Raiders' Josh McDaniels After Beating the Patriots

LAS VEGAS, Nev.--It wasn't pretty, but the motto is "Just Win Baby," and that is what the Las Vegas Raiders (3-3) did, 21-17, over the New England Patriots (1-5).

It was a gritty football game that saw the blue-collar Raiders fight and overcome adversity to get back to .500.

Games like this create confidence in teams that find ways to win when things aren't pretty.

Starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo went down in the first half due to a back injury. So, backup Brian Hoyer came in and carried the offense behind another stellar performance by the Silver and Black defense.

After the game, Coach Josh McDaniels spoke to the media, and you can watch his press conference, and read the transcript:

Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels Opening Statement: “Well, credit the fight of our team. That certainly wasn't a Picasso out there. I don't think anybody would misinterpret that. But there were definitely some good things that we did periodically throughout the game in all three phases. Give them credit, they kept fighting, we got ahead of them, and they just kept coming and kept trying to close the gap there. And I thought our football team kind of hung in there; [Brian] Hoyer went in there after Jimmy [Garoppolo] got injured and helped us move the football on a couple of drives, and did his job for the most part, but they're never easy. They're never easy and we knew we'd get their best fight. We know we have a lot to clean up and a lot to do better, but I'm proud of our team for continuing to battle and fight and put ourselves where we're at now. And now it's going to be about getting better moving forward."

Q: Any update on Jimmy Garoppolo?

Coach McDaniels: "I know he left, and everybody knows that he left. They're just doing tests and just making sure that they take care of all that stuff. So, I do not have an update on Jimmy [Garoppolo]."

Q: It’s the second-straight week where the defense comes up with basically the game clinching or saving play. Can you talk about the progress on that side of the ball that you've seen?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it a lot. I think we have a lot of guys playing and we're scratching and clawing. We gave some things up today more in the middle of the game I think than anything else. But we battled and when you play defense and your punter puts them back there, and then I think we had the holding penalty, that's where you want to be. You want to go ahead and close the game if you can, and I thought we did a great job of executing at the end."

Q: You guys are 3-3 after this win and obviously have an opportunity next week to get over .500. How do you kind of view that chance for this team to kind of bounce back after the losing streak early in the season?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, every week’s a different week in our league. Every game to me, you can win them all and you can lose them all if you don't coach and play well enough. And if you coach and play well enough, you're going to be right there competing with most teams. And I thought we had a couple games that didn't necessarily go our way as we started the season, but the guys never stopped working the same way. If anything, we've worked harder, we've done more, and we put more time and effort into certain things to try to improve and give ourselves an opportunity to get better and make progress. And obviously there's more progress to be made. We certainly know that we have to be able to score in the red zone more than what we did. We have to be able to do some of those things better and avoid the penalty situation. That kind of bit us at the wrong time in a critical situation. And so, we have to do a better job of that. But I'm proud of the fight and again it is 3-3 and nobody's qualified for anything at this point in time. We're six games in and everybody else is too, and we have a long way to go."

Q: You mentioned the red zone. Can you identify what you think the issues are keeping you guys from scoring touchdowns?

Coach McDaniels: "There's not one thing. I mean, you have to do a lot of things right in there. And like I said, we had a couple holding penalties that put you in first-and-20, or second-and-20, and that's obviously a difficult situation to be in. We missed some opportunities, and we just have to be able to capitalize whatever it is, run or pass, play penalty-free and be able to capitalize on the opportunities that we have down there. I mean, there's less space, which means your execution has to be better than it is at the 50-yard line, and right now we're not doing a good enough job."

Q: Tight end Michael Mayer really displayed the player that you thought you were getting. Would you talk about his development?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, he's getting better every week. He works at it, man. He has a great work ethic, a great attitude and mindset. He wants to be really good at everything -- blocking, running with the ball, catching, getting open in routes, pass protection. Every week is like another step forward. I think he's gaining confidence in himself. When you play a covered scheme like that, that really dictates: 'Hey, we're going double certain people.' You have to have the people that aren't getting doubled make some plays and step up and do some things in the passing game. And I thought we had -- Tre [Tucker] had a big one down the middle, Michael and Hoop [Austin Hooper] had a few that were big third down plays. And they don't make anything easy on you and we needed some contributions from those guys."

