Josh McDaniels Takes You Inside Las Vegas Raiders Camp
HENDERSON, Nev.-The Las Vegas Raiders conclude week three of training camp by hosting the Minnesota Vikings at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
After practice, Josh McDaniels took the time to take you inside the training camp for the latest information.
You can watch the entire press conference below, and read the transcript:
Head Coach Josh McDaniels
Q: Do you have any updates on Darren Waller and Brandon Parker?
Head Coach Josh McDaniels: "Both guys (are) working back. We have a lot of guys I would say are in that boat right now. I mean it's our third, third real week of training camp in terms of practices. I think this is practice 15 if I'm not mistaken, somewhere in that vicinity. So a lot of guys that are (dealing with) bumps, bruises, and they're all just working extremely hard to try to get back as soon as possible. When they're ready to go, then we're going to put them out there and try to continue to build."
Q: As a coach, how do you balance the risks of playing guys in a preseason game that doesn't technically matter, but also wanting to get them live reps?
Coach McDaniels: "I think each situation is different. There's definitely a competition portion of this that's involved in each decision that we're going to have to make. You have so many opportunities to let them compete and earn their role, which I think is the right thing to do, and then there's other reasons for - you do things in a preseason game to either evaluate something schematically or there's a communication aspect to it from the players with the green dot, there's coach to quarterback, there's different combinations of people that we'd like to see play together. It's not just one thing, one size fits all, so there's a lot of different reasons for doing a lot of things, whether you want to decide to rush punts or not rush punts or cover kickoffs or try to kick touchbacks. There's a lot of different things that go on, and I would say there's even a lot of things that go on during the course of the game that could make us make a decision that we would otherwise not do. We try to use each opportunity that we have, whether it's a practice or a game in the month of August to the best of our ability to help us get to ultimately what we need to get to, which is the best evaluation of our team and then try to make those decisions at the end here when we're asked to do so. So that's what we're going to do."
Q: For clarity, Darren Waller's absence is injury related?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, he's working to get back.
Q: We asked Derek yesterday about if he doesn't play, being on the sidelines with you, how much of the new offense could he learn just watching. He said he spent a lot of time with you last week. What do you want to see out of him if he doesn't play?
Coach McDaniels: "All those guys when they're not in the game, to me it's a great opportunity, for the quarterbacks one, to listen, because he had the earpiece in so it was basically like he would be out there and this is the kind of communication, the dialogue that would be happening with the quarterback from the play caller. I think that's very valuable. And then I think all of our players, just understanding how we approach each situation. Each coaching staff I'd say addresses or tries to play situations differently in many cases. We were backed up last week, we had a two-minute situation come up on defense, there's all these different elements to the game that we just don't have that many opportunities to go through before September 11. Everything that they hear on the sideline, every time we have one of those come up in a preseason game, I think it's an opportunity for us to grow and improve. He handled it perfectly last week, and I would expect the same this week.”
Q: Swing tackle is a pretty important part of any team. Where are you at with that role, and how big of an opportunity is Sunday for somebody - especially over on the left side?
Coach McDaniels: "I think you'll see a few different people over there. We did some of that against Jacksonville, we'll do some more of that against Minnesota. It's an important opportunity. It's kind of like the backup quarterback, nobody talks about him until he's the most important person in your organization. The same thing is true for the left tackle or a guy that would swing on either side, once you have an injury, now all of a sudden that position becomes really important, and it's not easy. So to have the ability to do that, and we flopped some guys during training camp to give them opportunities to work at that. It's something that takes a lot of reps, it's something that you're getting calls on the right side that you're not getting on the left side, so you've got to be able to think very quickly on both sides. We're going to gain more knowledge on that for sure on Sunday."
Q: What are you seeing from Thayer Munford's development since OTAs?
Coach McDaniels: "Thayer has really put his head down and just worked every day. He's gained confidence as we've moved along, which is just typical for young players if they put in the time and effort. He has played against some good competition. He handled some good edge rushers, he's competed in a really good league, he's played a lot of good football over his career at Ohio State, so he's learning how to apply what he's done and now what he's learning at our level in our league, and like all rookies has a long way to go, but I really like his approach. (He) works hard each day to try to get better at something, and he's definitely made progress because of what he's done."
Q: He talked about the adjustment mentally, as much as physically and kind of talking to a counselor just to kind of get his mind right. How much of that do you leave to the players to kind of figure out I want you guys to be kind of about mental health and mental adjustment?
McDaniels: “We certainly have that in house every day for them. Jean [Fajardo] does a tremendous job of that. Montelle [Sanders] and his crew do the same thing. It's a very important part of our interpersonal interaction with these guys. There’s a lot of things going on in all of our lives outside of what happens inside this building. And so, just making sure that guys are equipped with what they need if they need something from us. Also having an understanding of the fact that everybody's day to day is not the same. We all deal with different things. We're all different human beings, and they do a tremendous job of being available when our players need him, or any of our staff for that matter. We absolutely push that if that's necessary. If that's something that we feel like could help somebody, then they absolutely seek it out and as they should, and then we give them the time that they need.”
