Raiders' Josh McDaniels Final Thoughts Before MNF

The Las Vegas Raiders (1-3) desperately need a victory as they teeter on seeing their season spiral out of control.

The Green Bay Packers (2-2) are coming to Allegiant Stadium on Monday night for the Silver and Black's second consecutive national television appearance in as many weeks.

Coach Josh McDaniels spoke for the final time before the game, and and we have it in its entirety for you, as well as you can read the transcript below:

Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Q: Any word on Nate Hobbs and his ability to practice?

Coach McDaniels: "No, I don't think Nate [Hobbs] will make it. He's working his butt off to get back as soon as possible, getting closer, better every day. But I don't I don't believe we'll see him out there today. And I'm not ruling him out totally, but he's pushing as hard as he can. We'll see. Davante [Adams] will be out there today."

Q: With Nate Hobbs, is there any long-term concern here?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, I'm not overly -- like I said, he's getting closer. I don't want to -- I'm not a doctor, but he's getting closer. Better."

Q: What did you think of Amik Robertson when he stepped in at cornerback?

Coach McDaniels: "Amik [Robertson] is learning a lot of roles because he's backing up a lot of different spots and all the rest of it, which is not easy to do. Went in there and he was aggressive, tackled, covered. I have a lot of confidence in Amik, I think our team does, too. So, we'll see how it all shakes out relative to the role he'll end up fitting into this week and the things we might need from him. But he's always ready to go and he went in and did his job."

Q: Cornerback David Long Jr. also played pretty well in that game. What are your thoughts on him?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, David [Long] is a pro -- a good cover guy, smart. We moved him inside some and played him in a little bit of a dime role last week, which was good. You end up with four corners on the field sometimes, and now you're covering with your corners, and I thought David did a good job of competing in coverage and it's what he's done since we've had him here. So, I'm just pleased with what he's done."

Q: What kind of a lift does getting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo back give you guys?

Coach McDaniels: "I mean, obviously when you get your starting quarterback back, I think the whole team feels it. But I thought our team responded the right way in terms of who is practicing and all the rest of it last week. I don't think they treated it any differently. They respect everybody else. Aidan [O'Connell] and Brian [Hoyer] were both preparing hard to be ready to go and I thought they handled that the right way. But I think any time your starting quarterback comes back from something like that, I think you feel that difference. He's earned that."

Q: Speaking of aggression, cornerback Jakorian Bennett, he's been a player who is pretty physical and aggressive in how he plays. Sometimes he's given up some plays or had some pass interference penalties. What's sort of the process with him in terms of learning how to figure out how to be aggressive?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean again, I think with the young players they're tested a little differently in the NFL maybe than they were in college, but Jakorian [Bennett] was around the ball a lot at Maryland and got his hands on a lot of footballs there, and in order to do that you’ve got to be in tight coverage. So, he's been a sticky guy since we got him, and I think there's just an element of learning what gets called and what doesn't get called. Different receivers run routes differently, they play the ball differently when it's in the air. Those are little refined techniques that take time to really get good at and JB works really hard in practice at it. He's a young kid with a bright future."

Q: When you look at tape, linebacker Rashan Gary has kind of been disrupter for the Packers defense. What do you think makes him good when you watch him on tape and how much pride do you think that Kolton [Miller] and Jermaine [Eluemunor] take?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, I mean there are a lot of disruptive guys on that defense. Rashan [Gary], I mean he's got a great motor, great playing style, he's very physical, can win with speed or power. Every time I turn the film on it's like there's another rush move or another way to get to the quarterback or a way to disrupt the running game by him. He's a very physical player and I'm very impressed with him. Again, they’ve got a lot of guys who I'd say are in that category on the edge who do it the right way, physically, with good length, can rush for speed or power. I think our tackles -- I mean every week in this league is the same. It's just who is it, what's their name, Khalil Mack, is it Joey Bosa, is it TJ Watt? I mean the list goes on and on. So, this is another real big test for us on the edge. We've got to do a good job of really standing up to these guys and they'll play them all. There's just not just going to be one or two of them in there. So, there are a lot of different faces that our guys are getting comfortable and getting used to as we watch tape this week, because I think you got to understand the differences in terms of how they play."

