Everything Raiders' Josh McDaniels Said After Loss to Colts
HENDERSON, Nev.--If things were bad before the Las Vegas Raiders played the Indianapolis Colts, they have now gotten worse.
In front of a home crowd at Allegiant Stadium, the Silver and Black disappointed yet again against a team many accused of tanking, the Indianapolis Colts (4-5-1).
The Raiders have now fallen to 2-7 and we have everything that Josh McDaniels said after the contest. You can watch the video, and read the transcript below:
Raiders Head Coach Josh McDaniels
OPENING STATEMENT: “Sound like a broken record, but I appreciate the fight our guys have and congratulate the Colts, they obviously made a few more plays than we did. We're going to have to learn how to take some of these close losses and make some of the plays that we need to make throughout the course of the game. It doesn't just come down to the last drive to find a way in the win column. So, like I said, only know one way to do it, keep working, keep grinding and try to see if we can’t improve and make some progress.”
Q: Do you think the offense came out slow to start the game?
Coach McDaniels: " I don't think that was the case. I mean, I think we committed some penalties offensively that obviously create a bunch of scenarios where they're not good scenarios. Playing from first-and-20, second-and-30, anytime you do that offensively, it's going to look poor. And so, I thought we didn't do a good job of playing penalty free, certainly not in the first half, and the nine or 10 penalties for the game. That's obviously too many. So, self-inflicted wounds in tight games. Trying to get off to a fast start and see if we can get ahead and play from ahead. Obviously, we didn't do a good enough job of that. But I didn't sense that, I thought that they played hard. We just didn't play very clean.”
Q: Is there any way to explain where you guys are at right now with a 2-7 record?
Coach McDaniels: “I mean, no. There's a lot of things that go into these games, and we have opportunities. We earned the opportunity the way we played through the course of the second half to try to fight back in there, took the lead a couple of times, and then have an opportunity to go down there and win the game. Look, I mean, that's the National Football League, you either make the plays and you win and if you don't, you don't, and the same thing with coaching, if there's a call here or there that you make that works, then you can obviously help your team out. And obviously there's too many of these, it's continuing to happen. So, we're going to have to find a better formula here to try to close games.”
Q: Can you comment on the fumble by Michael Pittman Jr. where the defense wasn’t able to fall on it and recover the ball?
Coach McDaniels: “I mean, there's an awareness piece to that. The way we've discussed it, if you feel like there's a lot of bodies around, yes, certainly you want to fall on the ball. And if you feel like you're in open space, then you may have an opportunity to pick it up and advance it. I think that was probably more of the first category. There were some people right behind him. I don't know if he saw them or felt them. I'd have to see the tape to figure that out. But I thought we made a good play to get the ball loose, and then it's right there on the ground. Again, we'd love to obviously fall on it and take possession of the football, that would have been a big play in the game.”
Q: You guys are 0-6 in one score games. How much of it falls on your coaching staff?
Coach McDaniels: “Look, it starts with me. We're going to have to figure out something different to do to try to get free from some of these close scores and close games or make enough plays at the end to win. It always starts with us; it starts with me. I'm going to do everything I can do to try to figure out what we can do better to change the results.”
Q: Can you talk about what went into your decision on the inactive players?
Coach McDaniels: " There are some things there that are internal, and we always try to do what's best for the team. But I know we had some guys that were inactive this week, and hopefully that would change next week.”
Q: You talked about understanding the standard of Raider Nation, does that put this 2-7 start into a different perspective for you?
Coach McDaniels: “No, they're passionate. They're as passionate as anybody I've been around, and I appreciate that. And obviously all of us that that are here understand that and we have great fans, and they deserve and want better than this. I get it, so they have a right to feel frustrated with the results that we've provided this year.”
Q: In every game the defense has given up 20 or more points. I asked on Monday about you maybe getting more involved with the defense. When you're nine games into a season, is there a lot you can do to repair it?
Coach McDaniels: " I don’t know if it's about repairing it. Like I said, defense is in many cases it's one thing here or there that would make the run defense a little bit better, or a tackle. We had a couple of opportunities to tackle a little bit in space today and didn't get that done as well as we would have liked. We talked about the ball being on the ground. So, in many ways defense it's what you do with the opportunities that you're presented, and our guys work really hard. They earned the right to be in those positions to make some plays, and they made plenty of them today. They just give up a little bit too much. And again, it's a team sport. We had an opportunity to go down there and score and win the game on offense, and it is what it is. We didn't quite finish in any phase.”
Q: Looking at the standings now, the margin of error when it comes to making the playoffs, it's pretty much gone. Just from a leadership standpoint, how do you keep the locker room from checking out?
Coach McDaniels: “Look, we're all proud people and we have jobs and responsibilities, and we're going to keep fighting. There's no other way to do that. And so, I didn't see any letdown from them today, and I don't expect that from our leaders in our group as we go forward. So, we're going to continue to fight.”
Q: Was there any thought that there might have been a pass interference on the fourth down pass to Davante Adams in the end zone?
Coach McDaniels: "I mean, it was obviously one of those close plays where [Stephon] Gilmore had his back turned, and so the ball was in the air. That's a tough one for the official. I mean, I'm sure there was a little bit of contact there, almost always is. I didn't see a facemask get grabbed or anything like that, so I don't know. I mean, they obviously didn't call it, so it wasn't egregious enough.”
The Raiders return to action next week when they head to Denver to take on the Broncos. That game kicks off at 4:05 ET/1:05 PT. You can see that game on FOX.
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