Jalen Ramsey – November 17, 2023
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Friday, November 17, 2023
CB Jalen Ramsey
(How are you feeling?) – “I’m feeling like training camp mode. Got to get myself together. But it’s to be expected. I just give credit to my teammates for holding it down for me and making it easy for me.”
(How much do you feel like yourself?) – “Nah, not yet. This is nearly only my third week of playing football this year. (laughter) No, I do not feel like myself yet. But it’ll come. I feel great though. My limbs and all that, my body feels great. But in terms of knocking the rust off, being in my rhythm, not yet. But it’ll get there.”
(I asked Coach McDaniel about the confidence with this team and the aura that surrounds this team when it comes to confidence. Is it because everyone is buying in? Everyone’s kind of putting in all the work that they need to?) – “Sure. Yeah, I don’t know. We’re just putting in the work. When you put in the work, you have no reason to have doubts or not be confident in your ability, your teammates’ abilities, whatever it may be. Everybody likes to make a big thing out of ‘buying in’. That’s not really a thing. It’s either you work hard or you don’t work hard. It’s really that simple to be honest.”
(You have to have talent too.) – “Everybody in the NFL has talent.”
(Obviously a great secondary with you, CB Xavien Howard, S Jevon Holland and S DeShon Elliott. Your first experience playing with all them together Sunday, what takeaways do you have from that?) – “It was cool. We got a long way to go still. Getting more familiar with each other games, knowing where we’ll be at certain times. Getting more familiar with our communication on the field and certain things like that. That takes actually playing football together to be able to do it. That’s not something that you can go through in film or anything like that. You actually have to play football to grow in that area. So, the more football, the more we’ll continue to get comfortable.”
(Have you been aware of the Hard Knocks cameras this week? Or have they been a non-factor?) – “I’ve noticed just because they’ve asked me to do a few things. But it is what it is. It’s not my first time.”
Mike McDaniel – November 17, 2023
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Friday, November 17, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Barring a setback, will RB De’Von Achane be activated for Sunday? And are you ready to rule out OL Robert Hunt and WR Chase Claypool?) – “If today doesn’t exist, then tomorrow cannot. (laughter)”
(A true remark.) – “We have practice today. I know, patience is small. We’re prepared to, if everything goes well, we’re very optimistic about that. But you don’t know. As we’ve held our ground on, we’re not going to rush processes. But it’s been so far so good. Encouraged by that. We’ll make a decision on that after the completion of the said most important practice of our lives, today.”
(OL Robert Hunt and Chase Claypool?) – “Rob Hunt, he’ll be out for this game. It’s not that it’s that far away, it’s more that I think it’d be pretty risky this week. So we’re going to keep working, but he’s doing a good job. He hasn’t had a setback. Then Chase Claypool, he had, over the bye week, just a little minor procedure on the knee. We’re not expecting it to be – it wasn’t a major issue, but we’ll just take it week to week with him. He’s doing good.”
(WR Braxton Berrios?) – “He’s a part of a crew that there’s a couple guys that we have to get through today. For him, especially soft tissue, he plays the game one way, and it is very vulnerable if he’s vulnerable, because he knows how to go one way. (laughter) But I feel good about it. It’s a day-to-day thing with that. He’s working his way through it, and there’s a chance, for sure, that he’ll play in the game. But if not, it’s proactive. He’s definitely close.”
(OL Liam Eichenberg detailed to us that he’s been working at right guard. What went into that decision? I think he said he’s more comfortable on that side.) – “Liam Eichenberg holds the crown of versatility. The thing that really opened our eyes was the residuals of him playing center at other positions on the offensive line. There’s a certain amount of ownership that the center position takes when you’re not a quarterback Mike point when he’s making all the calls, but also you have to know the assignments. You kind of get an extra window of the vulnerabilities of a play if you kind of get (and) understand if you’re in a combination block as a center, trailing the guard, what you need from the guard. Yeah, you hear it, but you can really feel. So he’s a very, very prepared smart player. But what he’s really done is completely committed to all of our fundamentals and techniques, but then he’s kind of learned guard in a new way from the center position. So that versatility along with some consistency at some other spots of the line, it just made a lot of sense and he’s done well working there.”
