Raiders McDaniels From West Virginia Today

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va.--The Las Vegas Raiders (1-0) are excited to be practicing this week here in West Virginia before heading up the road to take on the Buffalo Bills (0-1) this weekend in Orchard Park, N.Y.

Before the big game, Coach Josh McDaniels gave another update moments ago on the team, looking ahead to the Buffalo Bills.

Below, you can watch all of Josh McDaniels press conference and read the transcript as well:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels Opening Statement...

Coach McDaniels: "I'll start by saying it's obviously a big challenge, this team has been one of the best teams in the league for the last four, five, six years here. Sean [McDermott] and Brandon [Beane] have done an incredible job of putting it together. This is as well coached of a team as you're going to see. They are connected in every phase of the game. You can tell that the players know what the other 10 guys on the field around them are going to do. There's a lot of trust, they play fast and aggressive. It's a very explosive team. Obviously, this will be an incredible environment, hostile environment. Their crowd is certainly -- they'll try to be a factor in the game for sure. But really good football players in every phase, we've got a lot to prepare for here and looking forward to getting started on the field."

Q: In terms of them, do you look at it as wounded animal kind of thing the way last week went?

Coach McDaniels: "No. I mean, I just look at him as one of the best football teams in the league. I mean, I don't have any idea about all the other stuff. The National Football League, you just play the game on Sunday or Monday, and you move on to the next game, and you get ready to go and you put your best performance out there, and that's what we expect them to do,100 percent."

Q: What do you hope to gain when you come to a place like here, getting away doing things differently?

Coach McDaniels: "Being on the west coast you have choices to make once the schedule comes out and you find out how many east coast early games you're going to play and how you're going to adapt to that. Some teams come on Friday, some teams come early like we've done, and there's a number of facilities that you can use. And I've been fortunate to be here before for training camp to practice with another football team. I think it's a great setup for anybody. You get acclimated to the time zone, you get acclimated to potentially weather, whether it's humidity that we don't have in Vegas or some kind of wet weather could be a factor. So, just gives us an opportunity to do those things by Sunday, and I think it also gives our team an opportunity to have some team building time together. It's a long season, we know we've got to go through a lot of battles and handle adversities and those types of things, and it's always better to handle those things when you really appreciate and have a an affection for the people that are that you're doing it with. So, I've seen a lot of that already and we're looking forward to get out of here on the practice field."

Q: When were you guys here? Did you say with the Patriots? When was that?

Coach McDaniels: "We used this facility just a little bit. But the other teams we practiced against, with Houston and New Orleans, were the ones that had camp here. And we were over in the hotel and all that, but just using the fields and the facility, I mean that's kind of perfect in terms of being able to come in and get a lot of work done."

Q: When you watch the film of the Broncos game, was there something that maybe from field level you didn't see that was a pleasant surprise?

Coach McDaniels: "There was a lot of things that I think showed up in the game, as you watch the tape that were little things. We didn't have a lot of kicking plays, and so there was not a lot there in terms of, I would say, super impactful things, but we can clean up a few of the things we didn't do well. I wouldn't say in terms of pleasant surprise. I wasn't surprised by how our team competed and played. I loved how they continued to fight, we handled some adversity. But the game was what it was. It was a very unique game, as you know, with the limited number of possessions for both sides."

Q: Linebacker Divine Deablo had a great game the other day, or at least I thought. Can you talk about his progress and how he's gotten to this point for you?

Coach McDaniels: "He comes in and works at it every day. He's been very durable for us. I know he dealt with a couple of injuries last year, but he's out on the practice field. He's ready. He studies hard. He prepares hard. I think he's having an opportunity to learn from different people. Now, Rob [Spillane] is here. Rob's been at different places. I know he picked Denzel [Perryman's] mind last year, Jayon [Brown], very inquisitive guy. I think Antonio Pierce does a tremendous job with our linebackers, our entire core. So, that whole group works the way that you'd want a linebacker group to work, takes on a lot of accountability for what goes on in the defense and obviously plays a big role in what we do."

Q: What did you see out of Michael Mayer and in his first game?

Coach McDaniels: "There's a lot to, I'd say, learn from. He didn't have a bunch of opportunities in the passing game. Like I said, it was a very unique game in that regard, but saw different techniques. I think all of them got to feel the speed of the game, you know what I mean? Just changes, you can see it on film, and you can watch last year's stuff, but then when you get into a regular season game as a rookie for the very first time, you just sense a different tempo. And so, I'm eager to see our guys kind of build off of some of the things that they learned and go into another hostile environment and see how they do."

Q: Obviously you drafted him, but you were looking at tight ends in the draft. They've got Dalton Kincaid, he's a Vegas kid. What did you think about him in the scouting process?

Coach McDaniels: "He's really good football player, liked him a lot. I thought a lot of him. They drafted a good football player, and he's an impactful guy. He's already playing for them, you can see that right away. So, a very skilled player in the passing game, very tough. He's a physical route runner, he's aggressive at the top of his routes, does a good job of getting open and creating some space and separation for himself. So, just another dangerous weapon. They've got a bunch of guys obviously that we're going to have to keep track of here and try to slow down. But [Dawson] Knox is obviously a good guy for him to learn from, but they don't lack for offensive explosive weapons."

Q: Any update on Jakobi Meyers?

