Josh McDaniels Final Thoughts: Raiders vs. Colts
HENDERSON, Nev.--Josh McDaniels spoke moments ago as his 2-6 Las Vegas Raiders are prepared to host the failing Indianapolis Colts 3-5-1.
You can watch his entire interview below, and read the transcript:
Head Coach Josh McDaniels
OPENING STATEMENT: "I would be remised if I didn't – obviously it's Veterans Day and I'm thankful for all the men and women that have served and done all the things that they do to protect our freedoms and give us the opportunity to do what we do. So, I'm thankful for all of them today, and obviously it's a great day to recognize them."
Q: Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow went on IR yesterday, just overall what went into that decision to knock them out for a while, instead of maybe leaving them on the active roster?
Coach McDaniels: "Just overall health. I think they tried hard to get healthy and be healthy and be their best, and that's what every player wants to do. And I think it's very common that you play your best when you feel your best. We've had some guys battle some different things throughout the course of the season, and those two guys obviously have done that. You just kind of take the whole picture into view here and think that maybe giving them an opportunity to not rush and feel so stressed about getting back this week, and they're trying their butt off to do that. But just give them an opportunity to get truly healthy and feel really good, and then have an opportunity to come out and play their best. And so, those are never easy, none of us want to do that. We obviously have high hopes and expectations for that group as a whole. But I think until we're out there healthy and ready to roll and doing the things that they know they can do, that we hope that they can do together, it just felt like it was the right thing to do at this point. And then, like I said, hopefully we'll get them back and be ready to play the best football that we can play at that point."
Q: Obviously, both of those players are big parts of your game plan. How much do you have to pivot you know without having both of them?
Coach McDaniels: "Every coach deals with this, where you have the question marks at the beginning of the week. You have to have some contingencies in place, regardless. You do that anyway because there's a chance that somebody's going to go down the middle of the game anyway. So, you can't just go in there with one plan and never change it. That's impossible. So, you deal with that every week, all year long.
I think the players are very resilient. Sometimes that gets overblown in terms of how difficult that actually is. They know the system and the scheme, and sometimes it's just as simple as changing it from one personnel grouping to another. We're still running the same stuff and those guys understand that. We've got a bright group and they acclimate pretty quickly to it, whether it happens in a week or during the course of the game."
Q: Did you have any more clarity on exactly what Hunter Renfrow is dealing with – I know it was listed as ribs and hamstring, and was reported as an oblique?
Coach McDaniels: "It's a side. Like I said, I'm not a doctor necessarily, but it's somewhere in there. And just, like I said, giving him an opportunity to get it all healthy and get it ready to go. Not sure that there's one medical thing that I could sit here and say that it's just this. We're just making sure that he has an opportunity to get himself right."
Q: You and Dave Ziegler are process people; you continue to build everything about the future. When you start by losing six of your first eight games, does how guys fight the rest of the year show you and Dave a lot about their part in this organization for the long term?
Coach McDaniels: "Sure. I mean, I think how all of us fight and how all of us approach our work, I think that says a lot about every man and every woman in here. And that's what we want to do. Look, everybody's trying to win this week, and I think our team has tried to do that every week. Unfortunately, we haven't done enough of that yet. That doesn't change the fact that you still want to have a long-term view of how do we make this the best we can make it as we go forward. That's part of our job. It's not always the easiest part of your job when you're trying to do everything week to week here during the season. But that is definitely a big part of what we want to do. Part of this very first year has been gathering a lot of information, learning a lot about one another, learning a lot about the people that were here before, learning a lot about the young guys we've added since we came here, and trying to figure out as we go forward what are the best decisions we can make as we as we enter into that phase of this process. So, it's definitely part of the equation. Again, we're putting everything we got into every game, but I think there's definitely an element of just really gathering information as we go because I think that's the right way to do it."