(Anything in your Yale experience that helps you prepare for a certain defensive coordinator for the Raiders this week, Patrick Graham?) – “You threw me off for a second, because I didn’t go to college with him, but I went to the same college as Mr. Graham. Patrick is a great dude. When I was in the UFL for a couple years, he took the time at a Combine, I think it was 2009 maybe, to sit down with me. At that time, we were the lone Yale soldiers in the National Football League, and he had such a cool experience with winning so many games with the New England Patriots. Then through mutual friends and connections in the business, I know him pretty well. He’s been in league for a while. He was the defensive coordinator with the Giants in 2020 when we played against them. It’s cool when you see people go from different teams and you can find a consistency. The one thing with Patrick is of the various teams that he’s coached or the position groups that he’s coached, you have a bunch of guys that they develop during the season, but they always play hard. So I know that’s a cool piece of his coaching DNA. From an X’s and O’s standpoint, I would say that I don’t think Yale really helps for any sort of competitive advantage. But I think the starting point of his system that he runs, getting more experience going against that in the AFC East, is probably more helpful than Eli Whitney, or Whitney Gymnasium or Naples Pizza – Yale references. Somebody somewhere is like, ‘Yes, he said, Naples.‘”
(Going back to the decision to hire Butch Barry as offensive line coach, what convinced you about him? Because he was a guy that was much maligned at Denver last year. He was known down here for not having a great year at University of Miami the one year he was there. So what convinced you that he was the guy for this job?) – “What was funny about the process is, for me, a lot of people in the business just really gravitate to familiarity, which is important. However, for me, when I’m making decisions like that, I don’t want to take the path of least resistance at all. That irks me. So immediately I thought of Butch. I thought it’d be a great fit. Then you do your checks and balances to make sure you’re just not chasing familiarity, and when you do things like that, you come full circle and become that much more convicted on he’s the right guy for what you want. And how I knew that is as a head coach, I realized that one of the most important things to me, that are so important for the players, and for me to do my job and the organization, is absolute commitment to the development of the players they’re coaching. That can come in many different shapes and sizes, but what that is is what I see my duty to do for the organization and the players anyway, is make them the best they can be. So when you’re doing that, you realize quickly that it’s cool if you believe it, but you need everyone to believe it. You need people to that you can rely on, that you can trust, that will leave no stone unturned and put themselves behind as a secondary priority to what they’re asked to do. Butch Barry takes his job as coaching players very serious. When they fail, he fails. When they succeed, he succeeds. He lives that. I could tell the guys on this team, the tremendous human beings that Chris Grier and the personnel department have been organizing and gathering together, they flourish when they know that they’re invested in. So I can’t say enough good things. He has done a tremendous job, is an unbelievable asset for me and everyone. He rolls his eyes and scoffs anytime you tell him good job, because his devotion is to getting guys better. You can have a 76-yard touchdown, he’ll be like, ‘Eh, we’re just too flat – too flat on the backside.’ That’s what you want and that’s what the players want. So I think they’ve connected in a cool way, and the residuals have been obvious.”
