Josh McDaniels Final Thoughts: Raiders vs. Titans

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders have started the 2022 NFL regular season an embarrassing 0-2.

But in a long 17-game NFL regular season, that isn't even close to a season-ending dilemma.

Coach Josh McDaniels had his final comments prior to the Las Vegas Raiders vs. the Tennessee Titans, and we have all of those comments for you.

You can watch his entire interview below, and read the transcript:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Opening Statement...

Head Coach Josh McDaniels: "Here we go, Friday – finishing up, getting ready to travel on a Friday. This is our first opportunity to go a day early. So, this is a little bit of a different process, but normal Friday morning and then we'll kind of clean up after practice and get to the airport and head to Nashville. Looking forward to it."

Q: Nick Saban once said after a disappointing stretch of games it's sometimes a blessing to get on the road and get away from everything. Do you think that's still true at the professional level?

Coach McDaniels: "Maybe some people would look at it that way. We're going to go there and we're going to get a good night's rest and then we're going to kind of be together and do our thing tomorrow in terms of reviewing the film and all the elements of the game plan. Whenever you go on the road, there's always a little less distraction relative to who's in town or who's coming into the game and those kinds of things. So, there may be something to that, but I love being at home and playing at home. Obviously last week, loved our environment here, but at the same time I think you embrace it all. We're looking forward to the opportunity to go and spend some quality time together and just nail down the game plan and get ourselves ready to go. We know this is going to be a tough game, and hopefully we use the time wisely."

Q: With Hunter Renfrow's status up in the air, how much does it help having a receiver like Davante Adams who is pretty much equally as effective as he is outside as inside?

Coach McDaniels: "You always try to build depth on your roster so that you can accommodate situations like this. Tae [Davante Adams] obviously can move around the formation. We've seen Mack [Hollins] move around the formation too. Keelan [Cole] is going to do the same thing. Our tight ends are kind of versatile in that regard, too. So, we've tried to preach since we got here, let's learn the concept, not one spot in the concept, because these things are going to happen a lot. Same thing defensively, linebackers, safeties, etc. can play different spots, and if you're just focusing on one small part of the call or the scheme then when you have to get put into a different spot, it's almost like you have to relearn it all over again. And so from the beginning we've kind of preached let's learn the why and the whole concept of big picture, because this could happen in the game too where all of the sudden you practiced it one way, and then you have an injury or two and now all of a sudden you're shuffling in the middle of first or second quarter and you don't have time to have a week of practice and four meetings before you have to go back out there. Our guys have been great in terms of learning the big picture, and if that is something that happens this week and he can't go, then we'll be able to accommodate that with some other bodies."

Q: What would be the timeline for him to be able to clear protocol and be able to play?

Coach McDaniels: “I mean we'll take it all the way until we have to make the call on Sunday. So, it's totally out of our hands, and we absolutely want to make sure that the number one priority is the health of the player. So, we'll do everything by the book in that regard, and when the doctors and physicians and the specialists tell us that it's clear and we're good to go, then we'll try to make a good decision on that."

Q: Can you talk about what you've liked from the interior defensive line in terms of stopping the run these past two games?

Coach McDaniels: "It's a challenge every week in our league and there are a lot of physical backs now and there's a different style of run game each week. Last week's run game was a little different than this week's, relative to what we're going to see and how we're going to have to defend it. I thought our guys have tried to play vertical into the defense and try to knock some of the line of scrimmage back. That's difficult to do on a play-to-play basis in this league because there are good linemen, good tight ends, good fullbacks that are trying to create openings for the backs too. So, it's a team thing. Run defense is always going to be about the team fitting together, playing your assignment, and being disciplined, along with being physical and tough. One man can make a mistake and it could lead to a big play, so everybody's a key cog. We talk about everybody being at the point of attack, whether the run starts this way or that way, it could find its way back to you quickly, and if you're out of your gap or you're out of position, then you can have an issue. So, just continuing to stress our fits and our fundamentals, trying to play together and play off of one another, and that'll be really important obviously on Sunday."

Q: Is it as simple as stacking the box to shut down Derrick Henry's run game?

Coach McDaniels: "No, it is not. I wish it was. I wish it was and you could say, 'Hey, put the safety down, and then it'll be all good.' First of all, his success – he's a phenomenal football player, I think we all know that. But his success – and every running back would tell you this – is a product of a lot of other people doing a good job at their job as well. A lot of times, I think when runners get success, we kind of forget about the guys that are doing the dirty work in front of them. And their line plays really hard, they compete, they're physical. They use a lot of different run schemes, it's not just one thing. They have misdirection, they have outside zone, they have inside zone, they have gap schemes, they toss the ball, they use missile motions to try to get your eyes in the wrong spot. So, it really wouldn't make any difference if you're in a post safety defense or a split safety defense, there's an assignment that you have on defense, and to me the assignment and taking care of your responsibility is the most important part of it, regardless of how many people you have down there. And like I've said before, they get a vote too. There are different ways that they can attack you. They can put different personnel groupings out there, they can get small with a bunch of receivers, they can get big with a bunch of tight ends. So, it really won't make any difference. We're going to have to play good run defense from whatever shell we're going to play it from. And you've got to mix it up a little bit, hopefully. They've run it well, and nobody sees more loaded boxes than they do. Nobody."

