Raiders' OC Hardegree Entire Presser Chargers Week

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (5-8) have a short turnaround this week as they host their AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers (5-8) on Thursday Night Football.

There is frustration in Raider Nation, and not just from the fans. Everyone in "The Nation" knows that the Raiders beat themselves on Sunday, and they are chomping at the bit to get back on the field and get back to winning.

Offensive Coordinator Bo Hardegree spoke ahead of the Chargers game on Thursday. You can watch the entire press conference above, and read the transcript below.

Interim Offensive Coordinator Bo Hardegree

Q: How do you get attacking down the field more into the game plan and executed better on game day?

Coach Hardegree: "Yeah, we have to do whatever it takes to affect the opponent and put our guys in the best ability to make plays and doing that does that and we'll have those thoughts going forward, and we do every week, we talk about it. And we'll just go out and do what we have to do as far as the execution standpoint, from a play caller and a player perspective."

Q: When you have the speed of Tre Tucker or DeAndre Carter, do you have to think about ways to use them to stretch the field?

Coach Hardegree: "We think about all of our players in those -- what are their skill-sets, and you try to put them in the best ability to maximize those skill-sets that they have."

Q: I know it's still fairly new, but what did you learn last week?

Coach Hardegree: "I learned that turnovers and penalties don't help drives. I did. I would be calling plays at certain spots in the field, where I'm like: 'Alright, this is where -- let's get to this and then let's move down into the red area.' And then we'd kind of get there and then a play or two, or a call or two would kind of fall back behind the sticks, and you just learn from it and you battle back and you get the group and you get them going and you just reset."

Q: As you're as you're going along, do you start second guessing or do you start thinking more?

Coach Hardegree: "I don't believe in second guessing, you don't have time to, but you do have time to reflect on what happened on a short week, but you learn. I hope everybody learns. I've talked about that before. But from an execution standpoint, a schematic standpoint, and then just obviously, for us the most important thing that came out of that was we have to put two positive plays back-to-back. That's important. That's the art of offensive football."

Q: Khalil Mack ruined a lot of opportunities last time you played the Chargers. How do you adjust to what happened last time?

Coach Hardegree: "Well, first of all he's a great player. And we've said this each week, there are one or two players out there who are game wreckers, and you have to put that into account when you make your plan and go out and execute it."

Q: How concerned are you with routes that are behind the chains and how much does that need to change?

Hardegree: "Well, the first part of that, it's all situational when those calls are happening. What third down? What are we? Is it a quarto call? Do we have two downs? Does third down go to second down? Is it: 'We've got to have it' on third down? All those things come into play when you're putting your plan together, so you have those certain calls. So, if it's a call that's OK in front of the sticks because you know you have another call. Is it a run? Or is it something that needs to stretch past the sticks. So, all those things kind of come into play when you're kind of putting everything together."

Q: After last week, is this week like: 'Hey, throw it out, scream and yell week.' Is it: 'Hey, humor, laugh about it kind of week?' What is your coaching style?

Hardegree: "Be myself, be truthful about what we didn't do. And then also show what we did well and really take it from there going into a short week for these guys too, is very important."

Q: Is the short week a positive in a way?

Hardegree: "Either or it's a positive. I mean, any time you get to go out to play football, whether it's in 72 hours after you won or lose a game or you get a full week's prep, I think it's a good way for our guys to go out and really put the product on the field that we feel good about."

Q: In the past we've seen no Kolton Miller, we've seen Jermaine Eluemunor switch to left tackle. Last week, Jermaine stayed right, Thayer Munford went left. What goes into that thought process?

Hardegree: "I mean, it's given those guys opportunities at different spots, and we kind of reflect on that and just move forward with our plan."

Q: How do you think Dylan Parham performed at center?

Hardegree: "Dylan [Parham] is a good football player, and he's got certain skill sets. He can move around a little bit, he's very intelligent, so we have a lot of trust in him."

Q: You guys statistically have a very good shot if you win out, of still making the playoffs. How excited are you to get last week behind you, get some points on the board and get this team feeling confident?

Hardegree: "Yeah, I'm excited every week. I have all the confidence in them. It's just for us to kind of learn and take what happened last week, but also just moving into this week reset and do the things we really want to do well and finish the night off feeling good about that."

The Silver and Black will turn around quickly and host their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on Thursday, December 14, at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST.

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