(You guys are undefeated at home and there’s a lot of confidence that surrounds this team, even through wins and losses, the ups and downs of this football season. What do you think is contributing to that aura of confidence that surrounds this team?) – “I think they know they’re committed more to each other and to their craft then they ever have been before as individuals. And I’m serious, every guy on our team is in that process or in that moment of going, ‘How much better can I get? How much more can I do? What can I do with my game?’ You stack a bunch of people – or list of the people that have the same mindset, that competitive mindset to be them best selves together, that to me is what more than anything is an energy of preparedness, commitment. They’re very confident because they know they’ve put in the work. They know they’re talented and that doesn’t mean we know or expect to win every game. We expect to learn from every game, win as many as possible, but continuing to build everything we do. That is not fake confidence, which is what’s cool about it. There’s a lot of energy when things are going well. But also, it’s not like a quiet, all of a sudden retraction of your personality when tough things happen. I think you get a lot of confidence going through things with people. I think you gain confidence when you fly overseas, go all in into a game and then you lose it. Then you come back to work and you see how your teammates and how yourself responds to that. In many ways, we’ve gained confidence through the course of the year with losses as well as wins just because you experience live speed who you’re dealing with. Everybody loves to high five each other when you’re winning. What are you going to do when the inevitable happens and what is it going to like when you are all in and that happens? So I think our confidence is really, really organic, real and earned by the daily work and investment that these guys are doing. It’ll be a confident team at home and we are very aware of narratives, but don’t really care about them. So we’ll be confident on the road and when we play a team that’s good, by the way every team is good, but when we play a good team, we’re going to be confident too. You just understand that kind of stuff. Our world is a little bit different. You understand that people will say you are something until you prove it otherwise. So, we have no reason not to be confident because we continue to get better and they know that in the realest way with their own eyes watching their teammates play and playing with them.”
(Are WR Robbie Chosen or CB Kelvin Joseph known to be joining the practice squad at this time?) – “The reason why we made the move with Robbie yesterday is in hopes we can get him back. But that isn’t in our hands. Had to do a tough thing there. I can’t say enough about the commitment that Robbie has had to the team. He’s a tremendous human being that has taken ownership over his life, acknowledged anything that he’s not happy about and worked to improve that on and off the field. He’s a human being that’s really earned a ton of respect with his humility and his commitment to being a part of this team. I see him as a part of it, and you just hope you get him back. Such is the nature of the NFL and random numbers that our roster is.”
(From my eyes, OL Austin Jackson seems like he is playing the best season of his career. I know a big pillar of yours is to get the most out of guys. Can you maybe take me into what Offensive Line Coach Butch Barry and your staff has done, specifically with Austin, to get the most out of him?) – “If you think it’s cool and obvious, I get goosebumps thinking about it because it’s not as simple as – when you’re trying to coach and get the best out of someone, it’s not just saying the right thing. It is getting your hands dirty by earning their trust on a daily basis. The connection between coaches and players and the journey that they’re on, it starts with the earned trust. I don’t believe in entitlement. So you have to show players that you care and you have to earn the respect that you know those coaches are giving you the right information and the right emphasis. On top of that, the player has to really want to be the best version of himself really with a resiliency that is pretty awesome. The daily commitment, the relentlessness, the intent, the coachability of Austin, and then I think it’s so cool that the world tried to beat Austin down and tell him he was something. It’s funny, people don’t have sympathy for it. Traditionally, I think guys that are trying to prove the team’s investment in them. First-round draft picks are kind of attacked a little bit. No one wants to be labeled as a bust. That’s hard. A lot of people don’t have the mental fortitude to withstand narratives, which is why he’s doing an abnormal thing because he’s 24 years old, got in this league before he could drink alcohol and has been the focal point of many people’s conversations and opinions. Fortunately, he’s the type of person he is and fortunately Butch and Lem (Lemuel Jeanpierre) do the job they do for him. Every day they know, regardless, they’ve done everything they can to best prepare him and then he takes that and doesn’t worry about anything else. It’s a very, very hard thing to do but admirable and very, very enjoyable for me to watch Both Butch and Austin had opinions out there of them that I don’t share. It’s cool to watch them not worry about that and just do their jobs with passion and love for the game, love for the position they’re in and regard for the position they’re in and love for each other.”
Tyreek Hill – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
WR Tyreek Hill
(You got married?) – “I did. I did get married to my longtime fiancée. It was about time, man. It’s something that we wanted to do over the bye week and we did it. We went through with it. I finally went through with it. (laughter)”
(How’s it feel to be a married man then?) – “It feels good, man. I feel like everything that’s been happening to me, it’s been for good reason. I’ve been locked in at a different rate, disciplined with just my whole entire life, the way I just approach everything and I definitely – I eliminated a bunch of things so that’s probably why I’m having some of the success that I’m having this year.”
