OC Lombardi Talks Las Vegas Raiders

Josh McDaniels and the Las Vegas Raiders new offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi stepped to the microphone and discussed his plan for the Silver and Black.

HENDERSON, Nev.--Coach Josh McDaniels was selected by owner Mark Davis to lead the legendary Las Vegas Raiders.

While widely considered an offensive savant, McDaniels learned from his time at the helm of the Denver Broncos and knew he needed a strong offensive coordinator.

It didn't take him long to pick the man when he selected his good friend and close colleague, Mick Lombardi.

Lombardi stepped to the microphone to discuss his new job and his role for McDaniels and the Silver and Black.  Above is the entire video of his press conference, and below you can read the transcript.

Offensive Coordinator Mick Lombardi

Q: Obviously, your family has some ties to the Raiders, so when this started kind of getting on the radar and Josh McDaniels might be coming in here with Dave Ziegler, did you get excited about that opportunity for yourself as a potential coach here?

Coach Lombardi: “Obviously, my family does have a long tie to the Raider family and the Raiders organization, which has been a unique experience here now. I grew up a Raider, my father and my mom, my brother, if you ask them what organization was most impactful during our time as a family, they probably would say the Raiders organization. Obviously, my time with the Patriots was unbelievable. I can't thank Coach [Bill] Belichick, Mr. [Robert] Kraft and the organization enough for my time there. But obviously when Josh had the opportunity to come out here and interview, I was happy for him. I still was focused on my job in New England. And then obviously when this opportunity came where he wanted to interview me for this position here, very excited. I know it was a long process. He interviewed some great people and then when the time came for me to come out here, I was very excited and very blessed to be a part of this organization with Mr. [Mark] Davis and everybody involved here. So, it's a special time. Obviously it's not the Bay Area. It's Las Vegas, which is different. If it was in Oakland, it would be a really, really unique experience, but we're excited to be here. This city has been unbelievable, people have been great, and you can really feel the energy of people here wanting the Raiders to be a great top-notch team for a long time, and it's a very exciting time.”

Q: I'm wondering doing your self-scout, what has jumped out you about this offense so far in terms of the guys you have back from last year?

Coach Lombardi: “Yeah, that’s a great question. It's been a unique process. Now, just the first thing trying to get here and get to know the players. You come from obviously being in a certain place for a number of years in New England and previously at San Francisco and the Jets in my time. And when you come back with the staff, you know the players so well, you know you know what their strengths are, the weaknesses are, and you were involved with them every day and you kind of try things and they work out and they don't work out. And I think the time we spent now is, OK, learning the team from a fundamental standpoint, who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are from the tape. I'm really excited to get on the grass with those guys and kind of see what they can do well, what they can't do well, and what they need to improve on and their fundamentals. And I think that's a big thing of this offseason is, as we learn them and learn their strengths and weaknesses, teaching the fundamentals we believe in and then giving them those tools to take them to training camp and then throughout the season and just to keep developing them that in that sense. But really excited. I see the guys here in the building. They're working out in the weight room on their own and stuff like that and just getting to know them on a personal level and then being able to work with them here in the next month or so when we start the offseason to get the ground running with football.”

Q: Obviously, you've worked with Josh McDaniels for a few years now. What is it about your guys' relationship that allows you to click and what's collaboration going to be like with a guy who's so well known as an offensive coordinator in this league?

Coach Lombardi: “Yeah, I started off my career as a scouting assistant with the New England Patriots, shoot a long time ago, and I was blessed and given the opportunity to be his quality control coaching assistant for the 2012 season, where I kind of was doing a whole different bunch of roles and I didn’t know anything. I didn't know anything. I knew how to pick-up players that airport. I knew how to make a POA tape. And Josh was very good to me in terms of being understanding that this was a young guy I need to teach a lot, doesn’t know anything, and I was open to that. And that year was very beneficial for me and obviously my career went a different direction to San Francisco then to New York. And then opportunity came in 2019 for me to go back and work with him (Josh). And we kept the relationship since then, which has been obviously friendship based, and when the time came to work with each other, I went there with open mind saying, you know what, I have learned a lot from different people and different systems, but I want to learn how he sees the game and he's really taken the time. I've been so grateful for him and what he's taught me in terms of playing complimentary football, teaching the techniques, coaching the entire offensive scheme, how you see things from a global perspective as opposed to just your position-specific idea. I'm so grateful for him for that and I'm going to work hard really to do that for him for the Raiders. All the things he's instilled in me over the past number of years, I'm going to try and instill that with our staff as we move forward and have our team grow in that way.”

Q: I know it's early on, but this being your first time as an offensive coordinator, how does that change your approach this offseason?

