Raiders' McDaniels Final Comments Before the Bears

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels gave his final comments before the Silver and Black take on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago, and we have it.

CHICAGO, Ill--The Las Vegas Raiders (3-3) are headed to Chicago to take on the Bears (1-5), and before they left, Josh McDaniels gave his final comments, and we have them all.

You can watch the entire press conference above and read the transcript below.

Head Coach Josh McDaniels' Opening Statement: "I'll start by congratulating MD [Mark Davis] and Becky [Hammon] and the Aces for winning the WNBA Championship. What an achievement that is and what a team with all they've accomplished here in the last couple of years. To do it back-to-back, I know it hasn't been done in 20-some years. That's tough to do and there's a grind element to that. So, that's really cool for them. I’m really happy for them and obviously this area is starting to become a pro sports town and they're really doing a great job. So, congrats, hats off to them.” 

Q: Obviously, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo can't go on Sunday. How difficult of a decision is that in terms of the replacement? oach McDaniels: "Oh, I mean, I think you just measure it all out and honestly it happens almost every week, it's just not necessarily at quarterback. But where there's somebody who can't play and Nate Hobbs can't go, and so Tyler [Hall] is going to come up. Is it Amik [Robertson], Tyler -- how are we going to share that load? You know what I mean? So, it's kind of I'd say par for the course as a football team. It's just the quarterback position gets a little bit more attention to it. But both guys are having a good week practicing. We'll see how today goes and then we're just going to make the right decision. And I think at the end of the day, both of them are going to be ready to go. I have confidence in both of them. The good thing is we've talked about is both of them have played already, so that's a unique situation I'd say. So far in six games, we've had three quarterbacks out there who have all competed in close games. So, I'm confident in both of them." 

The Las Vegas Raiders Josh McDaniels has the Silver and Black ready to take on the Chicago Bears / Darrell Craig Harris, Raiders Today

Q: It seems like Tyler Hall has really made a case for himself to get this opportunity and get promoted to the active roster. What has he done? 

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, he did it last year, too, when he had his opportunities. He went in there and he's just been productive. He knows what to do, he's a very smart kid, he prepares really hard. He's very diligent when he's not on the active roster, he prepares just like he's going to play. And then, when we've elevated him a handful of times here in two years, he does his job, he's dependable, he communicates well with the rest of the secondary and the defense, and he makes plays. He's productive, he tackles, he runs to the ball, he covers and he contributes in the kicking game, too. So, all the things you would want a player to do who is on the practice squad trying to get himself elevated to the game, Tyler does them, and when he's ready to go, he's made the most of his opportunities." 

Q: How would you describe the addition of linebacker Robert Spillane and what he has done for your defense? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, this guy is a football player through and through. True professional, really tough, smart, he cares a lot about all the details in the game. He's a connector. I think that's why he was voted as a captain so quickly. I mean, there's really not anybody who doesn't relate to Spill [Robert Spillane] in some way, shape or form. He can talk to anybody, communicates with the secondary well, the front. Takes control of everything in practice and wants it done right. He understands when there's a mistake made, he's very smart. So, we have just a lot of confidence with him having the green dot, being able to really set the table for our defense, understand situational football. There are really not a lot of things you can say that are negative about Spill. I mean, they're all positive. We're just really happy we got him." 

Q: Has there been a bigger emphasis on the cleaner football, like you mentioned before earlier this week, where there are no penalties at the wrong times in the red zone and stuff like that? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean we've actually cut the penalties down, so to speak. But the inopportune times when we're getting them, I mean, we had three last week and all of them ended up being in the red zone offensively. Those are hard ones to overcome because you're in first-and-20 or second-and-20, and there's not a lot of space down there to really separate the defense -- those are hard ones to convert. We've talked about it. I know our guys want to do it right. There's no lack of that, and we're going to keep coaching it, keep working at it in practice. I think the guys have the right mindset. Again, I've thought of it this way my entire career, when there's something you're not doing well, it provides an opportunity for improvement. And if you can win a handful of games while you're improving in certain areas of your team, then all of a sudden you make that progress eventually in the middle of the season and you're a different team than you were at the beginning. And hopefully at the end, you're the best version of yourself. So, cutting down on penalties, cutting down on turnovers, eliminating big plays, continuing to play good in the kicking game, trying to improve ourselves in situational football. I thought we made some progress on third down last week. We need to do that in the red zone now and continue to try to play penalty free." 

Q: This is the second straight year where scoring is a little bit down in the NFL across the league, and there's some prevailing theories, one of which is defensive coordinators are really prioritizing the red zone. And as an offensive head coach, do you sense anything that they're doing differently down there or elevation of intensity down there? 

