Answering Your Las Vegas Raiders Questions: Chandler Jones

Each week we take time to answer your emails and questions about your beloved Las Vegas Raiders.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders have one of the most passionate fan bases in all of the professional sports.  

Each week we endeavor to answer the emails and questions that you send us.  So let's get right at this week's mailbag:

Hondo, I was disappointed that the Raiders waived Tyron Johnson.  Makes no sense to me.  David O.

I do not think his time with the Raiders is over.  Hold tight, and see if he clears waivers.

Hondo, you said you thought we would know the OL by game five.  What do you think it is?  Gayle B.

LT Kolton Miller  LG Alex Bars C Andre Jammes RG Dylan Parham RT Thayer Munford

Hondo, I love how you asked Josh McDaniels about Derek Carr running, and then he does.  Good call.  Did Coach thank you?  Keep up the awesome work.  RAAAIIIDDDEERRRSS.  Keith S.

No, he didn't thank me, nor should he have.  He had a plan.  I did ask him about it and he said, “We've talked a lot about the way we've been being played, sometimes they try to double cover certain players offensively and he becomes the sixth skill player. And there's just nobody with a set of eyeballs on him other than the four guys that are all trying to rush, but we're blocking them. So, he took advantage of some opportunities that I thought were very timely. I don't know how many of them were on third down, but it had to be a couple, or two, or three of them, where he where he made the right decision. There was a lot of space and I thought he made a good run there at the end of the second quarter in the two-minute drive to get us down there into field goal range. But he's a good athlete and as much as you don't want him to run, I think more importantly, you don't want him to take a bunch of unnecessary hits, and I don't think he did that today. I thought running was good and he didn't get hit at the end, which I think is the goal."

Uncle Hondo, I ain't gonna lie.  I be loving me some Mack Hollins.  What makes that due so special?  Kody Meyer

He is special, and Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels were stunned the Dolphins let him make it to free agency.  Josh McDaniels discussed what makes him special, “He's just that kind of person, and it doesn't surprise us when we see him do that. He does it in practice. And that's a great example of practice execution becoming game reality. He did it in the practice week this week. He works at that. So does AJ [Cole], I thought it was a great punt. And Mack fighting through, they always try to harass him more than anybody else because of his history and how good he is. And there he is again, down there making a huge play and putting our defense in great field position."

Hey Hondo, what did McDaniels think of the OL?  I love the way they ended the Broncos game.  Jack Tierney

McDaniels said, “Alex has been a consistent contributor to us here the last few weeks. He's had great effort, a great mindset and attitude the entire time he's been here, and just consistently tries to work at his craft. I think he's given us some dependable play over there. He's been pretty physical. The communication on the left side has been pretty good. We didn't have a lot of blown assignments. There was a couple in the game that we're going to have to fix here. But, generally speaking, I think that's been pretty good. The two rookies were in there for some important snaps together, yesterday. Dylan continues to develop into the type of player we think he can be now moving from center to guard and playing basically the entire time yesterday at right guard. Give him a lot of credit for the duality that he's had to deal with already this season in four games. It's pretty impressive for a young player. And then Thayer stepped in there, and again (the Broncos) had two good rushers yesterday, really three or four, however many you want to count out there on the edge, they got good pass rushers. We tried to limit their production, some of that was with scheme and some of that obviously was with the ability to stay inside out and block them well. I thought they acquitted themselves well and gave us an opportunity there. Had two big drives in the fourth quarter to get down there and score some points to try and get the game into a two-score game, twice. So, they did their job."

Hondo I appreciate you showing respect for Chandler Jones's character and effort, but this isn't Sunday School.  We need stats.  Mike S.

I asked Josh McDaniels about that and he said, “He's making a lot of plays that don't show up in the stats. And that's probably going to be not good enough for everybody to listen to, but he's making plays in the running game, he drew multiple holding penalties yesterday. I mean, there is ways to produce and there is a way to impact the game beyond just the one column that everybody's looking for. I thought he and Maxx [Crosby], Clelin [Ferrell], Malcolm [Koonce], Bilal [Nichols] – I thought there was a lot of different things going on up front yesterday where we created some negativity offensively for them with some of our effort, the way we were playing. We didn't always make the tackle. We didn't always get the sack, or the TFL, but we created it for somebody else to have it. Chandler is an unselfish guy, and he understands what his role is. Nobody would want to have more of those than Chandler would, but he also is not going to sit here and get frustrated with lack of those production stats. He was in there, Russell [Wilson] felt him some yesterday for sure, and like I said, he drew a few holdings calls that were important in the game. I think impact is sometimes, if you look at it and measure it just by the one column, you can misjudge it a little bit. I like the way he's playing. I like the effort he's playing with, and I think those will come.”

Hondo, I am loving the young secondary, but I can hardly watch with them being so young.  Calm me down, brother.  Guy Cody

I think the mix of Tre'Von Moehrig, Amik Robertson, and Nate Hobbs for the Raiders is exciting, but it can make coaches fearful as well.  I asked Josh McDaniels about it and he was very frank.  He's excited.   "There's a lot of people in that same conversation. I mean, [Divine] Deablo is in there and he’s doing a great job. John [Abram], Josh [Jacobs], Dylan [Parham], Thayer [Munford]; we have I'd say a host of young players, Hunter [Renfrow], that are really contributing in a lot of areas. I think in football there's always that moment where like, ‘Okay, it's their first time.’ Like we talked about with Zamir [White], it’s third down and two in a very critical situation and we're out there on the field and Zamir is in the backfield and he's going to get the ball; Dylan is on the field, Thayer is on the field. So, yeah, at some point it's football, you got to trust them. And I trust all of them, whether they're rookie, a new player to the team. Once they're a Raider, they’re a Raider. I think to me, just giving them the confidence to put them in there and give them a chance to play football. I mean, they've all played football all their lives, and to me, just let them go out there and make plays. That's what they're here for, and at some point, you just cut the cord and get them in there and let them go. And once they've played a handful of snaps and a few games, I don't really look at him like he's a rookie, or he's a veteran, or he's young, or he doesn't have much experience. I think once they get in there and they get their feet wet, they just go.”

The Las Vegas Raiders travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs next. That game is on Monday, Oct. 10, and it can be seen on ESPN. The game starts at 8:15 p.m. EDT/5:15 p.m. PDT.

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