Q: How would you contextualize the responsibilities beyond football that come with being a head coach? And the second part of that is, now that we're halfway through the season and having drawn on previous experiences, how much easier is that side of things been this time around as opposed to maybe the first time?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, that's a great question. The football part is sometimes the most enjoyable part. You get to just stop all the other stuff and go out there and coach and be around the guys - that's the fun part, it really is, and then obviously game day. But I think that I've been able to, I'd say, compartmentalize it a lot better this time around, in terms of having a bigger picture view of what's necessary as we go forward. And I think that was part of the concept when we came here, is just let's figure out what it is and then try to - you don't want to plan for nine months. We're trying to put together something that has a chance to sustain itself, and that's really the goal. And so, I think Dave [Ziegler] has done a tremendous job. The guys upstairs, Tom [Delaney], Dave, Champ [Kelly] of really having a big picture view of this thing. Whether that's bringing guys in and continually working them out, adding people to the practice squad so that we have a chance to look at them and see if they're part of the long-term equation. But also, they're ahead on the draft next year, whereas the first year you come here you're never ahead on the draft. And so, I feel like I'm a lot different now than I was 12-13 years ago, in terms of just being able to handle that kind of information flow and still keep your mind focused on what you want to do this week, which is obviously compete hard and beat the Colts. So, it's challenging. I think the help and the resources that we have here are really, really important because I obviously can't focus all my time and energy on that, and so there's a lot of other people that are and I think they're doing a tremendous job of keeping the big picture, the big picture."
Q: Can you talk about Neil Farrell Jr. and Matthew Butler’s progress at the midway point?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah. Obviously, they're earning more playing time. And I think the one thing that stands out to me about both of those young players is the game seems to be slowing down a little bit for them. When you take a young player and you put them in training camp for the first time, most young players go through a phase where you're watching them play and you're seeing a player that looks a little different than the player that you drafted. And it's because they're just not quite acclimated to all the information, the terminology, the differences that are happening in front of them and around them on every play; they're just not quite used to all of it yet. And I would say with both of those two players, it has started to slow down where it's now we're starting to see flashes of the burst and the power and the things that we really saw from them in college that we liked. Again, I'd say with every young player a long way to go, a lot of work to put in, but there's definitely an element of the game has slowed down for both of them, and they're able to get lined up, get ready to go, and then play aggressively which is really the most important thing."
Q: With Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow out, you can kind of predict that teams are probably going to key in on Davante Adams a little bit more. What goes into that process of not just throwing the ball his way a lot, but making sure it's passes that you can make efficiently?
Coach McDaniels: " There’s a lot that goes into this, and I would say based on the health of our team, this won't be the first time that we've had this challenge or this setup or these circumstances for a game day. So, in that sense, it's good, because it's not our first opportunity at this. I would say that a player like Davante, when you sit him in one spot the whole game, it's hard to keep feeding those targets the direction you want them to go. So, his ability mentally and within the game plan, through his preparation and how intelligent and how smart of a player he is, that really assists in the process, because you can move him. You can move him all over the place. I mean, we had him in the backfield last week. We had him motion and in different spots, so that's an added benefit to being able to do that. I also think that there's no shortcut to this. We have 11 guys on the field and the other 10 are going to play and we need them to do their job right and make plays when their opportunities come up. We've seen that certainly in different stretches here, whether it's Foster [Moreau] or Mack [Hollins] or J.J. [Josh Jacobs] or Ameer [Abdullah] or Keelan [Cole], or whoever it is. There’s not just a one man show here; that's impossible to play like that. Especially against a really good defense with a really well coached team, good players that were playing this week. So, it'll be an 11-man operation here. Certainly, Davante is worthy of as many as you can feed him. But at the same time, there's an element of you just got to be careful, be smart that we're not doing something and then be counterproductive to what we're seeing on defense either.”
Q: Along those lines, adversity and injuries aren't exclusive to the Raiders, but when you have guys that were key cogs that are out like Darren and Hunter and then a guy retires (Blake Martinez), how do you keep the coaches and the players in the locker room from saying, ‘Man, the hits keep coming?’