(What did WR Jaylen Waddle get you as a wedding gift?) – “He hasn’t gotten me anything yet. He’s been promising me brunch like ever since the beginning of training camp. I showed up to his place and he stood me up twice. (laughter) It really sucks because I really be looking forward to spending time with Waddle on off days.”
(Anything you can tell us about the wedding? Big ceremony? Any teammates there?) – “Nah, we kind of changed it up. Kind of just me and her and our family members. With weddings, Cheetah is the star of the show and it’s my job to allow her to do her thing. I just want to her smile.”
(Why the bye week?) – “Why the bye week? You know what, I just felt like it was perfect timing, man. I was spending a lot of time with my kids, spending a lot of time with her, and the conversation just came up. I was like, ‘babe, like we’ve been engaged so long, are you ready to tie the knot?’ It kind of caught her off guard. She didn’t believe me because we’ve been engaged ever since 2021. It was like, ‘ok, let’s go do it.’ She was like, ‘show me you’re for real.’ And then we did it.”
(You mentioned giving up some things. Any example you’d care to give?) – “I’ll say it, man, because I want every athlete to be successful as far as like drinking, as far as like women, as far as like partying, as far as anything. I feel like I’m at the stage in my career now where I’ve got to be more mature with anything that I do outside of football. It’s being a father, it’s being a son, a husband now. I’ve got to stand in that role of being the man that my grandparents raised me to be. I’m loving it.”
(And it’s because you’ve locked in that you feel like you’re seeing this difference?) – “Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. I’m feeling great. I’m feeling great. I promise you I’m feeling great with just everything, with just my routine in life right now. I know that some day it’s going to come to an end and I’ve got to find new ways to adapt to life after football. We’ll be fine. That’s just the way of life.”
(I want to ask you about the Raiders. WR Davante Adams obviously is one of the elite wide receivers in this league. When you watch him, what’s your favorite part of his game?) – “Just how he sets up his routes. Like you said, he’s one of the best receivers in this league. He does a great job of gaining leverage on opponents and I think that’s something that we all can take from his game as far as like all of the receivers in this league. So he does a great job with hat.”
(As a wide receiver, can you help teammates on the other side of the ball and explain what the wide receiver might be doing? You mentioned ways WR Davante Adams sets up routes. Can you help your cornerbacks with explaining what he is probably doing?) – “Oh, yeah. Today, I was actually part of the scout team a lot today and I was Davante Adams. I had a chance to run some Davante Adams-like routes. I was able to make Xavien Howard fall a few times, so that was fun. (laughter) Then when he fell, I was able to go over to him and explain to him why he fell.”
(I’m doing something on the defenses that you guys face and I know you guys face a lot of unscouted looks. Has every team done something unusual against you guys?) – “Nah. I just feel like those teams are doing what they’re good at. The Kansas City Chiefs did a good job of sticking to their gameplan. Their corners played exactly how we thought they were going to play, aggressive at the line of scrimmage. I feel like teams are doing exactly what we think they are going to do. We just have to do a better job of staying focused and doing the small things on routes and being in the right spot for Tua (Tagovailoa).”
(I know some of these players have told me Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick played the three-high safety look and they said the Giants DC Wink Martindale didn’t blitz and he always blitzes. So it seems some teams have done some out of character things. Would you agree?) – “I mean, I will say that. If you’re talking about the whole entire season, the New England Patriots with Coach Belichick, with the three-safety look, that was something that we’ve never seen before. They had both safeties down trying to get hands on me and Jaylen (Waddle), trying to protect the outside, not allowing the ball to get outside of them. We have been seeing a bunch of unusual things. It’s just something that we will adjust to because we got the personnel here. We got great coaches who are able to help us attack those things.”
