The Las Vegas Raiders' DC Patrick Graham gave his weekly state of the Silver and Black defense press conference, and we have it all for you.
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00:00 (air whooshing)
00:02 - Seemed like you guys blitzed a little bit this past week.
00:07 What'd you see on film as far as the results go?
00:09 Or is there something you gotta do,
00:09 like going forward, you think?
00:12 - Just took a look at, you know,
00:13 what we thought was gonna be best against the Steelers.
00:17 You know, they have so many weapons there on offense
00:19 and just wanted to do some things
00:20 just to change it up to attack.
00:21 And our guys are showing a good ability to blitz
00:24 during the spring and during the summertime
00:27 and training camp and just starting to build
00:29 on the package a little bit.
00:30 - When you have a team, you know, going in,
00:34 you know, they're more apt maybe to use a fourth down
00:37 than other teams would.
00:38 Does that change?
00:39 I mean, obviously third down, it's like,
00:40 hey, protect the sticks.
00:41 Like, don't let them get there.
00:42 But now, if they're within a yard or two,
00:44 that's just another play for them, I guess.
00:46 Does that change the mentality at all?
00:47 - Definitely. You have to be aware of it.
00:49 You know, you have to be aware of it.
00:51 Coach Staley, he's an aggressive coach, you know,
00:54 and between him and the offensive coordinator,
00:57 you have to have an understanding going into the game
01:00 that fourth down is live.
01:01 It also changes how you think about it on third down
01:04 and second down.
01:04 So you got to take that into account.
01:06 - What's the next step for Tyree Wilson?
01:10 What's the next step he has to kind of get to
01:12 during this development?
01:14 - The one thing for Tyree,
01:15 just keep getting acclimated to the league
01:17 in terms of getting familiar with the different sets
01:20 he's going to see,
01:21 the different looks he's going to get from the offense,
01:24 just getting familiar with that.
01:25 And then just working on his own craft, you know,
01:27 whether it's in the run game or passing game,
01:29 improving that.
01:30 And then, you know, for most young players,
01:31 just improving their strength and, you know,
01:33 just their endurance throughout the season.
01:36 It's just getting used to NFL football.
01:38 It's just a different animal.
01:40 - You take into account a player's level of experience
01:43 in certain calls, like J'Cory Inbatt is a rookie,
01:46 cornerback, there's going to be a learning curve there.
01:49 Is that on your radar when you're making decisions
01:53 in a game?
01:53 - There's a bunch of stuff on our radar during the game.
01:56 And, you know, each player is different.
01:58 Each situation is different.
01:59 You know, leading into this week,
02:01 you're going against the Chargers
02:02 and they have a lot of offensive weapons.
02:05 They're well coached, you know,
02:06 with a new offensive coordinator there
02:08 and just trying to get acclimated
02:10 and learning what they're going to do with those guys.
02:12 But you got to take a bunch of stuff into account
02:14 for each play, each situation, going into the game plan.
02:18 So I want to be specific there for JB,
02:21 but I mean, you got to take that into account
02:23 for a bunch of stuff.
02:26 - What have you liked about JB so far through three games?
02:28 - What have I liked?
02:29 Again, nothing's changed in terms of just his,
02:32 the way he prepares during the meetings,
02:35 the way he prepares during the week.
02:36 He's a real diligent young man.
02:38 Same stuff I saw at the senior bowl there, you know,
02:41 and it's just, it's really encouraging
02:43 to see him grow each week.
02:44 He's growing each week.
02:46 And of course, when you see corners that can tackle,
02:48 that's always a positive there.
02:49 You know, that's, that's definitely a positive.
02:52 - A lot of the off season was about trying to create chaos,
02:55 create a turnover.
02:56 That hasn't happened on the field.
02:57 There's been a couple that were close.
02:58 I mean, do you look at it as the process there were close
03:01 or it's just like, guys have to finish
03:03 and find a way to do it?
03:04 - Always trust the process.
03:05 Always trust the process, find ways to practice it,
03:08 find ways to, you know, to measure it, you know,
03:10 just practicing the habits, making sure that, you know,
03:13 we're trying to attack the ball and just always, you know,
03:16 really just really stick with the process and, you know,
03:20 make tweaks where you can make tweaks to just to see
03:22 if we could get more opportunities,
03:24 but just keep grinding away at it.
03:26 - So far, what have you seen from Malcolm Coots
03:28 on the other side, opposite of Max, that you really liked?
03:30 And what are some things you feel like he's doing well?
03:32 - The physicality showing up, you know,
03:34 again, you look at an edge pressure, edge player,
03:37 setting the edge in the run game,
03:40 setting, being disruptive in the passing game in terms of,
03:43 you know, crushing the pocket,
03:45 making moves on the inside or outside,
03:47 just positives there.