Q: You mentioned some of the frustration of not being able to cash in sometimes in the red zone. Is it more frustrating or encouraging that you are where you are in spite of the fact that maybe you haven't been able to throw your best punch yet?

Coach McDaniels: "I'm always going to be a glass half full on our team. You keep battling, scrapping, fighting and finding ways to win when you don't play perfectly. I like to look at that as a positive. Like I said, it wasn't a Picasso, but you do the things necessary to win -- try to take care of the football as best you can, try to play as penalty free as possible, play decent in the kicking game, win field position, and then make the plays at the end of the game you have to make if the game's a close one. And, I mean, look, nobody in this room would love for this to be more of a 20-point victory than me. I think I'm aging by the week, but it is what it is. We'll take it."

Q: Last week, you mentioned that you don't want the emotion, you just want to keep playing and stick to the process. But winning breeds confidence. How big can this be from just a confidence standpoint?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, winning in general is hard. And so, I think when you realize that there are a lot of different ways you can do it -- in Denver we needed to salt the game away on offense and last week was a different type of game in general, and then today we played a little bit of field position at the end and the defense came up big. So, you have to find new ways to win every week. You're never going to win the same way and I think the resiliency of our team, the mindset that they have, the demeanor that they come into the building with, that's why you improve and that's why you have a chance in close games."

Q: How relieving is it to have a guy like Daniel Carlson, who had an uncharacteristic game last week, come out today and be called on time and time again when drives stalled?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I think we have the best kicker in the NFL. And so, to have that feeling week in and week out at practice and you watch him do his job and you come to the stadium on game day and you know that if you need a big kick or something else -- nobody talks about his placement of the ball on the kickoffs, or what he does in that regard to try to limit returners and all the rest of it. But Daniel is an elite player at his position, and I have tremendous confidence in him regardless of the situation or what has happened in the recent past. We'd give him the ball 100 out of 100 times if it was the game on the line."

Q: You're almost halfway through your second season. How would you assess your performance at reshaping this team at this point?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I don't really think it's fair for me to do that. At this point, we know where we're at, our record is what it is. We've kind of battled and scraped and clawed and tried to win without scoring 20-plus points, which is crazy. So, I mean, we can do a lot of things to make life a little easier on ourselves, and that's what we're going to work on going forward. But I don't think right now is the time to kind of measure what we are and where we're going to be. I hope our best football is way out in front of us, clearly. And I think I have a group of guys in the locker room who work hard every week and that gives us a chance to get better."

Q: I know it's early, but Brian Hoyer was brought in to do what he did today. But does anything change if Jimmy Garoppolo can't go next week in terms of how you might rotate?

Coach McDaniels: "It is early. Like I said, I think there's a lot of balls up in the air right now relative to Jimmy [Garoppolo] and that whole situation. And we'll just see. We have a little patience here for ourselves and to just kind of see what the report is going to be. And I'm hoping for the best obviously, like we all are. So, I don't know exactly where it's at. We'll find out more and then obviously try to make the best decision we can for the team."

Q: Jimmy Garoppolo has had a couple of injuries so far. You've gotten to see all three quarterbacks play, so if you do have to make a decision, how helpful is that to kind of be able to evaluate how each have performed this season?

Coach McDaniels: "I think in any situation, at any position, I think it would be helpful if you not only saw them in preseason, but you've actually seen them in live action and in a game and in a close game. Brian today and obviously Aidan [O'Connell] in L.A., so that's helpful. Certainly, I'm hoping for a healthy quarterback room in general and I thought Jimmy was doing some good things before he got twisted or hit there toward the end of the second quarter. So, we'll just patiently see kind of what this is going to be and then we'll make the best decision we can."

The Silver and Black will head 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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