(I’ve heard you and QB Tua Tagovailoa talk on the sideline and you do good in-game adjustments. Is that accurate?) – “Oh, yeah. I always do that. No matter what. Even if I’m running the wrong route or something, if I see a certain defense on third-and-two, I go back to Tua and say we have to remember this defense because it was successful this time, and the d-coordinator might come back to it. I’m always trying to overcommunicate. It’s something that I’ve always learned. Even if the quarterback may know it, you always want to put it in his head again, keep it fresh in his head.”
Raheem Mostert – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
RB Raheem Mostert
(The combo of you and RB De’Von Achane produced yards per carry numbers that have never been seen in football. How excited are you about that combo being revived?) – “I mean, it’s fun. De’Von is a hell of a player. I think the world of him. He’s grown into this offense now where he’s just electric. Just like everybody else, he’s a part of the game. It’s fun. I’m happy that he’s back.”
(How much have you seen him grow in this offense?) – “Early on, he had a couple slip ups and we had to get on him. It’s finally paying off for him. He’s taken coaching very well. He’s listening to the key aspects in both the run and the pass game. And he’s executing at a high rate, which is awesome to see.”
(How are you feeling physically? Did the bye week help you?) – “Yeah, the bye week definitely helped me. I was dealing with little nicks and bruises here and there. But I’m good now. I’m ready to go. I want to fly around on Sunday against the Raiders and just put some points on the board and continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
(How much pride do you guys take in the fact that you haven’t lost a game at home so far this season?) – “I mean, there’s a lot of pride that goes into that. Home field advantage, home turf, or home grass, whatever you want to call it. It’s your house. You have to protect your house. It’s just fun to finally get some recognition behind that. It’s tough when you have an opponent on any Sunday that comes into your house and think they can dominate. I believe we are (16-2) or something like that. It’s a crazy stat being at home. I’m not trying to jinx it or anything, (knocks on wood) but at the end of the day, it is an NFL game.”
(How much do you guys talk about the opportunity within the division? With three teams losing last week, you guys have a little bit of a lead. I know there’s still eight games left, but there is a real opportunity here to capture the AFC East.) – “Yeah, I mean it’s a big opportunity. We just have to stay the course and try not to deviate off that course and try our best to win these games and finish the season strong. We break it down in quarters. We’re on our third quarter right now. We got Vegas, we got the Jets twice and so we’re just trying to maximize each and every week and try to get these wins.”
Frank Smith – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith
(I know there’s no real shock and awe for coaches. There’s more of that for fans watching incredible things. But was there any just, ‘I can’t believe we’re witnessing this from RB De’Von Achane at the pure standpoint of the 12.1 yards per carry average, which just is outlandish?) – “Yeah, I think it’s a good start to his rookie season. Ultimately, when you’re having that level of success doing your job, the challenge is to work to maintain that standard that you’ve started off doing, which he does. He’s an awesome guy, really works at it, diligent in his whole process. It’s been a great start to his rookie season.”
(When you’ve watched RB De’Von Achane the past couple of days, does he look like the same guy with the same burst, same speed, same change in direction, acceleration?) – “Yeah. Sunday always has a different variable of the adrenaline that goes. But yeah, so far, a lot of the guys that are coming back, it’s been good to have them on the field working again.”
(I’ve been talking to some of your offensive players about the un-scouted looks that you guys see, because of WR Tyreek Hill and your overall speed. Does that work to your advantage because the defense is not familiar with that style, or to your disadvantage because you have not seen that style of defense?) – “I think it poses a conversation, but at the same time, we have to talk about what they’re doing, if it’s going to force us out of what our intent was and what we’re trying to do. But ultimately, it’s a good challenge for us to really work through our process, work in our rules, and if we trust our rules to our concepts, we should be alright. Conversely, if they’re doing something they haven’t done before, they’re having to have the same issues of what are we doing? So I think there’s both sides of the coin to all that. But ultimately, that was the best part about here in camp with Vic (Fangio) and the multiplicity with what they do. It forced us to really have some of that communication early on.”
