The Las Vegas Raiders DC Patrick Graham spoke ahead of the Silver and Black New Year's Even contest versus the Indianapolis Colts.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 >> Your head coach Antonio Pierce mentioned this morning that your defense
00:03 should not be labeled as great yet, as you're only improving.
00:06 What are your thoughts and what is there to improve?
00:09 >> Gotta keep improving, I agree.
00:11 I mean, that's the goal, go from good to great, and we're not there yet.
00:15 We're working towards it, but they will all tell you that's a man,
00:18 they understand there's more meat on the bones than the salmon goes.
00:22 So for us, it's about having no missed tackles,
00:26 having no miscues in the game, no plays in the game.
00:30 Coach are gonna obviously challenge us, the quarterback's playing really well,
00:34 the scheme is good, I think they're really well coached.
00:37 Got a lot of respect for Shane, I think he does a really good job.
00:40 The offensive line play is connected, it's gonna be a challenge, so
00:43 we're gonna need our best.
00:44 And it's gonna have to be better than it was last week to go into Indy and
00:48 beat him, so there's always room for improvement.
00:50 As long as there's a practice, there's another game,
00:53 there's room for improvement.
00:54 >> I know it's been five days, but how does it feel as a coordinator when
00:57 the defense is playing that well on the field?
00:59 How does it feel in that moment?
01:01 >> I'm gonna be completely honest, completely honest, that game is over.
01:04 So as soon as I got in the shower, I was thinking about the coach, okay?
01:11 How did they get in their explosive pass plays?
01:13 How did they get in their explosive runs?
01:14 So again, if you dwell on anything in this league for too long,
01:18 feel satisfied, get complacent, that's when you get passed by.
01:22 So I mean, you could have been better off catching me on the plane on Monday,
01:27 but right now, just worry about the Colts and all the challenges they present,
01:31 whether it's the tempo, tight ends in terms of their running the pass game,
01:35 and receivers who are dangerous.
01:37 I can't even tell you, I really haven't thought about it.
01:39 >> So before the shower, you can't recall how it felt before your shower?
01:41 How did it feel at that moment?
01:43 >> I smiled.
01:44 >> [LAUGH] >> Are we still smiling though?
01:47 >> I'm smiling, it's Friday, get to go see the family.
01:51 I'm going to see the Roots tonight.
01:53 I said, yeah, I'm really smiling.
01:55 Nothing's messing my day today.
01:56 >> [LAUGH] >> Speaking of the Colts, Coach,
01:58 how do you make them into a one dimensional?
02:00 Because as you mentioned, those deep balls are obviously one of their key.
02:04 >> Well, it starts with the running game with them.
02:06 The backs are dynamic.
02:09 One, they run hard, they run between the tackles,
02:12 they can make you pay it outside on the edge.
02:14 And they're tough tackles, but it all starts with the running game,
02:17 which is why I'm so impressed with their scheme and how well coached they are.
02:21 And then they have these perimeter receivers, including also their tight ends,
02:25 where they can stretch the field.
02:26 So to get them one dimensional, you gotta start with the running game,
02:30 cuz that's the thing, they'll keep running the ball regardless.
02:33 So if you don't stop the running game, you're in for a long day.
02:36 So that's where we gotta start, right there.
02:38 Right, stop the running game, good edges, turn off the blocks, tackle.
02:42 They're tough tacklers.
02:44 >> The box is brought up a couple of times that you asked the guys to be great,
02:47 not good.
02:48 Is there a moment where you notice them flip the switch and
02:50 just be taking it to another level?
02:53 >> As a teacher, who happens to teach football, it's their game.
02:58 Raiders, football, it's all about the players, that's how I approach it.
03:03 I'm here as a coach to help teach them football, help guide them,
03:06 put them in the right spots.
03:08 And then when you see where they're at, okay, the challenge, and
03:12 the challenges of can you go from being good to can you go to being great?
03:16 What's great?
03:17 Doing the things we're talking about every day and doing them better,
03:20 doing them more consistently.
03:22 And for them, I don't know if there's a switch per se, but
03:26 there's a choice to be made.
03:27 There's a choice to be great because in order to be great,
03:30 you gotta put in the work.
03:31 The thing we all talked about as a group, if we wanna do that,
03:35 it's going to be hard.
03:36 You wanna be a great coach, yeah, that's fine, the idea of it, but
03:41 you gotta put the work in to be a great coach.
03:43 It's like you wanna be a great recorder.
03:45 It's not gonna just come easy, you gotta work at it.
03:47 And our guys have embraced the work, embraced the work,
03:51 they're having fun with the work.
03:53 AP's done a great job of encouraging those guys to go have fun and work.
03:59 And it's been really encouraging to watch them do that.
04:03 >> Speaking of the work, Jack Jones has been known to watch a lot of film.
04:06 He's new to the team, but seems like he's a veteran of the Las Vegas Raiders.
04:10 He's not talked about Big Six.
04:13 How do you see his improvement in just his workout?
04:19 >> Everybody talks about the energy, that's good.
