physical a group I'd say on the whole as you're going to see, and I'm talking about every phase of the game of football. Dennis [Allen] is a first-year head coach but he's been there for a long time, so his philosophy and the way he wants to play defense is obviously very well ingrained in their players. (Offensive Coordinator) Pete Carmichael has been there with Sean [Payton] for a long time. Really, there's a lot of continuity in this organization when you talk about Sean Payton being there from '06 to '21 and now there's a lot of people that are still there. The general manager, the way they built the team, there's a lot of continuity. So, they know exactly who they are. They know what their identity is, they play to it. They've played seven games and all but one of them was a one score game to finish, whether they won or lost. So, very similar to us, they've been in a lot of close games. It’s a tough, physical group. They're explosive, I'd say, in all three phases. Offensively, they can score in one play with a lot of different skill players. They're very fast. Defensively, the guys on the edge; [Marcus] Davenport, [Cameron] Jordan, they can get to the quarterback quickly. And nobody's touched the ball more than Tyrann Mathieu since he's been in the league. We know they had a lot of guys that have been injured, but we're preparing for everybody on their roster right now. They've had a little extra time to hopefully heal up on their end and we'll see who ends up playing, but we're preparing for all their guys. But it's a very explosive group, very tough, very physical in all three phases. Play very hard in the kicking game. And playing down there on the road in this stadium is always a big challenge. It's going to be noisy. That's always an added burden when you go in there and play them. So, a lot of things to prepare for, a lot of new players to get used to and learn. That's basically what we're hard at work at doing today."

Q:How is Josh Jacobs production the past three weeks kind of change your philosophy, the way that you've looked at using running backs in the past?

Coach McDaniels: "I don't think the philosophy in terms of what we're doing has changed at all. I think that you're right – in my history, we've used different backs I would say differently, and maybe had more of a rotation. When we had Corey Dillon back in the early 2000s, that was a little different. We featured him a lot and gave him the ball a bunch. Sony [Michel], when he was a rookie, had 1,000 yards and was pretty productive. But by and large, I think that was something that we chose to do. We made a conscious decision to do it because we felt like that's what was probably best for the team. In this case, the one thing that hasn't happened is he hasn't had 25 carries a game for the whole season. The first few games of the season we really fell out of balance a little bit, so the wear and tear on him was pretty minimal honestly because we were behind, and we threw the ball a lot and all the rest of it. So, we'll keep our eyes on that as we go through the year, but I think the players really earn what they get. In his case, he does it in practice, he does it in the games, he's been very consistent and dependable. Obviously very tough and productive. If there's no reason to do it, then we won't do it. If there is a reason to do it, based on wear and tear and those kinds of things, and obviously our other guys are ready to go. I don't think it's really a change in anything. I think it's just we're kind of seeing how it's going and kind of following that until it really needs to change, honestly."

Q: There are a lot of websites out there that grade players or units and they have their own power rankings. From a coaching staff standpoint – and the Raiders have players at the top of some ratings, and at the bottom of some units –do you have your own analytics? Are you an analytics guy, is it more of an eye test and you know what they're doing that stats don't tell? Where are you when it comes to that?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, we grade obviously every practice and every game film. And the one thing that sometimes I think gets lost in translation on some of those things, and I don't know which ones you're referring to, but I understand there's a lot of people that do that and they probably do it very well. The one thing that gets lost sometimes is what the intent of the play or the design of the scheme was, and sometimes somebody gets credited with, let's just say a corner gets credited with giving up a reception but it really was zone coverage and that was his job, was not to really cover that as tightly as maybe somebody else wanted him to cover. So, now his target win rate is less than what it should be. And so, sometimes I think that can get difficult for people that wouldn't know what the design was to judge. But we grade it all and every player has a grade every game. They know where they stand relative to assignment, whether it's the finish of the play, the effort, the technique that they use. We grade all those different factors in the game. And then we coach him on Monday and try to improve as much as we can, as best we can throughout the season. So, we use our own (analytics) more than anything else. There is some data, I know that we have access to certain things here. There is some data that I think at times is helpful when you're in a pinch and you're trying to hurry up and gather some information quickly. We use some of that stuff I know in free agency and certain things like that. But during the season, I think it's mostly trust in what you see in your own grades based on practice and the game."

Q: From a coaching and player performance standpoint, what are some areas that you think the defense can do better and improve?

Coach McDaniels: "We've talked a lot about the turnover margin in general. I mean, clearly, we've attempted to try to get the ball out, but there's a difference between actually getting it out and putting it on the ground and then recovering it and getting our hands on more footballs. But there's a lot that goes into that, there's a lot of people that have to do their job right to give you opportunities to get that done. I thought we made some progress in the red zone last week, stiffened up a little bit in the defensive end when they got down there inside the 25-yard line, and that's always going to be an area that we discuss a lot because there's nothing more important than those two things: turnovers and points. So really our focus is going to be on those two areas primarily. How can we limit explosive plays, how can we limit points in the red zone and how can we take the football away, I would say much like most defenses are. So, a few areas where we're going to try to see if we can make some progress."

Q: You're preparing for a team that has a lot of guys coming back from injury. With the quarterback position, they don't really know who's going to be out there. How do you prepare for either or?