(I’ve heard that WR Tyreek Hill and QB Tua Tagovailoa do a really good job on the sideline of checking with each other and making adjustments. Is that your understanding? Is that what you see?) – “Yeah, I think overall, the offense does a good job together communicating what they’re seeing, how they’re trying to really get on the same page and connected, because that’s the challenge of the season. Each week, every defense is going to pose a different test or they’re going to either show what we’ve kind of seen before, or they could give us something that we haven’t seen before. So I think ultimately, our communication together is the most important thing we need to be on.”
(I was curious of your thought process when you’re drawing up plays. I thought about when Head Coach Mike McDaniel first got here, the core of what he wanted to do was kind of force defenses to cover like every blade of grass. So with you, do you think of personnel first, formations, maybe the blocking schemes? What goes through your mind when you draw up a play?) – “Each week, it kind of goes – it’s along those lines. Each week, it’s kind of, you assess your opponent, yourselves, where you’re at, your anticipated guys that are going be available for the game. What’s the defense trying to do? How can we use our matchup guys to attack the defense for the width of it and the length of the field? I think that each week, the checklist is, as we’re talking about what we’re trying to hit, maybe one morphs in front of the other. The other is there but ultimately, it’s kind of the same stuff we’ve been talking about as far as how a lot of times, if you don’t expand the field, it allows them to compress. The ability to not compress allows us to create space in the defense and I think ultimately, that’s what the offense is trying to do in attacking the space.”
(I was also thinking about how football is cyclical. Obviously there’s roots, with Kyle Shanahan and Gary Kubiak and whatnot. What is the oldest play – not exactly what the play is, but what is the oldest play in the playbook? Does it span the 80s, the 70s?) – “Oh, man. There’s certain elements that go all the way back to the West Coast of Bill Walsh. I mean, just as far as the original quick game. When they were in Cincinnati and they were struggling running the football, how do you create a quick passing game to supplement run yardage? That’s where a lot of those components, those concepts started. I’d say for my five years in New Orleans, Sean (Payton), the same thing, West Coast origins. When I worked in Chicago, we were more of a blend with Payton’s system when we got “Foxy” (John Fox). Jon Gruden obviously was a West Coast guy. Then Joe Lombardi, we ran the Saints offense. The majority of my career has been spent in some forms of it. It’s kind of like, not everyone’s aligned, but it’s like Thanksgiving dinner where all the cousins get together. When I got with Gruden, it kind of connected a couple of things to New Orleans, and you’re going like, ‘oh, this?’ ‘Oh, got it,’ because Jon kept a lot of it. When he left (Mike) Holmgren, he kept his version intact so it was the closest back to Green Bay. Or when Sean worked with Gruden and then he went from there to New York so there was – and then Dallas, there were some variants. It’s like, you start off and you get this one, you’re like, ‘got it.’ Then you go the next one, you’re like, ‘oh.’ Gruden would do a great job explaining the origins to stuff all the way back to San Francisco with Walsh. It was like football heaven. I’d sit there like, ‘so that’s why we do that.’ Then now here, there’s just that background. It was really helpful because there’s so much to the core of what we do. It all really originates back to the origins of Bill Walsh.”
(I do want to get into the specifics of OL Liam Eichenberg. You guys have locked in with him at center. Now kind out of necessity he may be back there at guard. What’s that transition been like for him, and overall what’s his season been like?) – “I think it goes back to the offseason when we stated that process of creating versatility for the linemen. Multiple guys playing guard, multiple guys playing center, guard, tackle. Over the course of the season, there are many unknowns to it, as far as how it’s going to play out. So us having the versatility to move guys in multiple spots has been very helpful. With what he’s been able to do for that, the first time playing center, and then you got to go on the road and do it twice and handle all of the communication and all of that, for what we’re asking him to do, he’s been doing a very steady job with it. Ultimately the greatest thing about Liam is that he really works at any issue that occurs. He wants to get better, and he works as hard as anybody to get it right. Now in the middle of the season, this is where now hopefully you start seeing the growth from all of that work that started in April. All the transitions, the in-season reps, and then now the back half of the season, I’m really excited to see him and the rest of the guys play up front.”
