Raiders Coach Tom McMahon's Entire Mini Camp Comments

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders held a mandatory mini-camp today, and special teams coordinator Tom McMahon spoke after practice.

Even though he is new, McMahon has already faced controversy with the Silver and Black. When the team decided to let Trent Sieg go, a team favorite, it didn't sit well in the locker room.

We have all of his comments that you can watch, and read the transcript below:

Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon

Q: You inherited a great kicking corps. How tough was it to part ways with Trent Sieg? And what was behind that decision to kind of move on from him?

Coach McMahon: "Trent did a great job here. He did great for this organization. He's a great person, great teammate, and really what it came down to is it's just a decision that we made within that unit. But in terms of who he is and what he's done here, I just want one thing to be said; he did a great job in this organization as a teammate and a person, and we decided to make that move.”

Q: If he did a great job, why did you want to get rid of him?

Coach McMahon: "Well, it's one of those things where from a business side and from an operation side, we decided to go with a different player.”

Q: I know there's been a kind of a lot of reaction to the kickoff changes in terms of the yardage award for touchbacks. Is that something that you envision having a significant impact on special teams?

Coach McMahon: "Right now, we have to get through the preseason, in my personal opinion, and we have to see how this thing plays itself out, this new rule. It's new to us, so I can't give you how it is going to impact us. And we're still trying to learn all the different parts of the rule, because there's going to be if it's a muff, if it's this, that and the other. So, we're going to work through it and by the time we get through the preseason, I think we'll have a pretty good idea of how teams are going to use it and then what we'll probably do with it too.”

Q: What are your thoughts on DeAndre Carter and Tre Tucker when it comes to the return game?

Coach McMahon: "All of our returners are doing a great job; it's not only two guys coming in. It's not just the guys who were here before. I speak as a whole group just as I speak about our specialists; everybody's working their tails off to try to make us the best special teams unit we can be. And that's all we can ask that every day, they go out there and do the best they can. But I'll never, ever just single out the two guys because you never know who it's going to be."

Q: What do you like about all your returners skillsets?

Coach McMahon: "With all of our return skill sets, the biggest thing is they can create their own return. And what happens is sometimes you're going to miss a block here or there, and all five of these guys, all six, all seven, all eight, whoever we put back there, we feel like these guys can create their own return.”

Q: Around the NFL, there are so many different philosophies. How would you describe your style?

Coach McMahon: "Our style, what we would like it to be, is full-court defense – punt and kickoff cover. Half-court offense – kickoff return and punt return."

Q: Can you talk about the mentality and what you're trying to instill in these players who are new to your unit?

Coach McMahon: "Everybody had four or five goals going in the spring, but the number one goal for this whole unit and everybody that plays special teams, including the specialists, is urgency. You've got to play with urgency, and those people that are urgent in football and are decisive in football, decisive leaders, it’s easy to follow. The guys who go around and around the roundabouts make it hard. So, we want urgency in everything you do in your techniques, in your coverage, in your return, blocking in your returns, in your kicking, in your punting. And then that shows that you're decisive and you believe in yourself, and you trust yourself. The most important letter in the word trust is ‘U’, and then you try to earn the ‘S’, which is the next letter, from everybody else. So, that's the biggest thing. And these guys have been doing a great job of buying in. We have great leaders here. We've got great coaches who help us, and I really like where this group is headed in terms of their work rate and how hard they go.”

Q: What were your first impressions of seeing Daniel Carlson up close? What makes him so good?

Coach McMahon: "Consistency. It's perfection; that's the definition. People say, ‘Oh, consistency is boring.’ There's nothing boring about consistency. It's called perfection.”

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