Coach McDaniels: "You've got to do both - honestly it's three of them. Let's not forget about him, number seven [Taysom Hill] is pretty good player, a really good football player. But we've got film on both. We've got film on both in this system and this offense with this play caller, so we're going to study hard on the things that they do, the things that they are attempting to do with each guy. And really regardless of who it is, it's still the same explosive offense. They're close to the top of the league in scoring, big plays, rushing offense, broken tackles - I mean you name it and they're fairly high up there in terms of what they've done. So, it's a big challenge to try to limit some of that production and minimize some of that, which we're going to see if we can take a shot at it on Sunday."

Q: Cam Jordan has four and a half sacks in his last five games. Can you talk about what he brings to the table in terms of a challenge for you?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean this guy, he's a great football player, great leader, almost never comes out of the game, which is unbelievable. We've played him a number of times, and every time you ask the same question, 'What percentage of the game is he playing,' and it's 98 percent, 99 percent. For a guy that's that physical, that tough, that aggressive - this guy is just, he's a warrior and he's really physical, a really good rusher, knows all the tricks, speed to power, can spin, understands who he's rushing against, really good run defender. He's just a very disruptive player. So, his production over the course of his career, honestly, it's second to none, in many cases second to only a few and others. But in terms of being able to be productive over a long period of time, there's not many people that can claim the production that he has. So, it'll be a great challenge for us, a tremendous player."

Q: When you look at things in the trenches, what are some small minute things from Andrew Billings and Bilal Nichols that you really liked in terms of stopping the run?

Coach McDaniels: "Well, I think playing with their hands is obviously an important part of run defense, and not getting moved sideways and playing vertically into the defense. It's going to be important this week, they've got some really physical lineman. They run a challenging scheme; they have a lot of different run schemes that they throw at you. But look, defensive line play is not a study in perfect every play, you're going to have to do some dirty work in there. You're going to get doubled, knocked around a little bit, but I think those guys have really acclimated to trying to play with our hands, trying to play vertical, trying to knock the line of scrimmage backwards and get in there on some of those things, those dirty tackles that they have to be able to make. [I've] really liked the way that they're trying to play. We can get better, make progress, I know that, and those guys both work very hard along with our whole entire defensive line group."

Q: Why is the fullback still important to you in your offense when a lot of teams maybe have kind of gone away from that a little bit?

Coach McDaniels: “You know, to me, I feel like if you can be productive as a football player, and we have ways that we can use him to help us be productive, then it's worth considering. Whether that's playing with three or four receivers at a time, two tight ends, three tight ends, a fullback, jumbo tackle, whatever it is. I mean, whatever we think is the best way to try to move the football and try to score points is what we've always tried to do. I feel like the more the game kind of evolves, sometimes some of the core basic things that people did a long time ago have a chance to become even more productive because there's not many teams working on it. Some teams don't have a fullback on their roster, some teams don't practice against it ever, some teams haven't seen it in two months, and so it's kind of like when you play a very specific defense that blitzes 80 percent of the time and you're going, ‘Holy Cow.’ The rest of the season, we've seen 15 percent blitz, and so you only have a three-day work week most weeks in the National Football League and if we can continue to make productive plays with him out there then I think we'll continue to use it.”

Q: Any update on Darren Waller?

Coach McDaniels: “ I think you'll see him out there today.”

Q: Tom Brady is within 500 passing yards, including the playoffs, of 100,000 passing yards in his career. What does that number mean to you? But then the second part of that, the flea-flicker play of Brady to Randy Moss, Moss back to Brady, Brady to Jabar Gaffney, a 56-yard touchdown; that’s still the longest air pass that he’s thrown since they started tracking the stat. What do you remember about that play?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, wow. I mean, the number I think speaks to obviously longevity is what comes to mind, but why is why is he still playing at that level? I think that comes down to how hard he works, how hard he's always worked. In order to be able to be that good for that long, there's things you have to sacrifice in your own health, and he's been willing to do those things to stay out there. Takes great care of his body, cares a lot about the competition, wants to always do right by his teammates. I always think about how great of a teammate he is when I hear that number. That's the first thing that came to my mind, was how many times has he gone out there and not felt great and put it out there and done a really good job of helping his team play and win for that many years. That's really what I think about. And that play that you're referring to, I remember that. That was in 2007. We threw it to the right to Randy and then he threw it back to Tom to the left. If I remember correctly, there's two things that stand out to me. Number one, he threw the ball and I think it skipped to Moss, and Moss kind of like picked it up like a shortstop, like Derek Jeter would, and it almost didn't get off the ground. And then Randy ended up throwing it back to Tom and I think there was a safety by the name of Anthony Smith, I think it was his name, he had predicted that they were going to beat us. I think he guaranteed a victory that day. And he was the one that was reaching for the ball as Gaffney caught it. So, I think there was a little extra sauce on that one because he really wanted to hit that one. I remember that; that was a big play in the game. It was kind of a tight game at the time, and he put it out there a long way. I didn't know if he could get it all the way there because it was going to be a long throw.”

The Raiders travel to the Big Easy to take on the New Orleans Saints next Sunday. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m PDT) and can be seen on CBS.

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