Raiders Josh McDaniels Final Comments Pre-Broncos

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels moments ago conducted his final press conference ahead of the team heading to the Denver to play the Broncos to start the season.

You can watch the press conference in its entirety and read the transcript below:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: I know you’re dealing with a personal issue with Chandler Jones, but from a roster standpoint, what happens in this kind of situation?

Coach McDaniels: "Well, I mean, we deal with it all year in terms of like having to make decisions whether they’re injury related or what's best for the team in terms of practice squad elevations or just deciding on the active from the 53. So, nothing different in that regard. We'll just try to figure out what the best thing is in terms of how to play the game in general. We're doing that at multiple positions, honestly. Early in the season, it's always a little tricky because nobody's really played 60 minutes of a football game. We've practiced hard, we've tried to create the type of conditioning we'll need to play with 46-47 guys out there for the entirety of the game. But making the decisions based on the depth that you're going to need at certain spots, that's always a little bit of a tricky issue going into the opener."

Q: You always preach next-man-up and Malcolm Koonce and Tyree Wilson figure to be involved in that. Where's the confidence level? Malcolm had a pretty nice training camp, so what are your thoughts on that?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean, somebody will get banged up in the game. So, everybody who is active is going to have a role in the game and play, and we expect everybody to get out there and hopefully make a positive impact. So, I think our entire defensive line group has really worked hard. I think we have a little bit more depth across the board than we did last year, just in general terms. And we'll do what we have to do to be able to play the game the right way. But yeah, both those guys you mentioned and there's a few other guys, and we have some of the guys on the practice squad too who would be considerations as well.”

Q: Just to confirm, you don't expect Chandler to practice?

Coach McDaniels: "I don't expect Brandon Facyson or Chandler [Jones] to play this week."

Q: The other day we asked about preparing for the offense with Sean Payton being in the first year, they also have first year there Vance Joseph. The defensive personnel is pretty much the same with the Broncos, but how have you guys tried to prepare with them having a new coach?

Coach McDaniels: "VJ [Vance Joseph] does a great job, and they kept some of the guys that were there last year too, which that's -- it's not a completely different staff on that side of the ball, which is interesting. Also, I think it says a lot about the guys that were there last year. They did a great job. This defense was ranked in the top five or six in almost every important metric last season, so they played really good football on that side of the ball for sure. And so, we've looked at Vance, and what Vance has done. Vance has a lot of experience and variety doing some different things based on his personnel. So, if his personnel is better to do this, than he'll do that. If his personnel is better to do something else, then he has enough flexibility within his scheme to be able to do that. That's why I have so much respect for him. And his players play the right way. They play hard, they're very disciplined. There's not a lot of easy things against this group. And so we've had a look at our opportunities against Vance in the past. We competed against him last year against Arizona. We've also looked at their preseason stuff, we've looked at some things that we saw last year against the Denver team that we're getting ready to play, because a lot of the players are similar or the same. So, you never know. We just kind of throw it all in the same bucket and say: 'We're probably going to get a bunch of this, some of it we may not, and we're definitely going to get something we're not practicing.' So that's always part of the anxiety of opening day is kind of getting into the game and going: 'OK, well we didn't practice that.' You know what I mean? So, it's going to be important for us to follow our rules. You start the game with an idea of what you might see in each phase, but at the end of the day, I think this is where the training camp practices against another club are really important. Because when you go into those, you have no idea what they're going to do. They could try a hundred new things against you and you're the guinea pig. And so, really it tests your rules, it tests your discipline, tests your communication, and that's basically what opening day turns into."

Q: Is the one good thing that you had basically a week to prepare with not having Chandler Jones out there instead of it being a surprise today or something?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean again, we've had a number of guys practicing in there for a while now. So, they'll be ready to go. All our guys will be ready to go."

Q: What have you seen from Josh Jacobs in the two weeks since he's been back, and what impact of what you've seen do you think that'll have on his role on Sunday?

Coach McDaniels: "Just he's been the same guy who I saw last year and one year further in terms of his overall -- he's got great leadership, great urgency, super locked in, a really good influence on his teammates. Obviously that's why he was named a captain. But just a smart football player, really wants to do things the right way all the time, has a high standard for himself and meets it most every day. So, I couldn't ask anything more from this guy, I've said that before and I'll say it until we're done coaching. He's just a great player. And so we'll see how it goes relative to overall the role and the usage and all the rest of that stuff. I think that's much to be determined as we go into the game. We're going to start with an idea of what we're going to do, and then we'll adjust as we're kind of seeing everything play out."

Q: You have a couple of rookies on the team, Tyree Wilson, Michael Mayer and Jakorian Bennett who kind of seemed like they have earned roles and can see them get a good amount of reps in the game on Sunday. How excited yet cautiously optimistic are you to see your young players that you invested in get those early snaps?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, there's a lot of guys. I'd put first and second year players in that category too, because some of them played a little bit more than others last year, and I'd say maybe earned a little bit of a different role this year also. So, I go into the beginning of the season kind of like, again, as an extension of training camp, and we get to do something now that we haven't done in a while. So, we're going to learn a lot. I'm excited to see those guys all go out there and compete and do their jobs. Everything won't be perfect, there's no question about that, opening day never is. We're in an imperfect sport. So, we'll learn as much from these games and what they're doing and not doing as anything else we've done. It'll be a great opportunity for any young player, for a second year player to get out there and really test themselves, their rules. They're going to see things they haven't seen before, they're going to play and compete against guys they haven't competed against. So, I'm excited for all our guys and the younger guys who will have an opportunity to play, I think they've earned whatever that role will be. Hopefully we'll go out there and do our jobs well."

Q: With Josh Jacobs on the exempt list, when do you have to make a move to get him on the 53-man roster?

Coach McDaniels: "Tomorrow. Yep, we'll have to have to do something to get to 53.”

Q: When you drafted Tre Tucker, obviously you had a vision for him and an idea of what he was all about. But what have you learned from about him in training camp in terms of how he can be utilized?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, Tre is like a lot of the young guys. He got a lot of experience and exposure to different things because I think every time you're out there -- I've said this before -- you're either going to do a good job at something, or you're going to learn from the mistake at this point in time in your career. So, we tried a lot of different things with all our rookies, honestly. We gave them an opportunity to fail and learn from it. You know what I mean? And if they succeeded at it, it was great. So, Tre's got a tremendous attitude. He's very bright. He's a great worker. I know Davante [Adams] mentioned something about him. He's very mature for a young guy. He pays really good attention to the guys who know how to do things better than he does right now and he tries to do things right. He practices hard. He's been out there every day. His durability has really been a positive factor for him as for every young player they come into the league and if you're not out there, it's hard to get better. So, Tre's given him every himself every opportunity to improve every day. The role that he'll have will kind of I'd say morph as we go, but we're working him in a lot of different areas and he's working hard at all of them.”

Q: As you've said, Chandler’s situation is totally a personal situation. How have you seen this locker room kind of weather the storm this week with everything that's been going on?

Coach McDaniels: "I think they're focused on the competition that we have in front of us on Sunday and controlling what they can control. We've had a really good week so far. We're looking forward to a good day to day today, and I know they want to finish off the preparation the best that they can today. I've been very proud of just their approach in general and excited to see them play on Sunday, honestly.”

The Silver and Black open the regular season at the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 4:25 p.m. EDT/1:25 p.m. PDT.

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