The Las Vegas Raiders (3-4) are headed to the Motor City to take on the Detroit Lions (5-2) on Monday Night, and Josh McDaniels held his midweek press conference, and we have it.
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00:00 All right, so we're on to Detroit.
00:05 It's a good football team, you know, in all three phases.
00:08 And a team we don't know all that well, so we're kind of getting familiar with them.
00:13 Obviously trying to introduce them to our guys.
00:16 Explosive team, really, in all three phases.
00:20 You know, good skill players, use them all.
00:24 Good balance at run and pass.
00:26 Quarterbacks are playing very efficiently right now.
00:28 The defense is good.
00:30 You know, most of them are young and, you know, physical.
00:33 The defense, very good rush.
00:37 Hutchinson is obviously – I mean, he's a really good player.
00:40 Great effort.
00:41 Their front, I think, doesn't get enough credit.
00:43 There's a lot of guys that are disruptive.
00:46 Two linebackers, two safeties are their top tacklers.
00:49 And they do a good job of flying to the ball.
00:51 You can see the way that they play.
00:53 And they're very opportunistic, you know, get their hands on a lot of footballs.
00:57 A lot of PBUs, a lot of opportunities for turnovers that they create.
01:02 And kick and game, Punters is probably as good as we're going to see.
01:07 Great hang time, placement.
01:10 We know about his accolades as a passer too, and he's done some of that too.
01:15 So, very aggressive team.
01:17 Nobody's going for it more than they have on fourth down this year.
01:20 So, you can see their style and their philosophy kind of rings true in all three phases.
01:26 And, you know, obviously this will be a really good test for us on the road.
01:32 I'm sure a great environment.
01:34 So, the only other thing on the roster is we're going to start Curtis Bolton's clock for return today.
01:41 So, he'll be out there on the practice field.
01:43 Any update on Jimmy Garoppolo?
01:45 He'll be out there.
01:46 Okay.
01:47 So, is he hopeful?
01:48 Yeah.
01:49 I mean, as long as we don't have any, you know, anything goes the other way.
01:51 Right.
01:52 We're very hopeful that that will be the case.
01:53 Yeah.
01:55 That's it.
01:56 [Laughter]
01:58 You mentioned Aidan and how disruptive he can be.
02:00 How much does it help him out, like, Max, you guys practice against him?
02:03 Yeah.
02:04 I mean, it's -- their styles are a little different.
02:07 And their defense, they play a little bit of a different defensive structure than we do.
02:11 But, obviously, you know, practicing against a, you know, a really talented player on the edge is only helpful in these cases.
02:20 You know, again, it seems like you, you know, every team has one, and you hope they don't have two.
02:27 But, you know, whether it was Mac or Bosa, you know, we've played a litany of them, you know, so far this year.
02:35 This guy plays with an incredible motor, great effort.
02:40 If you ever stop playing before the play is over, that's where he's really going to -- he makes a lot of plays in that regard.
02:46 Finds the ball, very savvy player, you know, understands when the quarterback sets and is going to get rid of it quick.
02:54 You know, at times he stops his rush and jumps and tries to get his hands on the ball.
02:58 So, just really a lot of respect for the way he's playing and how he's playing so early in his career.
03:05 It's a team that doesn't blitz a whole lot.
03:07 They kind of rely on their front four.
03:09 Yeah.
03:10 From an operational standpoint in passing it up, what kind of challenges does that present?
03:14 Yeah, I mean, well, there's more people in coverage, and Aaron does a great job of mixing up.
03:19 You know, he played in the secondary for a long time in his career,
03:22 so he understands the trouble that that could provide, you know, in the passing game.
03:28 You know, they had a lot of different variations of zone.
03:31 They do a great job of disguising the coverage.
03:34 You know, when they don't blitz, there's seven guys back there that they can utilize to try to disrupt throwing lanes
03:40 and get underneath patterns, so on and so forth.
