Raiders' Josh McDaniels Monday Recap of Win Over Seahawks
HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders (4-7) had a thrilling overtime victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, for their first two-game winning streak of the season.
Moments ago, Coach Josh McDaniels talked about the win and the state of the franchise.
You can watch the entire press conference below, and read the transcript as well:
Head Coach Josh McDaniels
Opening Statement: “Well, after watching the tape, I think the effort and the way the guys competed throughout the whole entirety of the game stood out. We're far from perfect in all three phases. Still a lot to learn from, a lot to improve on. I think that's the great part, is you battle and fight, scratch and claw, and come away with a victory in a tough place to play against a good team that’s really well-coached. Still, there are a lot of things we can improve on and get better from. Our guys are really figuring out kind of how they need to play together in all three phases. We had some complimentary football swings there where we did some good things together, and then we also did some things where we put the other side in a disadvantage. So, there are some things to learn from that as well. But when we play well together in all three phases, we really try to give ourselves an advantage as best we can, and there were some good situations there yesterday that came up. Guys earned the day off and we'll obviously get rolling here on the Chargers."
Q: You've talked about building the culture and building a long-term plan. When things weren't going well, not one player threw you under the bus. To see the way they players stuck to the process, how proud are you of the progress?
Coach McDaniels: “I think that part of the process is how you handle adversity. And I think it's probably one of the things that I've matured in the most over many, many years of either doing it myself or having to do it myself, or seeing it done by someone else – is just understanding how you have to respond to that and what you need to say and how you need to act in the moment. I've said this to you guys a number of times, the temperature inside the building never really changed. We just continued to be consistent, and I think that's the way to do it. We've talked about this too, there are a lot of imperfections in football. Nobody plays a perfect game. So, there's a lot to learn from whether you win or lose. And so, we just try to stay true to that, understand what we can do better. I think the honest, open communication and dialogue with the players has been well received. We don't blame anybody. There's just a win or improve. And so, that's kind of how we've approached this whole year, every week, every day from phase one in the spring until now. And so, that won't change on Wednesday of this week. We win, we can still find things to do better. And if we do more of those things better, I think we've learned that we'll have more success, and I think our team has responded well to that."
Q: After the game Derek Carr talked about the win in Week 11 is really what allowed them to win in Week 12. Is that part of you talking about 'learning how to win?'
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I think it's kind of like anything you do. You're in a tight game at the end and once you realize that we can do this, we need to make some really good plays and we trust each other, and you trust the guys on either side of you to do their job under pressure in an environment that it's not a home game. So, both of these have been on the road, and I think we learned something in Denver about the way we needed to play under pressure and perform, that we could do it. Sometimes you need a few of those things to happen to just give you the confidence to go back and repeat that same type of success somewhere else, and I'm sure that's what he was referring to. But I thought our team in general yesterday, even though we lost the lead a couple of times and then came back, there was never a feeling on the sideline like we lost control of the game. Like we were in the game the whole time. We knew we were in the game, and I just think there was some ebbs and flows that we had to deal with. But I loved the energy on our sideline. There wasn't any panic or frustration, it was just keep playing and trying to fix some things that were wrong. I thought we did a really good job of staying like this (balanced) the whole game."
Q: How important was it that you got pressure from the interior with Bilal Nichols and Andrew Billings? And do you know the health of Billings?
Coach McDaniels: “I think he'll be OK. He got banged up on the leg, but nothing structural. We kind of talked a lot last week about the pressure in the middle was really going to be important for us in general. And I thought JT [Jerry Tillery] and [Andrew] Billings and [Bilal] Nichols, they all kind of showed up at one point or another in the pass rush. Everybody focuses so much on our two ends, and deservedly so, but I think the inside guys being able to create some pressure, or even the wall that's built inside so that the quarterback can go forward and then get out of the way from the two ends, I think it all kind of plays together. As I’ve said before, those guys are all learning how to play with one another, whether it's the four of them in a pass rush or a game on one side or another. That's something that we keep working on, because I think we can make progress in that area. Again, JT has only been here a couple weeks. So, he's working with, whether it's Chandler [Jones] or Maxx [Crosby] on the edge or Cle [Clelin Ferrell], being able to operate in those types of situations is important. But it definitely showed up on the film; when we got middle pressure on him, those are some of our best plays.”
