Raiders' Josh McDaniels Final Comments Pre-Patriots

The Las Vegas Raiders (2-3) expect to get their season back on track on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas when they host the woefully under-performing New England Patriots (1-4).

Silver and Black Coach Josh McDaniels held his final press conference about the state of the Raiders, and we have it for you to watch and the transcript for you to read below:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: What's the status with Nate Hobbs and Jakorian Bennett?

Coach McDaniels: "JB [Jakorian Bennett] will be out there today. I don't think Nate's going to turn the corner quite yet, so you won't see him today. But JB will be out there."

Q: The Davante situation, it says it's just pain right now, is it just matter of dealing with pain for him and being able to play forward through it?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, I think we know how tough he is. There's an element of that, I'd say we probably have a handful of guys who are dealing with that. I imagine that there are probably a number of guys on each roster who are dealing with that at this point. But yeah, that's where we're at with him."

Q: We know what Maxx Crosby can do on the line. When you look at the people complimenting him like Malcolm and Bilal, Jenkins, Adams, what are some things that you've really liked so far?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think our overall communication and the execution of some of the things we're trying to do up front, it's hard to say it's ever perfect, because it's not. But I know that it's much like an offense when they put a lot of attention to one player offensively, and then there are other opportunities that present themselves for the other skilled players. And when you're talking about pass rushers, certainly they work in unison with each other many times, and much of the time. And a lot of that is centered around how the protection is built. If the protection slides this way, then these guys have other opportunities. And I think they've been really good about not all of them are going to get to the quarterback, somebody's got to kind of take one for the team and do the dirty work. All of them have been willing to do such, which is really what you need if you're going to have a rush that affects the quarterback. You're not going to sack him every time, that's clear. But if you can impact the quarterback or just affect his timing or his rhythm or his ability to stand there comfortably, then you're making an impact in the pass rush. So, I just really like their attitude and their approach. We're trying to play as many guys as we can so we're fresh, and go in there and contribute."

Q: What have you've seen from Thayer Munford. He comes in, in certain packages and then when he's needed as well. How have you seen his growth?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, and he played a lot of tackle the other day. He's a really bright young man, tough and durable, has learned multiple roles because we've played him at tight end some, and at tackle obviously, and he does whatever he's asked. He studies, knows his assignments, works on his technique like all younger guys are. But there's an element of youthful exuberance, energy with Thayer [Munford] that you really enjoy being around. You can feel it on the field too, he does that during the course of the game. He wants to play, he wants to be physical, all the rest of that. So, just seeing some maturation from him since we first got him, and I think he continues to grow and improve not only on the field, but also off the field. It speaks more, more vocal, for him willing to have conversations about football, and I think that's an important part for every young player when they get to that point."

Q: You guys have had to dig pretty deep in your cornerback depth chart, including going into your practice squad and pull out a guy like Tyler Hall. What's the key to those guys staying ready and being able to answer the bell?

Coach McDaniels: "To prepare like they're going to play every week. I mean, if you're on the roster or the practice squad, you're really only a man or two away from playing. I mean, there is no spot where we don't have four or five backups on the active roster, so if you get -- Nate [Hobb's] injury happened in practice a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden it changed things, and someone has to be ready to go. And certainly, Tyler [Hall] was and I think that's the mentality you have to get into if you're on the practice squad. If you're here, and you're in the meetings, and you're going through the daily and weekly preparation, you have to assume that there's an opportunity that you're going to play and get called up, and you can never you can never let your guard down. And so, a player like Tyler, I think is a great example. [Kana'i] Mauga is another good example of that, just comes up and bam -- he's in there, he's making an impact in the kicking game and playing a lot of roles. So, we practice those guys, too. It's not like they don't ever get any reps, so they get some reps, they get to compete, they're also on the show team. So, they're out there playing, we evaluate all that tape, we see it all. So, we're really trying to help them improve as players, but also, they have to really push to make sure that they're up to speed on the game plan in case something like that does happen."

