Las Vegas Raiders OC Mick Lombardi Week 8 Update
HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) find themselves heading to the bayou to take don't the New Orleans Saints (2-5) on Sunday.
The Raiders' offense is on fire, and a win in the Big Easy is critical for the to keep their hopes of a playoff birth alive.
OC Mick Lombardi gave his weekly status update on the team moments ago, and you can watch the entire video, and read the transcript below.
Offensive Coordinator Mick Lombardi
Q: Some people might have seen it as an unorthodox approach that you guys took with the offensive line, but it seems to be working. How do you feel about the way that group is playing right now?
Coach Lombardi: “They've done a very decent job here the past few weeks. They stringed a couple weeks together in terms of running the football and protecting the quarterback. I keep saying it every week, but they've worked really hard in practice, and they have. We'll keep going each week and play the guys who practice the best and execute the job and give us the confidence on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday to go out there and play on Sunday. And the combination you guys have seen on Sunday has been a reflection of that."
Q: Thayer Munford has really come along in his maturation. Will you talk about what you've seen from him?
Coach Lombardi: “Thayer is coming here from Ohio State and played guard and tackle both in college. He's kind of found a little niche here at tackle for us in terms of trying to develop as a player. And I think I've brought it up to you guys numerous times here with any young player, and especially linemen. They try and come in here and they try and just figure things out. Same thing with Dylan Parham. And they try and stack good days together. And I think both those guys have done a great job of taking the coaching from Coach [Carmen] Carm [Bricillo] and Coach [Cameron] Cam [Clemmons] and stringing good days together. And that's the best they can do because every day is a new day, right? Every opponent they’ve never faced before. Every defensive end or defensive tackle, they've never faced before. So, they're learning something every day. It's not the same thing as Kolton Miller, who still needs a lot of coaching to try and execute the game plan, but Kolton Miller has faced certain defensive ends before. He's played in certain schemes before, but this time for these guys, it's new everything. So, they had to come in here with their own mindset and try and take it in, and they've done a great job of that. And so, I think you've seen that translate to the tape of just their hard work and dedication to try and get better."
Q: The play action game worked really well last game. What was behind that and is that something that you can lean into moving forward?
Coach Lombardi: “Play action takes all 11 guys. So, the running game obviously is a great effect of that, and we have to make sure that we do our job up front. The backs got to do a great play fake, quarterback has got to give a great play fake, linemen have to block as if it's a run play. And if we all do that, then it makes it easy for the scope of players to get open, and they have to run the right route and get open obviously. But when you run the ball as effectively as we have the past few weeks, then obviously it's a benefit to do that."
Q: Over the past couple of weeks, Derek Carr seems to be moving around a little bit in the pocket and using his legs more. Do you think that's more on the offensive line just becoming more comfortable with the way he plays? Or him just being more comfortable in the system?
Coach Lombardi: “I think Derek is just taking the game plans and really effectively taking them on Sunday and played very effectively with that. And I think he feels comfortable with the system, I think he feels comfortable in the pocket. The linemen have done really good job of staying inside out, and he’s true to his progressions and trusts the play. And I think that carries over. He works on his footwork, works on his techniques every single day in practice, and it translated into the game. And I think he’s just done a good job of that, consistently saying to himself, 'Okay, I can't stay back there nine yards deep in the pocket every snap. I got to move, I got to push up in the pocket and make sure I get to a good launch point.' And he's doing a good job of that. It's just playing quarterback and he focuses on that with Coach Bo [Hardegree] and the rest of quarterbacks every single day."
Q: Jakob Johnson has done a really nice job in your system. Can you talk about how important he is to both the run scheme and the play-action pass?
Coach Lombardi: “Jak brings something to the table in terms of hard work and dependability as a player. He's a phenomenal person, works extremely hard, and he brings some continuity. I would say he’s the type of player that every coach wants to have in their room. Coach Kennedy [Polamalu] obviously has him in his room. But in terms of just playing fullback, he brings an element of toughness. But it's not just him. The offensive line, the tight ends and the receivers all have to do their job in the running game. So, whether you lineup in 21 personnel or 11 personnel, I think I said it to you guys last time, the receivers, ‘No block, no rock, right?’ So, they got to block, too. Mack Hollins, Davante [Adams], Hunter [Renfrow], whoever's out there needs to do their job. Foster [Moreau] at tight end, Darren [Waller] at tight end, Jesper [Horsted], anybody here. It really takes all 11 guys. So, whatever the run-scheme is, sure, Jak – you see him more downhill and more kind of coming down hill hitting linebackers, that's his skillset. But it doesn't matter what run you call, you got to execute it well and you got to play tough."
Q: Why is fullback so important in your offense when a lot of teams have phased it out at this point?
Coach Lombardi: “That's a good question. I think for us, in terms of fullback, I think it brings us an element of toughness, downhill runs, and we feel like we can control the line of scrimmage with a fullback on the field. And it depends on the game plan, right? Obviously, we go into each week saying, 'What personnel groupings give us certain things we can try to attack from what we're trying to do offensively?' And if we are seeing that [Jakob] Jak [Johnson] being on the field gives us a certain look we want to try to exploit, then we'll do that. If it's not, then we won't. So, just the capability of doing that per week and then we like doing that, so we'll continue to do it."
Q: The first three passing plays all went to Davante Adams on Sunday. How much of that was during the bye week we figured out ways to get him the ball no matter what?
Coach Lombardi: “I think we start every game saying, 'what can we do to have positive plays to try and create a scoring drive?' And obviously, we didn't do a good enough job of that to start the game. We kind of flooded out there in the first drive, and then didn't execute well enough on the next two drives. But we'll go into each game saying, 'what are the plays that we feel really good about, that can get us positive plays and move the football?' And if those plays go to Davante, they go to Davante. If they go to Foster [Moreau], they go to Foster. If they go to Hunter [Renfrow], they go to Hunter. Just whatever plays we want to try and get down the field and try and get into the defense, whether we hand the ball off to Josh Jacobs, hand the ball off on a speed sweep to DJ Turner, whatever it may be; we're going to try and do that to get positive plays because if we try and get that first, first down, that's really what's going to try and get your drive going. So, we'll continue to do that."
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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