Everything Josh McDaniels said After Raiders Down Broncos
HENDERSON, Nev.--Josh McDaniels got the first win of his tenure for the Las Vegas Raiders when he downed his old team the Denver Broncos.
As you can imagine, after starting 0-3 the Silver and Blacks headman is all smiles.
You can watch the entire press conference, and read the transcript below:
Raiders Head Coach Josh McDaniels
OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, well, better to talk after a victory than after a defeat. I want to give our guys credit, we've been trying to improve in some areas and make progress and I think our guys worked really hard this week to try to make better some things that we obviously needed to improve. There's still plenty of meat on the bone, as you guys all know. But I loved our effort, I loved our attitude, I loved our toughness and our competitive spirit to try to finish the game. We had opportunities in all three phases to really make some impactful plays there down the stretch, and ultimately, I think the offense did a good job of …. on that long drive. We kind of had the mindset we wanted this to be a physical game and leaned on Josh [Jacobs] and the running game a little bit more than what we have and really established that I thought. Our goal was to try to make it a fourth quarter game, where we had our play count up and we were trying to wear down the defense. Again, credit goes to our guys, I thought they played really hard. No turnovers, only four penalties. I think when you don't beat yourself, you give yourself an opportunity to win, so I'm proud of our group."
Q: You talk a lot about being your best when your best is required. The drive after the Broncos cut the lead to two points, you needed a touchdown and got it. Is that what you are trying to stress?
Coach McDaniels: "We've been there before. In the Arizona game, we had a lead late in the game and you have a choice there offensively; you can go out there and try not to screw the game up and usually you give it back to them and then put all this pressure and stress on your defense. Or you can maintain your aggressive nature and try to go out there and move the ball and score and win the game. I thought the guys had a great mentality on the sideline, they knew that that's what we were going to attempt to do if they ever went down and scored. And after they scored, we went back out there, and I thought had the right mindset to go down there and put more points on the board and try to finish the game offensively the way it needs to be finished."
Q: Can you talk about Derek Carr’s ability to take off and run in certain situations?
Coach McDaniels: “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."
Q: It seemed like Maxx Crosby really keyed the defense in the second half. How big was that to help you all get the victory?
Coach McDaniels: “He's worked so hard in every phase. His leadership has been great, his effort, his presence, and then obviously his play. These are the situations where your back is against the wall a little bit and you want to try to come out here and give your best effort and try to get your first ‘W’, and I thought Maxx had a great attitude all week long and then it carried over today. I thought he made some big stops in the running game. He ran some plays down from behind and then obviously he got some pressure on the quarterback and got him to the ground a couple of times. That's Maxx. It doesn't surprise me that he plays like that with that kind of that energy and effort. He made some really critical plays for us."
Q: With your first win coming against the Broncos, does this win feel a little bit more poetic for you in any sense?
Coach McDaniels: “I don't believe so. I have said this over and over again, I don't look at them (Denver Broncos) with any ill will. They gave me a great opportunity at a young age, and if anything, I look at it like it was a blessing because I learned so much from it. That made me better and I've been forever grateful for Mr. [Pat] Bowlen for what he gave me an opportunity to do. Unfortunately, I didn't do well enough with it, but hopefully I've learned from it. But again, I don't look at that team with any kind of ill will, other than the fact that they're a division opponent and we don't like any of those guys. That's the sweet part for us is, I don't want to make this about me, this is just our team trying to hold our home turf here against another division opponent."
Q: What's the prognosis on Denzel Perryman?
Coach McDaniels: “I don't know anything about the prognosis. I just saw him, so he's got a big smile on his face and very happy about the outcome of the game. But I thought he was really making an impact in the game. You could see his speed and his aggressiveness certainly was showing up play after play. If he's in the protocol, then obviously we'll go through those important steps here to make sure that he's good to go before he returns."
Q: Did you feel pretty good about the offensive line group you had out there today? How did that play into the kind of day Josh Jacobs had?
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I mean, whenever you run the ball for over 200 yards it's obviously never just one guy's responsibility. I think that group is really fighting, they're getting better. It was good to have Andre [James] back out there. He's obviously a calming influence, played a lot of football for us. I think we're making progress. We're heading in the right direction, relative to trying to get to the point where we don't have to do as much of that. We'll continue to stress the competition though. I think that's made them all better."
Q: What have you liked about the way Josh Jacobs is running the ball? And is he earning more carries?
Coach McDaniels: “He's one of the best runners I've ever been around and take that for what it's worth, I've been around some good ones. He has a great ability to make yards after contact. He has a great ability to make yards even if there's not a whole lot there right away. He bounces the ball, and sometimes as a coach when a guy bounces the ball, you say, 'No, no, no, no.' But usually his (runs) turn out okay. He makes good decisions, and he's taking care of the football. Obviously, that's an important part of this. They were trying to strip at it, punch at it tonight. They do a great job of creating fumbles. We talked about that all week. I was really proud of our team that we didn't have any on the ground. And obviously J.J. (Josh Jacobs), with as much as he touched it, he did a good job."
Q: Defense went out there a couple times and was able to stand up against the short field position. What was the key for the defense to be able to keep you in it during that stretch?
Coach McDaniels: “We tried the onside kick and had a great chance, I thought, to have an opportunity to get it and then they had another short field there too. We talk about defense goes out there and plays defense, regardless of the circumstances. Sometimes you get put in a little bit of a short field, to worry about things you can't control like why you got there doesn't really do much good at that point. I thought our guys did a great job of buckling their chin straps and going out there and just continuing to compete and play. That's what their job is. We don't ever send them out there to allow points. We send them out there every single time to try to stop the other team. I thought they had the right mindset on those short fields today."
Q: That’s two straight games where Mack Hollins made big plays special teams. Where does that come from for Mack?
Coach McDaniels: “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."
Q: Did you see a flip switch for Amik Robertson after allowing a big pass completion to Jerry Jeudy and then getting the fumble recovery for a touchdown?
Coach McDaniels: “This is a competitive guy, now. I mean, you guys have been around him. Amik's a football player. Any challenge that Amik gets, he kind of rises to the occasion. I think just from his stature, he's always kind of had it against him that maybe he's too this, too that. Amik's tough, Amik's fast. He'll hit you. He had a couple of big hits today. I thought he really rose up and tried to play his best football after that. I thought he was going to go down about two or three different times after he got the ball out on the fumble. I mean, he did a great job of running with the ball. He's a tough guy. I'm really happy we have him on our team. He plays a lot of different roles, and he's growing and getting better."
That 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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