Raiders' Josh McDaniels Final Thought Before Chargers

The Las Vegas Raiders Josh McDaniels moments ago gave his final thoughts before this weekend's game with the Los Angeles Chargers, and we have all of it for you.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (4-7) are ready to take on the Los Angles Chargers (6-5) this weekend as they return to Allegiant Stadium.

Moments ago, Josh McDaniels gave his final thoughts on the state of the franchise and looked ahead to this weekend.

You can watch the interview below and read the transcript:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: When you're showing guys tape, and it is a tape of winning, how much does that help the mindset?

Coach McDaniels: "They want to see it work. I think all of us when we're growing up and being taught something, whether it's school or playing a competitive sport, you want to see yourself have success. And sometimes I think it's a lot easier to acclimate to what you're being told when you're seeing somebody else do it on video or what have you. So, there's nothing better than when you get them to have the success, and then that pounds home the process and the message you've been given them. If we do this right, we're probably going to get good results. And so, we've gotten that off-and-on throughout the course of the season so far, and I think the more we get it, the more contagious it becomes. And guys really are tapped into trying to do the little things right that might give us an advantage."

Q: A lot of the players have talked about that 86-yard run by Josh Jacobs as kind of an example of that. It wasn't one block that sprung him, it was everybody. It was basically everybody doing their job. Is that kind of what you're trying to tell them?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean look, you can't produce plays like that with one man. Every good football play has good fundamentals involved in it and usually great effort. When you're watching a play have success -- you can't win with three or four guys doing something right and the other six or seven not, it's impossible. So, I think that play was a really good example. I think we've had a lot of good plays like that in all three phases where you start to see like if all 11 of us do it pretty well, the way we're trying to do it, success usually follows. I think that's common for all the teams. Every team we play, it's the same thing. When they do something really well, it's usually the result of a lot of people doing it right."

Q: When you look at that team that went against the Chargers in Week 1 to now, what would you say is the biggest improvement that you've noticed out of the locker room?

Coach McDaniels: "Probably the understanding of how we take the game week and try to apply it to win the game. We didn't have a whole lot of exposure to it prior to that. We had done some things in the preseason, but certainly not everybody had played. You always come into a game week with an idea of what you want to try to do to achieve victory, and I think that was our first example of that in real live action. So, there were some things in that game that we certainly didn't do well enough to deserve to win. I think our team has learned over the course of three or four months here, we've got to do these things right, and that's the same with -- like I said, every team has those, whatever they think is most important. But whether it's ball security, tackling, pass rush discipline, kick coverage, whatever it is, there are certain things in the game that you're going to place a little bit bigger emphasis on, and if you do them right then you probably give your team a chance to win."

Q: The offensive line is in a much different place than Week 1. You were still rotating guys into the game, figuring out who's going to start where. How much growth have you seen from that unit in particular?
Coach McDaniels: "Significant. I know we had spent a lot of time talking about that over the course of months about what we were trying to get to. And we ultimately arrived at a group that's now starting to string together a number of games in a row together. I know Kolton [Miller] missed the one, but consistency, communication, working together with one another, understanding pass protection, double teams, zone blocking, pulling plays. There's a lot that goes into it, and those five guys work usually in unison with one another on every play. Sometimes receivers and the tight end, they're on opposite sides of the field, they're not really working together. But those five guys work together basically on every play, and it's really important for them to gain that chemistry. There are little things that they're saying to each other before the ball is snapped on every play. There are things that they're saying to each other after the ball's snapped. And how they say it, the communication and what they're getting used to over time, I'm sure that there's a comfort level that they've developed. I can see that, and I think they can too."

Q: The Chargers haven't made some of the same decisions they have made in the past in terms of fourth downs and two-point conversion aggression necessarily. But when you do play a team that is a little bit unorthodox in the way that they approach it, is there a different way to prepare or kind of plan for how that might go?

Coach McDaniels: "I think your mindset needs to be ready to treat third down like second down and expect every one of those situations to be something that they could choose to do. And I think going into the game, that's just the best way to go about it. It doesn't mean you have to change your call or your philosophy, but we saw the very end of the Jacksonville-Baltimore game this morning because we were talking about a situation in trying to teach about what we would want to do, but there's another one - you score, and they could kick the extra point, or they could go for two. It's the same thing that the Chargers did last week in Arizona. So, I think it starts with just not assuming anything and running off the field like" 'Oh, they're going to kick the extra point.' Then you've got to run back on the field and those kinds of things could happen. Each third down, if it ends up in a fourth-and-short, we're going to go through all of our checklists and make sure that we're good to go. Are they kicking it? Is the punter on? Is the offense going to the line of scrimmage? Because they do some of that to where they use tempo. So, we just have to have great anticipation that it's going to happen, and when it doesn't, then go ahead and make the correct substitution and play the situation out."

Q: I was talking to Mack Hollins in the locker room about when the team was losing and you're captain, how do you coach your younger players and then how do you do it when you win. And he said: 'It's the exact same, your professional you've got to come in and just do your job. Don't be too high or too low.' How does it help you as a coach when your captains are excellent echoing your beliefs?

Coach McDaniels: "They've been tremendous all year, very deserving of the honor that they received initially, and then I think they've really cemented that vote in the way that their teammates felt about him with the way they've behaved, what they've done, how they've led, the kind of energy and urgency that they've brought -- zero panic -- and just great professionals, all of them. The consistency that they have I think has really seeped into the locker room and they've basically shown or told the younger players who are watching them, this is how you do it. I think that's the best thing that they could do, and they continue to do it every day."

Q: What is your feel for Nate Hobbs and Josh Jacobs?

Coach McDaniels: "Let's hope nobody gets sick here, but yeah, Nate [Hobbs] has had a good week so far, and hopefully we have a good day today. But have a good idea that if that keeps trending the right way that's what is going to happen."

Q: What about Josh Jacobs?

Coach McDaniels: "Hopeful too, same thing."

Q: It's a quick turnaround for the Rams. Is that in the thought process with somebody like Josh Jacobs with what he's dealing with?

Coach McDaniels: "I think we just make smart decisions for the player. Obviously, their health comes first, so as long as he's good to go for the game or any player is good to go for this game, I think you have to treat this game as its own entity. We understand what's happening next week. We can't really control that. And I think, we're in a one game at a time part of the year now. So, we're going to do what we can do, the best we can do it to try to be victorious on Sunday, and then we'll deal with the aftermath after the game."

Q: Keenan Allen had some things to say about your defensive backs yesterday. Obviously when those things happen are those things that get on the players radar, on your radar? Does that add to a rivalry, make things kind of more interesting sometimes?

Coach McDaniels: "I have a great deal of respect for Keenan [Allen]. He's done a lot of great things in our league, and I think our players have the same respect for him. Sometimes things are said like that, and you can use it as motivation certainly, but I don't think it really has much to do with what's going to happen between the lines. Look, he'll be ready to play, I know he will. I have competed against him a number of times, and our guys are getting ready to play, too. I know we're going to give it our best effort. So, we'll see. It's already a rivalry."

The Raiders' game on Sunday is in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. It kicks off at 4:25 p.m. EST/1:25 p.m. PST. You can see that game on CBS.

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