Josh McDaniels Final Thoughts: Raiders vs. Jaguars
HENDERSON, Nev.--Josh McDaniels spoke from IMG Academy in Sarasota, Florida, and gave his final thoughts and public analysis of the Las Vegas Raiders versus the Jacksonville Jaguars moments ago.
McDaniels team has 10-games left to get this team back in the playoffs. Sitting at 2-5, the task won't be easy, but neither is it impossible.
You can watch his entire interview below, and read the transcript:
Head Coach Josh McDaniels
OPENING STATEMENT: "Before we get going, I think it's appropriate - I just want to acknowledge that we lost a great one yesterday in Ray Guy, who is not only a Raider Legend, but I think truly a unique talent in our game, the history of our game. So, on behalf of our team and our organization, I just want to express our condolences to his family, and hope that they know that we're thinking about them at this difficult time. He's one of the truly great Raiders of all time, and we're going to miss him."
Q: You talked about learning how to win, and I'm curious this week down there in Florida, what do you think your team has learned?
Coach McDaniels: "Look, there's a lot of us that have gone through ups and downs throughout our careers, and certainly it's hard to play a perfect game or even a perfect stretch during the course of a season. We certainly didn't have our best in any capacity on Sunday last week and I think what we all learned is that it's a resilient bunch of people, and I say people meaning everybody, the whole organization. Determined to really come back and learn from the things that we didn't do well enough last week to try to improve our football team. I think you see that in the meetings, you see that in the practice, you see that in the energy that they brought to the practice field. I think they're determined to try to have a great week, and so far, we've had a really productive time here in Sarasota. I think our team is - again, you learn from everything, win or lose, and I think that part of the process of getting better and trying to play your best at the end is going through some of these lumps and trying to become better for it."
Q: I know that wins are all that matters, and that's obviously the truth in the National Football League. But are you happy with what you've seen from your guys this week? Are you pleased with what you're seeing how they've responded after last week?
Coach McDaniels: "100 percent. No question. Like I said, I support them, and I said that after the game that anytime that happens, that starts with me. I love the effort that they come to work with every day and the preparation that they're going through and the time that they've spent getting ready. This is the ultimate team sport, and I love my team."
Q: Do you think Darren Waller is going to play this weekend? What have you seen in Foster Moreau’s development this year?
Coach McDaniels: “I do not know about Darren yet. We haven't got out to the practice field yet today, so we'll see how that goes. He's working extremely hard to try to get back as soon as he can. I know that, and nobody wants to play quicker than Darren does. So, we'll see how that progresses today on the practice field. I'm not sure yet. And then I would say relative to Foster, Foster's made a huge impression on everybody in our organization since he got here. I've heard about that. And then, obviously, since I've been here. Just the ultimate teammate, whatever you ask him to do it, he'll be ready and willing and able to do it. He's improved as a blocker. Good hands, studies the passing game as much as he studies fronts and the running game, and just a really eager, young professional that continues to get better and better each day. Really enjoy working with him. Great example for a lot of our players.”
Q: Hunter Renfrow has talked in the past that he’s a guy that wants to do everything that the coach tells him to do, exactly the way the coach tells him to do. But at the same time, he sometimes says that there's a spin that he needs to put on things to maximize what he's all about. Is there room in the offense for a wide receiver to maybe put his own spin or interpretation on a route?
Coach McDaniels: “100 percent. I think there's certain things that you have to do to be on the same page with the quarterback and/or protect the football from the defenders. But there's wiggle room in almost everything we do relative to the players being able to do have enough freedom to do their thing. Like I said, not every route is the same, not every concept is the same. You certainly got to understand what those around you are doing because you can't have two guys running in the same area. It's not recess, you know what I mean. It's hard to run an offensive system when you got four or five guys releasing in the pattern and everybody has the same level of freedom on every play. But usually, there's multiple guys on a play that we know the area that they're going to be in, how it looks, how they get there, what they do with it. Not always critical that it's done robotically, for sure. We've done that for a long time. And we're working through that now and trying to get on the same page of guys understanding what they can and can't do. And then the quarterbacks always have to be tied into that, and there's nobody more important than the passer in the passing game. And so, if he doesn't understand what's going on, or he can't read the body language of the players that are running the routes, that would be the issue. But no, I'm having a lot of fun coaching Hunter and these guys in the skill group, in terms of just being on the same page and letting them try new things. Ultimately, it's their game, they have to feel good about what they're doing. And so, once they do that, I know that everybody feels pretty good about what we got here.”
Q: As it relates to Derek Carr and his autonomy at the line of scrimmage to get you into a better play or not. But when Derek in your system gets to the line of scrimmage, does he have options to turn to at any given time? And does he have the authority to be able to make that switch?
Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, A lot of times, and I don't want to give away state secrets here, but a lot of times – and I think this is commonplace in the National Football League now – quarterbacks will have more than one or two plays at the line of scrimmage because they called more than one play in the huddle. And we've certainly used that, and everybody knows we do that. Using one if it's the right look, and then a second one if it's a different look, and then potentially even something else. Those are all things that we've been doing for a long time now here. And I think the ultimate deal, relative to changing everything that was said in the huddle to something else, ultimately comes down to the comfort level of the players and where they're at in their overall understanding of how to communicate that and when we know that all 11 guys could get it. And so, have we had to do that a lot this year? Not really. And that's the goal is that we don't have to do it. Hopefully we try to put them in position to maybe have an opportunity to do some things that are pretty good. But every once in a while, that's necessary, and our quarterback certainly has the autonomy to do that. Again, most importantly, our offense would need to be able to handle it also as a group."
Q: I know you're constantly about the process, and that makes sense. There are still a lot of games left, but at some point, there's not a lot. As you go on, do you apply more pressure? Do you let them know, 'Hey, guys, the timeline to win is shortening now'?
Coach McDaniels: “I don't think adding stress is really a productive part of the process. I think we all understand the situation. I don't think there's anybody in our team, or on our staff, that doesn't understand the situation that we have in front of us. We are what our record is. And we know the only way to change that is to work hard each day and have a productive process each day, and ultimately earn the right to have a victory on Sundays. That's ultimately what we're going to try to do. I don't think going in there and throwing chairs, and screaming louder, or clenching my fists harder, or holding my breath and stomping my feet is really going to add anything productive to our football team. And like I said, over time, I think giving them solutions, trying to put together a productive plan, coaching them at practice, encouraging them to do the things that they're doing well better, continuing to do those better as we go forward. And then try to identify some areas where we can fix, and tweak, and try to improve our team. And so, again, I never have felt like going in there and raising the stress level because that doesn't really apply to everybody. Some people might respond favorably to it, and there's others that might not. And so, I think you really have to understand your football team. And I've seen a lot of urgency from our captains, our leaders, and our football team all together. I think that's the right response, and hopefully, they're seeing that from us as well."
The Raiders travel to Florida to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT) and can be seen on CBS.
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