04:22 The skill set, I mean, to make some of those plays,
04:25 you're talking about a unique human being in terms of just athletic ability,
04:29 quickness, this toughness that shows up.
04:32 And then having the ball-harking trait that everybody doesn't have that.
04:36 Thankfully, we have guys on the team that are like that.
04:38 You're looking for guys when you're doing evaluations,
04:40 you're looking for guys who are ball harks.
04:43 But in terms of the film study, he's always watching tape.
04:46 I hope all of them are watching tape.
04:48 Right now it's week 16, I mean, there's a lot of stuff on tape that you could get
04:52 cues from what they're doing because they got that many games on tape.
04:56 That's what we try to tell them.
04:58 More games they play, the more you get to know.
05:00 And that's the information we have to use as a defense.
05:02 As we're out there responding and reacting to what they do,
05:05 because they know their play, can you eliminate the barriers?
05:09 That's the main thing.
05:11 That's how you gotta play defense.
05:12 Can I eliminate the variables by backfield set, by formation?
05:15 Then I can play faster.
05:17 >> The average age of your secondary on the active roster is 25 years old.
05:20 It's a pretty young unit.
05:22 How have they been able to become a group that has been a strength of the team
05:25 instead of a weakness like in previous years?
05:29 >> Not worried about previous years, it's all about 23.
05:33 44 is young too still, just to be sure.
05:37 >> Absolutely, absolutely.
05:37 >> 44 is still young.
05:38 But youth, it doesn't really matter whether it's a rookie, second year,
05:42 ten year, it's all about how you perform on Sundays.
05:45 And how do you get there?
05:47 It's your preparation, it's the work you put in, your practice.
05:50 So whether you're 21 years old or you're 35 years old,
05:53 you get judged on what you do on Sunday, and that comes from the work.
05:57 So a lot of these guys made decisions when they were 13 year old kids that they
06:02 wanted to try to get college scholarships, so they put the work in for that.
06:06 And they got to college and they decided they wanted to be professional athletes.
06:09 They had to put work in for that.
06:10 So there's nothing new to them, I would say.
06:13 And I mean, again, I always talk about it.
06:14 That's something that I acknowledge about this generation, about these guys.
06:18 I mean, they're 20 something years old and the best in the world at what they do.
06:23 I wasn't that good when I was 20 something years old at coaching.
06:27 I mean, I wouldn't hire me from when I was 24 or 25 years old right now.
06:32 I wouldn't let me coach anything.
06:33 [LAUGH] >> Coach,
06:36 the defense kinda showed a little bit of a new personality,
06:38 a little bit of an attitude against Kansas City.
06:41 How do you continue that over the last few weeks of the season?
06:43 >> I would disagree about the new part of it.
06:47 We follow our leader, which is Max.
06:50 Max has been, the best thing about Max to me, aside from all the stuff he does in
06:55 the community, his leadership on the field, his leadership in the classroom,
07:00 his leadership in the weight room, is that he's the most consistent player I've been
07:04 around in my career.
07:07 Just consistently, always doing his best, always challenging.
07:12 And his toughness, I mean,
07:13 he's been tough since I watched him when he was in college.
07:16 So his tough, Max is our leader.
07:18 That's, it is what it is.
07:19 Spillane's one of the leaders.
07:21 They're all tough guys.
07:22 And they're all tough guys who are relentless, who love the game of football,
07:26 who wanna, in terms of play the game the right way.
07:29 So we just follow him and get out of the way and it's their defense and
07:34 let them play.
07:35 And again, Monday was a good example of it.
07:39 But I would say that we've seen that because I don't think Max would have it
07:43 any other way.
07:44 And when it didn't meet the standard, I'm sure myself, Max, AP,
07:49 everybody, when Josh was here, had something to say about Max as the leader.
07:52 He's the catalyst for that.
07:55 And you're not gonna find anybody more consistent than him.
07:58 >> Coach, a follow up question of when you talk about Max Crosby and
08:01 being a leader and the energy that these players have to match up to get to Max's
08:07 level this past week, we saw what Antonio Pierce mentioned, we love it hunters.
08:12 How do you keep that consistency?
08:13 Because we've seen it in Max, but can we see it in the rest of the defense?
08:17 >> The thing I love about coaching and
08:19 deal with professional athletes at this level, all they want from you is honesty.
08:25 So if they're doing it good, when it doesn't show up, we tell them.
08:31 Like, is that what we want it to look like?
08:32 We made an agreement that we wanted to look a certain way.
08:35 We wanted to look right, we wanted to sound right, we wanted to feel right.
08:38 So when it's not there, part of my job as a teacher is to say,
08:43 hey, this is an example where we're not doing what we talked about.
08:47 And they respond.
08:48 The professional athletes, they just want the truth.
08:50 They want honesty with them, tell them the truth, and they respond.
08:54 Again, I told you, I got nothing but respect for them.
08:57 They're so young and they make these hard choices.
08:59 They gotta make split second decisions out there, going 19 miles an hour.
09:04 It's amazing what they do.
09:05 I love my job.
09:06 >> Okay.
09:08 >> Thanks, Coach.