Coach McDaniels: "Nothing right now. No, not right now. We're still in the protocol."

Q: Would you talk about the toughness of your offensive line? They really showed that. I'm not saying they were perfect, nobody is, but they were tough.

Coach McDaniels: "That was a good front, we're going to play another good front here this week. I thought they battled. I thought they saw some different looks up front. I liked how they played together. There were sometimes where, like you said, it wasn't necessarily perfect, but they helped one another, they cleaned out the pocket some when they had an opportunity to do that, really fought in blitz pickup trying to keep Jimmy [Garoppolo] clean on the spot back there behind the center. That's just the way that they are – they practice that way, they practiced that way all training camp, and we're going to need another one of those games from them this week."

Q: You've talked about it before, but what is Jimmy Garoppolo's style as a leader? And how important is being a leader and being liked as compared to just winning and that's how you kind of set the tone?

Coach McDaniels: "I've been around him when he was younger, and now he's obviously he's got some experience and wisdom about him. He's a very personable guy. He cares about the human being he's speaking to. It's not just a football player or a teammate. There's an element of wanting to get to know the person. He's always been like that, he's genuine. And I think that word sometimes gets used a little flippantly, but this guy is as genuine as they come, and asks great questions when he doesn't know the answer, offers up an opinion when there's one to offer up. He cares about practicing the right way, wants his teammates to do well, doesn't care about his own individual statistics, takes accountability when he does something wrong. And so, that's the nature of playing the position of quarterback -- you get all the credit when you win, you get all the blame when you lose, and Jimmy's already lived through that. So he understands how to how to deal with it. I think he's a stand-up guy. I think he's already earned the respect of our team, and he'll continue to try to do that."

Q: Since you got here you've been trying to get your players to set the standard, not you. And even after the when they were saying things not that the team but that they individually did wrong. Are you seeing it? Is it coming? I'm not saying it's where you want it, but man you've got to be thrilled seeing it.

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean again, I don't know where there is. I hope down the road here we'll eventually figure that out, but I think every good team looks inward to themselves and figures out what they need to do better. They listen well to the coaching or corrections, and then try to go to the practice field with the right attitude to improve. And I think I saw that in the preseason. I saw that in our first game. Again, it's an imperfect game, we're never going to do that, but I think the attitude that you approach corrections with and trying to get better, it really goes a long way for your team. It's a it's a long stretch here. We've got 17 regular season games. We don't have a bye week for another three months. There's a lot to learn. There's a lot to improve on. There's a lot we have to do better as we go, so having the right approach and the right attitude, the right maturity about themselves, I think that'll go a long way towards making progress weekly."

Q: What kind of challenge is Josh Allen for the linebackers this week?

Coach McDaniels: "He's not just a challenge for the linebackers. He's a challenge for everybody. This is one of the premier players in our league. I've obviously had an opportunity to compete against him a number of times. He's an incredible competitor, really tough football player. He's a football player, he's not just a quarterback. I mean, he can hurt you with his mind. He can hurt you with his arm. He can hurt me with his legs. He can hurt you with his shoulder - dropping his shoulder and running through people. Wants the ball in his hands in all the ‘gotta have it’ situations. Just does a tremendous job of leading their football team. He's a really good leader and obviously they play hard for him. So, there's so many challenges he presents. You try to contain him, try to limit some of the production that you can, but he's going to make his fair share of plays, and you've got to just try to make it as hard as you can on him to not let that get out of hand."

Q: We don't know if it's going to happen I guess, but it could potentially be a very emotional day with Damar Hamlin maybe taking the field for the first time there. Is there any way to prepare a team for emotion and get prepared for that but not getting too crazy?

Coach McDaniels: "I think we've got to control we can control. I think everybody was incredibly compassionate and sensitive to Damar [Hamlin]'s situation last year. I think what he's done overcoming that situation and continuing to play football and build on his career has been just an incredible example of perseverance and faith. So, I think everybody in our locker room would say the same thing. Got a tremendous amount of respect for him and, we're happy that he's continuing his career. We just have to focus on what we can focus on. We know it's their home opener. It was Denver's home opener last week. At some point in time, we'll have a home opener I guess. But it's just of those things where we've got to deal with our own selves, focus on our own execution, control our communication and the things that are important to us. So, we'll try to block out all the things that we can't control and focus on us."

Q: I asked Patrick Graham this yesterday, but going back and watching the film, there were a few tackles that were missed because guys launched themselves at somebody rather than wrapping them up and taking them to the ground. When you're playing somebody like Josh Allen is attention to tackling detail even bigger this week?

Coach McDaniels: "Leverage, pursuit, effort to the ball, we can't have any loafs because if we do that, now you're not helping your teammates. So, we're going to have to use our help. We're going to have to be smart when he has the ball - really all their guys. I mean honestly, you put the ball in anybody's hands on this football team, they can make yards with it when they have it. So whether it's [James] Cook, [Josh] Allen, [Stefon] Diggs, [Gabe] Davis, the tight ends [Dawson] Knox [Dalton] Kincaid, [Deonte] Hardy. They all do great things with the ball. So, I think tackling, leverage, doing the right things in terms of our pursuit angles, all those things are going to be incredibly valuable this week."

The Silver and Black remain on the road this week as they travel to play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 1:05 p.m. EDT/10:05 a.m. PDT.

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