Coach McDaniels: “I mean, any time that happens, I usually kind of think it kind of ebbs and flows a little bit. It's like a game of chess or checkers, if you will. I mean, you can do some things and move your pieces in a certain way, and you might get into a rut a little bit, and then there has got to be a counter to that and a response to it. So, sometimes I think looking at things early in the season could kind of be a little bit misleading. Certainly, if that's the case, you give the defense's credit. I think our defense has improved in certain areas in that regard too. The coverages and the things that people do down there in the red zone, everybody studies the top teams every year in the offseason. And then there's usually a shift towards a scheme. A handful of years ago it was the Seattle cover three, and so people started to play that more. When I first came into the league it was a lot of split safety coverage and max blitz and that kind of stuff, trying to double-team your receivers. Now, I'd say, there are some flavors that everybody is kind of favoring right now, but honestly, I think it just comes down to overall execution and continuing to press on and try to improve the things that you're trying to do offensively to score more points. And if you can do those things, I think that trend will reverse a little bit or shift some, and that's what we're hoping for offensively. Defensively, we'd love to keep it where it's at.” 

Q: How would you say quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Aidan O’Connell have they been able to help each other with the process? 

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I think their room is tremendous, in terms of their overall communication with one another, the relationships they formed. You got one guy with very little experience and he's siphoning all that he can from Jimmy [Garoppolo], Hoy [Brian Hoyer]. They talk through certain things in the meeting room in real time. And I think the reality is none of them has a big ego. When Brian was going to back up Aidan, he was ready to go support him and did all the right things like I knew he would, and he's done his whole career. Jimmy's been the same way when he hasn't played so. That's the way a good room should operate and function. At the end of the day, one of them is going to play and they should all want that guy to go out there and play well for the Raiders, and the goal was for us is to win.” 

Q: Whether it's in the red zone or elsewhere, how does an increased role for Zamir White help you out potentially? And have you noticed anything about his relationship with Josh Jacobs at all? 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, those guys, they're all pretty close, the backs. So, JJ [Josh Jacobs], it's amazing when you watch him and listen to him at practice sometimes when he shares bits of information and teaches some things because he's done a lot of things at a high level going back to college, and he's seen a lot of things in the NFL, whether it's defensive front, a type of run scheme, ball handling, whatever it is. But he sees it at a little bit of a different level because he's done it at such a high level for his career. And I think Z [Zamir White] is trying to soak in as much of that as he can. Zamir is going to keep getting opportunities, it's just what we need to do for multiple reasons. It takes a few hits off JJ every once in a while and then gives Zamir an opportunity to get in there and play, and Zamir has earned the right to do that. He's got good skill, good run skill. He's big, he's fast, he's tough, and he's improving in every aspect of his game. Caught the ball last week, had a couple chips like I said. So, I think those kinds of things are good for our team. As many guys as can contribute, that makes our team harder to defend." 

Q: There was a lot of talk this week about the hip-drop tackle. Is that something you would like to see banned? 

Coach McDaniels: "I mean whatever the end result is on this, we've all got to coach it the right way. Look, nobody wants injuries, I mean none of us do. We don't coach it that way. We don't want our players to get injured that way. I understand that this is a tough one to, I'd say, navigate, and because there's certain positions that a defender gets caught in where he might not even be trying to do that, it's just the only way he could possibly get the runner down. So, it’d be interesting to see how this whole thing kind of shakes out. I get protecting the player, I do understand that 100 percent. Just I think the way it's going to be worded or how they're going to explain it or how they're going to discuss it and vote on and all the rest of it I think is going to be important because you want to be able to make a rule so that the officials can officiate it properly and the coaches can coach their players to do it the way that it needs to be done without committing a foul. So, I'd say there's a little bit of gray." 

Q: We've seen Michael Mayer continue to develop. What about Tre Tucker? He seems like he's getting a little bit more burn as well. 

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean just the more they're -- every week they understand it better. Repetitions in practice are important for them all. They keep working really hard to earn their opportunities, and those guys are both very diligent in terms of their preparation. They've improved their technique. I think they understand how competitive every play is in the National Football League now. So, they just keep grinding away. We thought that they would both help us pretty quickly, and that's starting to, I'd say, hold true and we're getting a lot of contributions from a lot of rookies now. So, the more they learn, the better able to contribute they are, and those two guys are good examples of that." 

The Silver and Black will head out on the road to take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Oct. 22, at 1:05 p.m. EDT/10:05 a.m. PDT.

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