(How do you think the work at center, being able to identify things and leading that unit, will benefit him at guard?) – “Normally, it does. It’s all about perspective. When you’re used to playing at one spot, it’s like switching your hands. All of a sudden you’re trying to learn your right versus your left, and it seems awkward at first unless you’re forced to do it. Once you’ve played guard for a long time, then tackle, he’s now played across the line. It gives you a perspective because once you’re in the middle, you have a different vantage point from when you’re at tackle or you’re at guard. Ultimately, all of that adds into the perspective that you can take that really builds the chest of knowledge you get to have. He loves learning the game so it’s just invaluable when you go from here to there, to there, to there. And then you go, ‘oh. Now I know why you’re so forceful in making that call.’ It’s because you want to get it out as fast as you can. I think it’s been very helpful for him.”
(You’ve seen OL Lester Cotton at both left and right guard now in games. Is he better at one than the other? Is his skillset better at one or the other?) – “I don’t necessarily know if I could base it either way. I just know that the hardest thing – I think we talked about it last year as well – the hardest thing for linemen is you’re on one side and then the other side. You’re switching your whole stance and switching a lot of different things. So when you’re coming off a backup role to a starting role or a playing role, it’s just getting used to the one side. There is that acclimation that comes with it. Our guys do a great job of each week knowing that I’m getting the training to do both as well. Lester was with us at the Raiders, so just the makeup of the person is really who – man, he’s a guy that just loves working and loves getting better. His versatility is a benefit to us.”
(If WR Braxton Berrios and WR Chase Claypool healthy enough to play on Sunday, you’re going to have seven NFL quality wide receivers on the 53 to choose. How tough of a call is that going to be for you, Head Coach Mike McDaniel, and Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker of who to keep active? Can you realistically keep six receivers active and get six receivers offensive snaps in a game or is that overdoing it?) – “You got to look at the whole roster and what we can take to the game. Wach week posses different challenges, so ultimately if you’re going with ‘X’ amount of wideouts, this amount of running backs, this amount of tight ends. Then it ultimately comes to what’s the best personnel we need to take into the game. So yeah, having very good players is always a good thing.”
(What changes if TE Durham Smythe can’t be out there, blocking and receiving?) – “It’s like anything, knowing what he provides inside of the gameplan and his presence in blocking and where he fits into the passing game. We just have to be able to have variables to know, if he’s not there then here. We move our pieces around. That’s why we try to cross-train the tight ends at different spots and having guys – a lot of them are similar skillsets. ‘Embo’ (Tight Ends Coach Jon Embree) does a great job making sure they are all connected and the same thing. We have to plan for all things, so we make sure we have contingences for an issue like that.”
Vic Fangio – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
(Is your thinking right now to stick with CB Kader Kohou as your nickel or have you given much thought opening the competition with CB Nik Needham? Obviously he’s a guy who’s done that before your arrival.) – “Yeah, right now we’re sticking with Kader.”
(And he’s played how do you think?) – “I think he’s played good.”
(What’s your thoughts on Hard Knocks in the building?) – “It hasn’t had any effect on me yet. They haven’t inconvenienced me or been in my meetings yet. It really hasn’t done anything for me yet. I’m sure it will at some time.”
(Have you had them before?) – “No, I never have.”
(One game of CBs Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard together. What was your review on that?) – “Yeah, I thought they both played good. I still think Jalen is going to keep improving. He had such a long period of inactivity. There was good improvement from game one to game two. We’ve talked about it, and he’s just going to keep getting better and better.”
(By my research, I’ve counted seven defensive linemen around the NFL playing 75 percent or more of their team’s defensive snaps. Two of those are DT Zach Sieler and DT Christian Wilkins. Is there any concern of them maybe having too heavy of a workload?) – “Yeah, at times there is. A lot of it depends on the flow of the game. We don’t have a lot of d-linemen on the active roster in comparison to other teams. They’re capable. They’ve done it in the past and they’ve done it this year so far of being able to log a lot of plays.”