Q: The Titans have given up some explosive plays in the run game and the pass game. When you look at the film, are there tendencies or potential things that you see potential things to exploit, or is it just a blown assignment?

Coach McDaniels: “First of all, this defense historically is one of the best in the league at forcing long drives, which means they don't give up a lot of big plays in general terms. I would say that when we've competed against Mike [Vrabel’s] teams and their defenses, for a long time now, that's one of those chores that you just go into the game assuming that you're going to have to do it. It's not going to be three plays and score, it's going to be 10 plays, 11 plays, nine plays, two third-down conversions, something like that. They make you go the long, hard way most of the time. There's nothing that I would say, 'Oh, wow, they really struggle with this.' This a sound defense. I know there have been a couple of teams that have found an opportunity there and taken advantage of it. That's football, I think more than anything. We're going to try to run things we know how to run, keep our eyes open, and if an opportunity presents itself for us to make a big play, then hopefully we can capitalize on it. But I don't think you can go into this game assuming that those are going to happen, because generally speaking they don't give them up very much. They have two really good safeties that protect the deep part of the field very well and touch the ball too. We just have to be disciplined and execute, and like I said, a couple of teams have found a few opportunities. If those come and those present themselves, hopefully we can take advantage them."

Q: How do you manage your time against a team like Tennessee when they're known for being 'clock eaters'?

Coach McDaniels: "There have been really good stretches for us where we've had the ball a lot this year, and then there have been some stretches where we haven't maintained possession as much as we really would like to. We know that it's a tug of war from the opening kickoff to get control of the game with this team. They were second in league, I think, in time of possession last year for a reason, because they can produce on first down, keep second down short, they can make third and shorts as good as anybody in the league. And then defensively, they're really good in short yardage, third and short. [They] don't give up a lot of big plays like I said, so we're going to have to execute. There's no shortcut around this one. If we want to have an equal time of possession or perhaps gain an advantage there and make sure that we're balanced with who's on the field, we're going to have to do a good job of executing offensively. And it's not going to be easy, run or pass, and they force you to drive the ball. Our execution is going to be at a premium, no doubt about it, if we want to have time possession."

Q: Can you talk about the mental toughness that your team has and how that can help when facing adversity?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I think that's something that you continue to develop and adversity always, kind of has a way of displaying where you are in terms of your overall mental toughness because there's a lot of things you could be thinking about, talking about, worrying about that are out of your control, things that have happened in the past that there's nothing we can do about those things. And really, what it comes back to is can you focus on the day at hand, the task at hand, and what you're getting ready to prepare yourself to do so. I love our approach, our outlook. I think our team has a really good mindset going into this game. We know it's going to be a big challenge. It's a new opponent for us. They really spent a lot of time learning them and go out there on Wednesday and practice in pads. I thought they responded to that really well. And again, this is going to be a physical game, so those are things you got to do. Our leadership has been great in the locker room, and I think that will continue.”

Q: Has your offensive evolved in the way that you thought it would as far as them picking up your offense really quickly and kind of in the vision that you see for them?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I think that just the overall communication, terminology and foundation, I have no issues with that. A lot of that's the same from when we started in April, so what we will ultimately end up being or what we will ultimately end up finding the most success doing, I don't think we know what the answer to that is yet. We're trying to get good at everything, which is what every team and staff I think is trying to do and accomplish at this point in time of the year. There's definitely room for improvement in each area. And again, hopefully as we go those things will start to stand out to us more and more. Pretty good in this area, pretty good here, maybe we need to do a little less of this, it's not as productive. But that's what we self-scout for every week. That's what we try to keep in mind as we go forward and make decisions about the game plan. And hopefully like I said, our best football is yet to come.”

Q: When you're in a spot like this coming off the loss of last week and trying to find that first victory, is it incumbent on the captains, the stars, the big voices to kind of make a stand and take you guys to that next step?

Coach McDaniels: “I think our guys, I think our team in general has had a really good outlook on handling situations like this. We've had a bad practice before; we've had a bad few practices during the course of the spring or training camp and they present opportunities for you to do the same thing. And so, I think our captains have done a phenomenal job of trying to set an example of the way that they want things done. I think their work ethic as a team, our guys come in every day ready to go. They were prepared on Wednesday; they're prepared this morning. So, I think that's probably a little too much to say it falls on a handful of guys. 53 guys need to do their job and 11 guys on every play, so there's a lot of people that need to come through for us to have success. But I think our leaders have done a good job of their job and we all have to do a really important job on Sunday.”

Q: How beneficial is it for you to have four or five quality running backs that really help with the time of possession and driving the ball down the field?

Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, our depth in the backfield has already been challenged a little bit with a few things here and there injury-wise and that's why we usually carry that number of backs, but it's going to be important. I mean, it'll be a little humid down there, different than here in terms of the overall humidity. But whatever form it takes, I'm not exactly sure yet, but we'll definitely try to maintain our balance if we can. We've always tried to do that and using those guys the best their ability in the right roles is going to be important. So, we'll see how it kind of shakes out this week.”

The Raiders (0-2) will kick off next Sunday at 10 a.m. PDT in Nashville, Tenn., against the Titans. You can watch the game on FOX.

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