03:48 And then I can't speak for Tom, but, you know,
03:50 I know he plays with the, on special teams.
03:52 So it was always good to see that.
03:54 He's growing as a young player.
03:56 - Also, another thing I noticed is kind of the interior line
03:59 starting to rotate a little bit more.
04:01 How beneficial is it to have young players like Byron come
04:04 in, but you also have veterans like Adam Bubb,
04:06 because you can step in and kind of feed off each other.
04:09 - It's important to have those guys up front, you know,
04:11 leading into this week.
04:13 I know they didn't run the ball a lot last week, but,
04:15 you know, you know, you know, the offensive coordinator,
04:18 he's well-known for being able to run the ball.
04:20 It's important to be able to be stout inside,
04:22 trying to affect the quarterback with the inside interior
04:25 rush. And the more guys you have doing that,
04:27 the better off you're going to be.
04:28 And we have a pretty good group of guys that work pretty
04:31 hard and, you know, they're really hard workers.
04:34 And they also do, they're pretty intelligent.
04:36 I love being around the defensive tackles and D-line.
04:38 They're some of my favorite people to be around on the
04:40 football field. So it's a positive.
04:44 - You got to face him a few times.
04:45 What jumps out when they watch Justin Herbert on film or
04:48 even, even live, I guess.
04:49 - He has access to the entire field.
04:52 True access to the entire field.
04:53 This big arm can throw it anywhere on the field from any,
04:57 you know, again, I'm not a quarterback's coach,
04:59 but I don't know how they describe the different ways he
05:01 could, he just get the ball anywhere on the field.
05:04 I think you're seeing his intelligence, you know,
05:06 in terms of, at the line of scrimmage, they're going more,
05:09 you know, with the tempo and the different things they're
05:11 doing there, you know, he's,
05:13 he's getting more and more comfortable. Like, you know,
05:15 again, with, with, that comes with experience.
05:18 So you're seeing a quarterback out there who's comfortable
05:21 making decisions. They're giving them more responsibility.
05:24 He can make all the throws. He can hurt you with his legs.
05:27 Really dynamic player. And it's going to be,
05:29 it's going to be fun to go against them.
05:31 - You were just talking about the tackles,
05:33 but I guess the defensive line as a whole, as a, as a unit,
05:36 how have you kind of assessed how they played so far?
05:38 I guess, what do you, what do you need from them?
05:41 - Again, just defensive line play.
05:42 What you're looking for is, you know,
05:43 being stout versus the run, you know,
05:46 disrupt the passer, get in the middle of the pocket and,
05:49 and just good effort each play.
05:52 And those guys are giving it to us during practice.
05:54 They're giving it to us during the game.
05:56 So pleased with how all those guys are working together.
05:58 And it's also becoming a cohesive unit. That's a good thing.
06:01 They enjoy being around each other.
06:03 - Have you seen Max approached differently by opponents so
06:06 far?
06:07 - Max is a dynamic player and he's going to get every look
06:10 you could think possible. So, I mean,
06:12 that comes with the territory when you become a good player,
06:14 no different than being a really good receiver.
06:16 You're going to see a whole bunch of different coverages,
06:18 whole bunch of different things. So, but Max, you know,
06:21 again, you're just good players. They get attention.
06:24 - They lost Mike Williams the other day to injury.
06:28 I guess, how much does that change the, the,
06:30 the prep or the look at it and maybe not knowing exactly how
06:33 they react to not having him out there?
06:35 - Well, Mike wasn't the only one they had, you know,
06:38 so they, they're pretty dynamic skill group in terms of
06:41 whether you go down the list of the tight ends to the,
06:44 to the wide receivers.
06:46 So I'm sure they'll figure out something and we'll have to
06:49 be ready for it. So.
06:50 - They made a pretty prominent change as offensive
06:52 coordinator for you and Kellan.
06:54 Does it look discernibly different?
06:56 - You know, they're getting ball to their go-to guys and,
07:00 you know, they're,
07:01 so in the quarterback's making the right decisions.
07:03 So specifically the scheme, I mean,
07:06 we're still in the beginning process of watching the tape and
07:10 stuff, but again, from what I've seen, you know,
07:13 Keenan Allen's going to catch the ball.
07:14 They're going to get the ball to the tight ends.
07:15 They're going to hand the ball off to Eckler if he's playing.
07:18 So, I mean, that's been a pretty good formula for them.
07:21 All right. Thank you gentlemen.
07:24 Yep.
07:25 Thank you.
07:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]