Q: On those last two defensive drives in regulation and overtime, what do you think were some of the key factors in really getting the Seahawks off the field that you really were proud of?
Coach McDaniels: “Yeah, I mean, we had to tighten the coverage down. I mean, those situations are ones where, if you give up too much, you're going to give up points. A field goal would have won the game, potentially. So, I thought our guys really did a good job of trying to get on them tight. I thought the rush was really as good as we could ask for it to be under pressure. Maxx [Crosby] obviously stood up in the big situations, which that's what you need your best players to do. I thought he really did a good job. They were trying to chip him a little bit, and he still worked around that and navigated that too. So, I think any time you're in that type of situation, the rush has to give the coverage an opportunity, and the coverage has to give the rush an opportunity. It can't be one or the other. If the coverage is too soft, the ball's out and the rush never gets there, and vice versa. So, I thought we played pretty good complementary defense.”
Q: You mentioned 'far from perfect,' but being able to win these close games, how much better is it compared to the beginning of the season with the heartbreak defeats? Does it help to trust the process that you guys are putting into it?
Coach McDaniels: “I mean, look, everybody wants the results. And sometimes it gets challenging to continue to just drip water on the rock here and hope something sprouts. I think that we're continuing to improve in small areas, our field goal protection, our kickoff coverage. There are a lot of little things here and there that we're doing a little bit better and that are making a difference as the game goes along. And as the season progresses, the more of those things that you can improve on, the more the results will change just without you focusing on the result. You're focusing on the little things that you can control. Obviously, it tastes better when you win, to listen and learn and correct things. We're all human, I think we would rather win and learn from that than lose. But again, I think some of the biggest lessons we've learned have come from the games that we haven't been able to finish. And so, maybe the last two games there have been some winning done because of some of the things that we learned when we lost a few games like that."
Q: Was Derek Carr being banged up in the first quarter factor into that fourth and inches of a potential quarterback sneak?
Coach McDaniels: “No. We had multiple calls there. It was kind of a pick your poison kind of deal, whether you wanted to go inside or outside. I've got to do a better job on that. But no, I think he would tell you he would go inside. That wouldn't have been an issue. Like I said, he kind of got the wind knocked out of him there, but I think he would have been fine doing it."
Q: Can you take us through the thought process when you kicked the field goal with 14 seconds left and could have maybe taken a shot for a touchdown?
Coach McDaniels: “I think we got the ball with a little over five minutes to go in the second quarter and some teams have a philosophy, just play offense. Some teams want to try to secure the last possession of the quarter, if you could. We happened to make that decision and we wanted to try to go ahead and finish the half with the ball and try to score some points. That particular scenario when we used our last time out, I want to say it was 14 seconds. OK, so it's 14 seconds, actually it was 21 seconds – I think he scrambled, right? So, it's 14 seconds and we're at the 13- or 14-yard line. No timeouts. If you throw it short, there's really no change in the accuracy of the field goal. So, throwing it short underneath would have done nothing other than forced us into a scramble situation to try to clock the ball to give Daniel [Carlson] the same opportunity to kick it. If that decision is out of the way, which it was, you have one other choice which is to throw it to the end zone. We attempted that on first down, they covered it decent. They were back there. They knew that it’s really throw it in the end zone or kick a field goal type of scenario. And with 14 seconds left, I just felt like we could take a shot here and throw one up for grabs. There's not a multitude of plays that I love from the 15-yard line when the defense knows the ball is going into the end zone and all their eyes are going to be on the passer. And so, if something happens in the pass rush and you give up a sack, the half ends. If you throw the ball up for grabs and somebody on their team ends up coming down with it, half ends. You have no points. So, I really just made the decision that I felt like: 'Let's just take the three now.' It's probably the most likely scenario anyhow, I would say across the National Football League. There's not many where you're going to throw it in the end zone from the 15 there and the defense is going to give it up. So, that's a decision I made, that's why I made it."