Q: Yesterday Derek Carr said that he believes that your greatest attribute is your attention to detail how you can know what's going on from the starting quarterback to a backup special teamer. How have you developed that level of attention to detail over time that has helps you do that process?
McDaniels: “Well, I'd say I still have a long way to go in regard to learning about all those different things. I learned things from our coaches every day, for sure. I just think for every young coach or person that comes into any organization, you're around so many really good people that have better experience than you do in their specific area of expertise. Just taking the time to really be present in each meeting whether it's a staff meeting, a squad meeting, something on the field, we learn from the players every day. There’re things I hear from Devonte [Adams] or [Maxx] Crosby or Chandler Jones or Kolton Miller or Derek Carr. They have a different perspective than you do. You're not out there. So, just being willing to soak it all in and understand that you're never going to know it all, but that there’s something to be gained each day, each meeting. If you approach it that way, then your kind of a sponge for information. Hopefully you’re learning every day and improving as a coach so you can teach it better when it’s your time to do it.”
Q: Yesterday, during your two-minute segment you called a timeout for players to take a little bit of a break, and then the coaches were kind of coaching themselves, they were gathering and the coordinators were talking to their assistants. What is the thought process behind having those types of periods where it looks like coaches are communicating?
McDaniels: “It wasn't a scrimmage, scrimmage, but we tried to try to create as many situations yesterday in practice as we could. There are only so many opportunities to do that. You get some in the preseason games if they come up. So, trying to create those in practice, and trying to do it organically. Hopefully it comes up authentically that you didn't have to make it happen. So, there was a few times where we stopped, gave the guys a water break or what have you and then tried to reset the situation. The coaches did a great job yesterday of really having the players prepared for what was next. We weren't in the stadium; we had the one scoreboard. We moved from first quarter second quarter pretty quickly, then all of a sudden we were in the two minutes situation. Then we were in the third quarter fast and then we're at the end of the game. We're trying to get as much experience as we can. To me, we didn't script any of it yesterday, which the coaches really liked that opportunity because that's what happens in a real game. It's one thing to sit there and read off of a script in practice and say alright, this is the next personnel grouping, and this is the next play, and everybody knows what's going on, but that's not real life. Real life is you really just react to what you see. So, we tried to do that yesterday. We learned a lot about ourselves, learn about some things we need to do better as a staff. Our team, I thought we really had the right approach to yesterday in terms of what they would think and learn from it.”
Q: Duron [Harmon] is a guy where you know his ability to play. His longevity in the NFL speaks for that. As a leader how much of a blessing is it to you implementing a new system to have that guy in your locker room?
McDaniels: “He's been a special guy for a while. When he came into the league, he was really a mature human being and approached it the right way. He gravitated right away to the guys that he could learn from. I think one of the great parts about Duron is he's very willing to share with anybody that he can. He'll help someone else learn the things that he's already learned and that adds another level of value to himself because he’s not only doing the right things, taking care of his body, getting himself mentally and physically ready to go every day, but he's also willing to help the young safeties on our roster, the young corners, anybody on defense just understand what it is we're trying to do then also balanced the other things that go on for a professional football player. It's not just all about X's and O's there’s other things too. So, great influence on our locker room as a human being. He's just a great person, great leader, selfless, and he’s obviously a good football player.”
Q: Can you talk about the mental reps that some of these younger players are getting? As I watch practice, I noticed that they're fine tuning and paying attention to when they're not on the field, especially during individual work. Can you talk about the importance of that and bringing that here to the Raiders?
McDaniels: “Each rep that's taken on the field - clearly every guy can't be in there for every rep. So, the best you can do when you're out there is paying attention to what's happening and learning in real time what's going on. Then to come into the film room, when the receivers watch all the one-on-ones like we did last night, you're seeing all the one-on-ones from all the guys, you're not just seeing your one-on-ones. Each repetition and practice, whether you were in or not, is an opportunity to learn. They have to understand in our league Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we only have 35 to 40 team reps. Not every player is going to be in for all those repetitions. You may not have repped something during the course of the week. But then Sunday comes in somebody turns an ankle in the first quarter and now you're doing it in real action on a Sunday in a real game. There are no excuses there, ‘well, I didn't rep it’ - that happens to every team every week. They're learning how to do it. I think they're doing a really good job of trying to pay attention on the field. I think we have some really good players at each spot that are trying to teach them how to do it even better. Just pay attention and try to gain as much as they can at practice.”
Q: I don’t mean to ask yes or no questions. But will we see Derek [Carr] and Devonte [Adams] on Sunday?
McDaniels: “You’ll definitely see them at the stadium. They’ll all be there.”
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