Q: What's the type of process when you make in game adjustments? Is it a feel thing? Is it a halftime thing? How do you go about that?

Coach McDaniels: "Yeah, it depends how big of one you're talking about. I think if you're getting played radically different than what you anticipated, there's really no feel about it. You just better do it in terms of what you expected, coverage, front, pressure. If all of a sudden they're doing a lot more, if the offense on the other side is doing something that our defense didn't necessarily expect or haven't seen from them, you don't have time to wait for halftime. You've got to get over there to the sideline and make a decision, first on what you feel like is best to do and then try to go ahead and communicate it to your group so that you could go ahead and hopefully handle it the right way the next time out there. I think there's definitely a feel element of if it's not a schematic issue, but your team needs something a little bit different -- stagnant or what have you, not enough of this -- to create momentum, then I think maybe there's a feel element to that you where you just make a decision and a choice and say: 'Hey, we're going to do this,' whether that's no huddle or we're going to throw it more or run it more. Thereare a lot of different ways to look at it. I think you just have to look at what you're doing well and then try to make a decision. But I've never really felt like you have to wait for something, because if you wait for some specific, sometimes it's too long and it's too late. So, try to make them as best we can, as quickly as possible. Halftime is always an opportunity to have a productive meeting and just kind of restart yourself for the next half and decide what you want to do and explain to the guys where we're at in the game, what's happened so far and then how we want to start on every phase of the unit that they're on. Every game is different, which is the fun of football."

Q: Has Aidan O'Connell won the No. 2 job?

Coach McDaniels: "No, they're both practicing again, same thing. I don't think we're ever going to say that. As I've said before, I think there are roles for everybody, and when young players have a lot of repetitions, I think it's a lot easier for them to go in there and be competitive and do their job the right way. When there's very few or a lot less, I think you've just got to make smart decision and put your team in the right spot as best you can."

Q: What more do you need to see out of Tyree Wilson at this stage?

Coach McDaniels: "I think there's improvement every week, no question. In the very beginning, we were a little slow off the ball and there was a delay there. I think he's really worked hard at that. I think he's getting much more comfortable, I'd say, with everything that he's doing. Now he's practicing at full pace, full tempo, full speed. He's taking a normal amount of practice repetitions. It's not a tapered in kind of thing. So, I think that's also a big thing. Certainly, I think what everybody's hoping, waiting, excited to see at some point are maybe some more impactful plays -- you hit the quarterback, you sack the quarterback, you create some turnovers, which I think those will come in time. He's obviously a disruptive kind of a guy. But thought he made some really good plays last week at the line of scrimmage. I thought he was really physical. He's starting to use his length and understand how he needs to play different pass protectors. But his role has been able to expand because he's able to practice longer, harder at the right tempo. So, we knew this would be a little bit of a process because there was such a delay in him starting, but I think now that his wind and his conditioning is improving, I think you just keep going and hopefully the disruptive plays and the real negative plays start to happen as well."

Q: His get-off, that was something he's talked about a couple of times. What goes into improving that? Is it just a film study thing or feel thing?

Coach McDaniels: "No, I think sometimes guys might have used -- honestly it's no difference with offensive linemen. When they go to a silent cadence in the NFL, there's got to be an ability to kind of feel the football move and go, or you've got to stare in at it and trust that what's in front of you isn't going to necessarily change dramatically, and then you've got to be able to get your head and eyes up to the man. So, he's just got to see the ball. Obviously all defensive linemen, that's what they go off of. It's not a noise thing, it's not a cadence thing. You can't afford to do that in our league because the quarterbacks change it too much. So, I think he's obviously learned from that and improved that and needs to continue to do that. But the defensive linemen work on it every day. I think it's just different when you get into a game and you feel it for the first time."

The Silver and Black return home to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas next week to play the Green Bay Packers on Monday, Oct. 9, at 8:15 p.m. EDT/5:15 p.m. PDT.

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