Q: Was there a moment in a practice, or a meeting, where you felt things kind of turned for you guys the last couple of weeks, where you kind of noticed that the team was locked in or turning the corner?
Coach McDaniels: “Nope. I mean, honestly, I really don't notice any difference relative to our day-to-day approach. Like I said: that's a compliment to the guys. It's a long season. We've said that out loud, and we’ve said it internally, like you're going to go through some of these ups and downs, and the fact that we won two doesn't mean anything for this coming week, either. I think you are in control of what you do each day. You're not necessarily in control of streaks. We can't control the next three games, just as much as we couldn't control the last seven. So, we just stick to it and keep trying to get better. I think the attitude and approach – and the energy has been really good despite whatever the record is and all the rest of it. I don't think we've worried about that too much, and right now we're 0-0 this week. And so that's kind of been our mentality the entire season, and our guys have really worked that way all year.”
Q: What have you seen from Nate Hobbs since putting him in that window to return?
Coach McDaniels: “He got ill. I mean, he got sick. So, there really wasn't anything we could control. I just didn't feel comfortable bringing him up and playing him without having the opportunity to practice. He hadn't practiced in five or six weeks now, and the plan was for him to practice last week. He took part in a Wednesday walk-through last week and then was sick, and so we really didn't have the opportunity to practice him on Thursday or Friday. So, to play him under those circumstances, I didn't feel comfortable with it. Hopefully, we'll be able to turn the corner on it this week.”
Q: For Josh Jacobs to be able to put his body through what he's putting it through and leading the team like he is, what does it just tell you about the man and the leader that he is?
Coach McDaniels: “A lot. He cares about winning. He's very unselfish. He’ll do whatever we ask him to do. Like I said, I've said this many times, he practices great. I would say this, the great players that I've been around, they're that way for a reason. And they love football, they study it. They prepare hard. They practice like they're playing. And they're durable, they're out there every day. They're available for their team. I mean, that's what this guy is. He's tough as they come, takes a lot of hits, keep keeps coming, plays his best in the second half almost every week. Like I said, I'm running out of terms here. But when you describe somebody as a football player, I mean, that's what he is, and so he knows how I feel about him.”
Q: With Derek Carr and Davante Adams kind of being emotional after the Colts game, was that kind of a rallying point in the season?
Coach McDaniels: “If it was, maybe we should have done it earlier? No, I don't know. Like I said, I don't really get into much of like analyzing one thing or another that triggered anything. I don't really know that anything has changed other than we've earned the results we received last two weeks. But I think we all know that we could have earned some different results earlier in the season had we done a few more things right during the course of the year. So, there's nothing we can do about the stuff that we've already done. We know we can control what we can control today and moving forward this week. And like I said, I think our players' approach has been very consistent, and I don't expect that to change. We've got great leadership and those guys have really done a good job of preparing hard and getting our guys to practice the way we need to practice. We were in pads on Thanksgiving and our guys had a great attitude mindset about that. And so just really, they deserve the credit for continuing to push through it and prepare hard and play the game the way they needed to play it to win it.”
Q: There was a strange moment yesterday when it appeared one of the Seahawks players joined the play from the bench. Have you seen that happen before? How does the league talk to you guys and say: ‘Sorry, I missed that,’ or how does that kind of work?
Coach McDaniels: “We’re the Raiders. (laughter) Yes, I saw the play. No, I've never seen anything like that before. I mean, I think he went out there to celebrate, and then he ended up making a couple of blocks there to try to help his buddy. Yeah, they missed the call. Clearly, that should have been a penalty. But I'll leave that at that.”
Q: Did you find out about it in-game?
Coach McDaniels: “Oh yeah, we saw it right when it happened. I think our all of our offensive players came over and said the same thing, like 52 wasn't even on the field.”
Q: Was that your ‘We’re the Raiders' moment’?
Coach McDaniels: “I’ve had multiple of those. (laughter) I'm aware of the last 20 years relative to the statistics. So, we’ll see if we can change that a little bit.”
The Raiders' game on Sunday is in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. It kicks off at 4:25 p.m. EST/1:25 p.m. PST. You can see that game on CBS.
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