03:43 So, mostly his own team, but they do a great job of--they have vision on the passer.
03:49 They understand route concepts, and that's why they end up fourth or fifth in the league and pass is defensed, you know.
03:56 And so, for a team that doesn't play a ton of man-to-man coverage on first and second down,
04:00 that's a glaring statistic, you know, that means that they're getting to the football
04:05 and they're reading the quarterback well.
04:07 So, you know, you've got to do a good job of protecting the middle of the pocket
04:11 so that the vision--they start to see the rush, too.
04:14 I've always thought the best zone teams can feel the rush, and when it's about to get there,
04:19 then they just go ahead and go to where they think the ball is going to be and be thrown.
04:23 So, you know, it's going to be a real test for our protection to keep ourselves, you know, safe in the pocket
04:30 so that that doesn't start to happen, and then they start to get extra time to break on the football.
04:35 Just a well-rounded team, well-rounded scheme, don't give up a lot of big plays,
04:41 only team that hasn't given up a touchdown outside the red zone, you know,
04:45 so they're going to make you drive it, make you be disciplined and detailed
04:48 and execute, you know, for the length of the drive.
04:51 When you look at your offensive problems this season, is it useful to say you should be more aggressive
04:56 or is there more to it than that?
04:57 I think there's part of it, you know, we can.
04:59 You know, I think part of it is, you know, that's--I think there's definitely elements of that,
05:04 but I think there's, you know, you can point to a number of different things that we could do a little bit better.
05:12 I don't think we have to do everything different.
05:15 I think we have to do a lot of little things, you know, a little bit better, you know,
05:19 and part of that could be that bit, you know, I mean, you know,
05:23 just giving ourselves more opportunities maybe on some things like that.
05:27 I think the aggressive kind of, you know, what does that mean?
05:31 Does it mean throwing it 50 yards down the field?
05:33 Maybe not every time, you know what I mean?
05:35 I think there's ways to be aggressive, you know, without throwing bombs and, you know,
05:39 and those kind of things too.
05:40 So just, you know, I think we just--we've got to execute, you know, give ourselves some opportunities
05:45 and, you know, like I said, do a lot of little things a little bit better.
05:50 You look at Josh Jacobson practice now.
05:53 Is he--are you seeing the same Josh Jacobson?
05:55 I see that there are differences.
05:56 Yeah, no, I see the same player, you know, and, you know,
06:00 we've talked about this a lot, you know, it's a team effort in terms of being able to do the right things
06:05 and provide opportunities for ourselves in the running game, you know,
06:09 but no, I see the same JJ.
06:12 A lot of the offensive line, as we talked about, since back from last year, you know,
06:17 I know you guys had a little bit of a slow start in the right lane last year,
06:19 but you started to build some momentum after a couple weeks.
06:22 Why do you think that hasn't translated into the start of the season?
06:25 You know, like I said, there's--I don't--if there was one thing, Sean,
06:29 I think we would have, you know, already, you know, done whatever that is.
06:33 I think, you know, just we've got to settle in on, you know, what we're doing
06:37 and try to do it better, you know, and if we need to, you know, do less things
06:41 and do them more times, then that's what we'll try to do.
06:45 I think just, you know, in general terms, working together and trying to--we're all the solution, you know.
06:50 It's not just one player or, you know, one thing.
06:53 I think all of us have a role to play in that, and, you know,
06:56 I think our guys understand that and embrace the mentality that we need to have, you know.
07:01 And just, you know, we've talked a lot about it.
07:03 You know, it's time for us to go out and do it better.
07:06 Throughout your career, you've been somebody that's known to use a lot of different run concepts,
07:11 pretty much the whole menu.
07:13 Have you had success in the past?
07:14 Maybe we're condensing it in certain situations.
07:16 Yeah, yeah.
07:17 I mean, I think every team is different.