Q: It's probably part of coaching them up as well. And you have to coach the coaches on understanding that everybody here counts?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I think our staff understands that we have periods at the end of every practice, they're developmental periods, where those guys are in the crosshairs. So, they might compete against each other in a setting, or in the red zone, or do a seven-on-seven, or whatever it might be. If we're in pads, they do a little pass rush with the offensive-defensive linemen. But those guys get attention, it's just for them. And the coaches have nothing else to do during those sessions other than to really spend the time with those young players who are developing. So again, we look at it as our roster in totality. If they're sitting in the squad room in the morning, they're part of the Raiders, and they might play in the game. And so, if we all can adopt that mentality, then they will all be ready when their number is called."

Q: You mentioned Kana'i Mauga, when you watch film on that kid, it looks like every rep is with a purpose. How would you describe his style and what kind of tone is that set for the rest of the team?

Coach McDaniels: "Yep, fast and physical. What a great what a great kid. And he has a passion for football, energy every day, really gives us a good look on the scout team when he's playing against us during the course of the week. He contributes on all of our kicking units, is ready to go, ready to play multiple roles if need be. And he just plays with a physicality and a purpose on each snap and so, you can't have enough of those guys, honestly. And he's made an impression on us since he's been here. And again, he's another great example of on the roster, off the roster, on the practice squad, on the active roster, it just keeps churning. And I really give him a lot of credit, all those guys, for continuing to just push forward and work and develop. And not everybody's career starts -- you start the first game of your rookie season, and you never look back. There's a lot of guys who just have to work their way into whatever their role is going to be. And he's a good example of that."

Q: Knowing Coach Bill Belichick as well as you do, how much anticipation is there that he's going to maybe go off script and throw a couple of wrinkles at you this week?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I think the biggest thing is to be ready for anything. Again, I think they're very fundamentally sound, too. So, I don't think that they go week-to-week and try to do things that don't make sense and don't have a clear purpose or intention behind them. So, I think we'll figure out -- and they're going to say the same thing, I'm sure -- is figure out exactly how the game will declare. And once it does, then you'll see kind of maybe what their game plan is going to be centered around and how they're going to try to attack you in each phase, which might be different than something we're practicing. I don't think everything we're practicing is going to be different, just like I'm sure that's the truth for them as well. But there's going to be something we know that, I'm sure of that. We'll see what that is, and then it's time to just kind of figure out if we need to make a shift or an adjustment during the course of the game. But that's part of the challenge of playing them, is they're going to have an idea of how to try to stop you from beating them the way that you want to beat them, and that's the chess match."

Q: You guys haven't taken a lot of deep shots this year in the passing game. Is that something that you would like to see increase in terms of how often you're taking shots, or do you feel like that's not necessary?

Coach McDaniels: "No, I mean if it's available and it's the right play, I'd have no issues with any of those things being done. Again, I think whether they're called or not, whether they're thrown or not, whether they're executed or not, whether we hit them or not, they're all kinds of different. I think it's different conversations, meaning we could call one, the defense could play a really good coverage that would defer the ball down to the back because they'd really take something away and you'd be throwing into double coverage or whatever it might be. You call one, the protection has to hold up obviously, because if we're going to go ahead and throw it that deep or down the field, then there's got to be a number of people who do their job up front, blitz pickup or what have you. So I think for us, we attempt different things. It doesn't always maybe result in the ball being thrown down the field like that. But I think to me, if you find the opportunities, absolutely. I mean, it's the quickest way to score is to is to hit one of them. But just because you call one doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be available to you. So, we'll just continue to try to teach the quarterbacks to make the right play, and the right play could be a deep one, there's no question about that."

Q: When there's so much familiarity between both teams, where's the balance between doing what you want to do but not overthinking what they know about you? That kind of back and forth to go all week. So what's the balance there, trying to not overthink it?

Coach McDaniels: "Not to overdo it. I think you can really kind of make things harder than they need to be if -- we play football, you know what I mean? We don't build rockets. Sometimes if you really want to dive too far into it, you can make things really, really hard on yourself. At the end of the day, the players are going to make good decisions and there are going to be a lot of fundamentals and details that we need to do right on the field. We're going to need to play physically and tough and smart. When you start trying to add too much to a bucket, I don't know that you really need all those things or change every word you have or anything like that. I mean, there are things you could do every week like that. The TV copies, you guys can hear everything we say anyway, so it's not like it's a it's a secret. I think you've got to be careful with overdoing that or your focus really gets put on the wrong thing."

The Silver and Black will stay home at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to play the New England Patriots on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 4:05 p.m. EDT/1:05 p.m. PDT.

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