Coach McDaniels: "It's part of the game. I think those guys know it. The energy we've had at practice this week has been special. And I think that's a tribute to the guys. Like I said, we know where we're at. We know what the situation is. We didn't want to be in this situation, but it is what it is. We're the ones that put us here. And so, we're the ones that are going to dig us out too, and so I think not focusing on just the results that we've seen, or the things that are going on around us. Look, it's a long season. There's a lot of things that are going to happen from now until the end of the season that none of us know. And so, to get distracted easily by all the different things that happened in the National Football League on a week-to-week basis, that would not demonstrate mental toughness.
And I think we have a mentally tough group. I think they're all improving. They're working really hard to do that. And you need a lot of mental toughness to be able to handle the adversity that you face every single year in the National Football League. I mean, I've done it. This is my 22nd year. There hasn't been a year that's been clean sailing ever, and some years may be better than others, but you go through injuries, you go through other things, retiring, and those are what they are. We appreciate the guys that are out there, and we'll work hard with the group that we have. And I think the players have put together a tremendous effort so far this week, and that's the answer. The answer is in the locker room, the answer is on the practice field, and they've done a tremendous job of that.”
Q: Did you have any idea that Blake Martinez was going to retire? And also, with him and Divine Diablo now out, how concerned are you that you have two linebackers out that have taken a lot of snaps here recently?
Coach McDaniels: "No, I did not, relative to Blake [Martinez]. We had a great conversation two days ago. Had a great conversation - I mean, he's a tremendous, tremendous individual and a really good football player. We were fortunate to have him here for the short time we did. Sometimes the body says no, and sometimes guys make the decision that's best for them, and they have the right to do that. It's not the first time that I've been a part of that. Appreciative of everything he did when he was here, he was awesome when he left, and appreciate the contributions that he made. With Divine [Deablo] he's obviously a guy that when he's healthy, he doesn't leave the field. So that's certainly a big role, but like I said it's not unique to us. We've got some young linebackers that if you saw their faces yesterday, they were fired up and excited about the opportunity to go out there and participate and contribute and give it a shot, and they're going to have one. So, having Jayon [Brown] back is helpful, that's a good thing. And obviously, Luke [Masterson] and Darien [Butler] have played a lot of football. They played a ton of football in the preseason obviously, and then they played basically every game in the regular season here on in the kicking game. So, this is not like their first opportunity to be in a National Football League game. We'll divvy it up accordingly here, but we have confidence in all those guys, and we're a little younger than what we've been, but we'll see how it goes and we'll see how DP [Denzel Perryman] responds today too."
Q: When you look at Luke Masterson, Sam Webb, Tashawn Bower - young guys you said deserve to be here, can play here. You're trying to get more of a rush, has Tashawn Bower he earned some more reps and get some more opportunities?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, Tashawn [Bower], he'll have an opportunity this week for sure. Physical guy, definitely showed up in the preseason. The tricky part about putting together the game day actives is always figuring out the bodies that you can use in both offense and the kicking game or defense and the kicking game. So, the bigger the role in the kicking game, the easier it is to take the player to the game if he can do something on offense or defense. So, Tashawn's role in the kicking game has been smaller than let's just say, Malcolm Koonce's, so there's always an element of trying to figure out the balance there and what's more important or less important. The dynamic on the roster is what it is. If you have some linebackers that don't play as much in the kicking game, then you need to get those bigger bodies for the special teams unit somewhere else. So again, a lot goes into that, Tashawn has done nothing to discourage us, it's been more of that kind of a factor than anything else, but I think he's factoring in here, and I think we'll probably see him here soon getting an opportunity defensively."
The Raiders return to home Allegiant Stadium next Sunday to take on the Indianapolis Colts. That game kicks off at 4:05 p.m. EST and 1:05 p.m. PST, and it can be seen on CBS.
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