07:19 Obviously, every year is probably different too
07:23 in terms of what you do and how well you can do it, you know,
07:26 and trying to, you know, play to the strengths of your team, you know,
07:30 whether that's tight ends or guards or certain, you know, good pullers or tackles,
07:35 you know, whatever in space.
07:37 And so I think you just, you know, kind of try to, you know, really nail down exactly,
07:42 all right, what have we done well, what haven't we done well, and try to, you know, do that.
07:45 We do that every week, and we're trying to, you know, obviously focus on the things that we do the best
07:50 and then keep doing them, you know, as well as we can, you know,
07:53 and try to improve maybe in some other things so we don't become too predictable
07:57 because you're so simple that now you're, you know, you're getting everything defended.
08:00 So there's got to be some complementary run schemes, you know,
08:04 to help, you know, those things last as you go through the course of a long season.
08:08 You were part of a team that saw Jared Goff, a younger Jared Goff, in a Super Bowl.
08:12 Seeing that Jared Goff to this Jared Goff,
08:15 anything that you've seen that he's doing differently or better?
08:19 You know, I mean, I think this guy obviously has been a--he's had a really good career so far, you know,
08:24 and, you know, early in his career there was a lot of deep throws, a lot of deep balls, a lot of big plays.
08:31 Obviously, L.A. had an incredibly explosive team, and he was a big part of why that was that way.
08:39 I think, if anything, as he's matured, you see his efficiency go up, you know,
08:45 his decision-making is really good, you know, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes with the ball.
08:50 You know, he's aggressive when he should be, and he's really smart and protects the ball if something's not there.
08:57 So just a--you know, I see a really good football player, you know,
09:02 really has matured and improved as his career has gone on.
09:06 Obviously, he's been in two different places, you know, with two different schemes relative to what they used to do in L.A.
09:12 So just a lot of respect for him.
09:16 I think he's a really good player, and obviously it'll be a big challenge for us on Monday.
09:21 After a game like last week, do you look at making personnel changes,
09:24 or is your best team already on the field and finished?
09:27 You always look at everything, you know, Vic.
09:29 I mean, I think if you're--you know, if you have a game or a stretch where you don't do as well as you want,
09:34 I think you look at it and try to--you know, what are the--what are the, you know, ways we can improve?
09:39 You know, is it just performance? Is it execution? Is it personnel?
09:43 Is it decision-making? Is it play-calling?
09:45 I think there's a lot of ways to improve, you know, so we've tried to look at everything.
09:50 You know, having the longer week always gives you a little bit extra time as a staff to try to put some time into that,
09:56 you know, and make some decisions that you think will be productive, which is what we've tried to do.
10:01 So we're going to consider everything we can to try to put the right spot--the people in the right spots
10:06 and then put them in the right positions and call the right stuff.
10:11 You guys did bring in a kicker this week.
10:14 Is there any concern for Daniel?
10:16 I mean, yeah, I mean, obviously you've got to protect yourself, you know what I mean?
10:20 So, you know, that's what we're doing, and we'll kind of see how this week goes.
10:25 You know, but it's--you know, that's the--if that's the case, there's nothing more important than being able to do that.
10:31 So we'll just, you know, see how Daniel's feeling as we go through the week
10:36 and make the right decision at the end of the week here based on, you know, how that's going, you know,
10:41 whether or not we, you know, we need to do something else in terms of elevating him and all the rest of it.
10:47 How big of an emphasis will there be in practice this week on tackling
10:50 and making sure you're positioned not to miss tackles like last week?
10:53 Yeah, angles, breaking down, being under control, using your help, you know.
10:57 I thought, you know, we had the stretch there where we were doing--you know, we were doing a really good job.
11:02 I thought of coning the ball carrier and trying to really, you know, kind of stop the added yards, you know,
11:09 and last week certainly wasn't our best.
11:11 So, you know, I think they know that.
11:14 We want to get back to the right mentality of playing good team defense, getting to the football, you know,
11:20 and just trying to stop all the extra yards that we gave up last week.
11:23 You guys good?