Coach Lombardi: “It's been really great. That's a great question. Our staff has been phenomenal. Working with the guys there, obviously have a relationship with some of those guys on the staff and getting to know guys like Coach [Kennedy] Polamalu, [Edgar] Bennett, Coach [Cameron] Clemmons, Coach [Jerry] Schuplinski, those guys have been so great in terms of helping me and just talking football and keeping our system and sharing with me their experiences and how they've done things before. You know, Kennedy and Edgar, they've been coordinators before as well, both at the college and professional level. And I think the biggest thing for me, as I embark on this new opportunity, is having the humility to say, I need to learn, too. I need to grow and I'm open to doing anything that makes and helps the team win. I think Josh is in that same role. I think everybody who's here, who's new, is in that same role. And, everybody's been open and have an open discussion. Obviously, my job is to keep the offense as organized as possible and make sure we have a plan of attack every single day to try to get better every day, whether it's March or November. And those guys have been so great. I think their assistance with me with that has been the easiest process moving forward here. And so, I lean on those guys a lot. They do a tremendous job. The past few weeks of getting started to now has been nothing but fun. I can't thank them enough”

Q: What are you looking for in the outside receiver? What kind of traits do you guys need for an outside receiver?

Coach Lombardi: “Yeah, that's a great question. Obviously, you look for a number of different things in the receiver position. Can they play on the perimeter, and can they play on the inside? That's a great observation by you. Obviously, there's different things an outside receiver can do. The first thing we talk about in terms of receiver play is winning at the line of scrimmage, right? If you can't win at the line of scrimmage as a receiver, you're going to have a tough time. And DBs are so good now and teams play such a variety of different coverages and different techniques, and they try and disguise. How can you release into the defense? So, that's the first part. The second part is the stem of the route and understanding how the coverage is playing within your stem of the route, maintaining leverage on your stem of the route. And then the third phase of route, obviously in terms of making a good receiver and in terms of on the perimeter, is the top of the route. And once you get to the top of route, what your technique is going to be of how you need to get leverage in terms of coming downhill or breaking back out or throwing by. So, I think when we look at an outside receiver in our evaluation process, it's OK, where can this guy win? Can he win at the line of scrimmage, on the stem, or at the top, and if a guy can win all three phases based on the technique we provide him, then that's really what we're looking for in a perimeter receiver.”

Q: How beneficial do you think it is in your position to be a younger coach and be able to relate to the players?

Coach Lombardi: “I think at the end of the day, players relate to coaches who see them prepared and obviously see them give them knowledge on a day-to-day basis and try and make them better. Any coach, it doesn’t matter age, whatever it may be. We hired Mitch Singler as the offensive quality control coach. He can make a player better just like I can make a player better. And that's not because of the different role or different title, but it's because Mitch is going to be prepared just like I'm going be prepared to give the player the best tools to be successful. And at the end of the day, I believe good players want to be coached. They want to be coached hard and they want to be given the tools to be successful. And if you dedicate your time to do that and show them you're willing to do that on a day-to-day basis and you're going to give everything you got to them just like you would to your family, on anything on a personal level, then they're going to respect you and you're going to have success with them. So, I think that's really the biggest way to relate to players is giving them the toolbox early on to be successful on the field on a day-to-day basis.”

Q: You've seen these guys play, you've looked over what they can and cannot do, this roster, especially offense. But I just kind of wonder your thoughts, how close do you see this team? Why would you say they're just a player or two away from being special?

Coach Lombardi: “Well, I think as a coach, and as an assistant coach, obviously we take things one day at a time. You know, today's March 11th and tomorrow's March 12th. And the next day is March 13th. Our job as a staff is to try to make this team better every single day, whether that's a different tweak in technique, whether that’s a different tweak in scheme. I don't want to look at things in terms of a down the field perspective, in terms of projections and stuff like that. I think the best thing for the Raider organization is just take it day-by-day and say, you know what, each season is a new season, each day is a new day. And if we focus ourselves and focus on what we can try to do and focus on the job at hand, which at the end of the day, if you try and improve your skill improve and improve your craft, the rest of it takes care of itself. So, we're going to come to work every single day and we're going to say, you know what, we're going to try to get better at X, Y, and Z. And if we do that, then I think we'll end up winning some games. But if we don't do those things on a day-to-day basis and focus on the short-term task at hand, then we're kind of being shortsighted in that.

Q: You mentioned growing up a Raider. At what point did you realize you want to be a coach? And who were your role models growing up in that regard?

Coach Lombardi: “Yeah, obviously my father has a vast experience in the personnel department, and he has instilled in me a great love for football. My time in high school and stuff like that, I would go down to the Raider facility and I would use old beta tape and I would cut out tape and use the time codes and stuff like that and make up the POA tapes. But I knew that in terms of teaching, in terms of talking and having involvement with players, I always enjoyed that as a player. I was able to go to school at Fordham and that coaching staff was so great to me and they allowed me to get my coaching career started. I really loved being with the players and talking about football with players and helping players get better on that personal level. So, I would say my experience of growing up in football instilled the love of football for me. And then my experience in college with coaches like Tom Masella and Patrick Moore, they really kind of instilled in me the want to get that personal relationship with players. And then obviously my time in New England, I was blessed enough to be part of a scouting as a scouting assistant just to get my foot in the door. And then obviously Coach Josh and Coach Belichick allowed me to kind of take that step into coaching, which I really ended up loving and then growing over the years. So, I would say football's always been a passion mine, but I would say once I got the opportunity to kind of work with players on the field, that's when it really kind of clicked for me and said, you know what? This is what I want to do. And this is my passion, and this is what I really care about.”

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