(I think this is as healthy this defense has been at this point moving forward. I’m wondering about the potential for this defense. Do you think this could be the rest of the way like a top five defense in the NFL? What do you think more on those lines?) – “We just need to be as good as we can be and not really get caught up in statistics. But I do think we are headed in the right direction. As you said, we have most of our guys back now. We went through our share of the injuries early in the year. I’m optimistic moving forward.”
(What is the area of this improvement that you’ve seen that you’re most proud of defensively?) – “Just overall. We’ve just gotten better doing some of the little things at every level of the defense. When you do that, you end up getting good results. There isn’t one silver bullet that’s happened that’s made us better. It’s just kind of been a collective effort.”
(When you talk about the defense, what about the potential about this to be a game-changing, big-play defense? We’ve seen the strip sacks. We’ve seen interceptions. We’ve seen all this stuff recently. Looking ahead, is that the type of defense this will be?) – “Yeah, I mean you definitely want to be a defense that can take the ball away. We’ve had our moments as you’ve said where we’ve had some and we’ve had some dry spells too. That’s an area that we can definitely improve on. And I think we have the guys to do that.”
(With the background with free agent DT Akiem Hicks, is that a name that you’ve approached GM Chris Grier or Head Coach Mike McDaniel? Has that name come up in the building?) – “A while ago it did, but it’s never gotten any momentum.”
(What have you seen improvement wise out of your two edge guys? LBs Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb.) – “Yeah, in Jaelan’s case, he missed those four games and took him a game or two to get his timing back, his feel back. I think he’s playing really good now. I think Bradley’s played good the entire season. Everyone gets caught up in numbers at times, he didn’t have ‘x’ amount of sacks early on, but he’s had some here lately. But I think he’s been playing good all year. It’s good to see for him. Happy for him. He had a tough stretch there in Denver the three years we were together. He was hurt a lot and never could get into a groove. Now I think everyone is seeing the player that he can be.”
(You mentioned the stats, the sacks, maybe not coming at first for LB Bradley Chubb. I know there’s deeper metrics and analytics that say he’s always applying pressure. Is that something you subscribe to? Do you look at those deeper analytics when you’re judging the defense?) – “No. I don’t look at the analytics part of it. I watch the tape and I know if our pass rush is good enough or not.”
(You used 15 players on defense in Germany and 13 got significant snaps. Are you trying to essentially focus on the guys who are going to play and give them a heavier workload? We’ve seen that obviously all year with DT Christian Wilkins and DT Zach Sieler.) – “Well, I think it goes back to his question there with the d-linemen. Usually, most teams will rotate the d-linemen a lot, which ups those numbers that you just alluded to. We’re low on d-linemen, so we don’t do it as much. That’s part of that. But shoot, the Raiders have a great defensive player Maxx Crosby and he never comes off the field. It never affects his effort. Guys can do it.”
(Another great Raiders player, WR Davante Adams. When you see him, you see what?) – “I see a great player. I went against him all those years when he was in Green Bay and I was in Chicago. He’s got great size, great ball skills, really good catch radius. He’s strong at the ball. Runs good routes. He’s definitely one of the top receivers in the league.”
(The Raiders are going to run the ball a lot with RB Josh Jacobs. What do you need to do to get your defense prepared for maybe the physicality of the game with a lot of runs going?) – “Yeah, we just have to come in with the right mindset. They’re going to try to run the ball, that’s what their mantra is right now and they’ve done a good job of it. Jacobs is an excellent back, one of the top backs in the league. They’re doing a good job of blocking for him, both the line and the tight ends and the fullback when he’s been available to play. It’ll be a stern test.”
(One thing that LB Jerome Baker said this week was he meets with you about obviously about communication. He said it needs to continue to get better. He said, “It’s good, but we need to continue to improve that.” Who’s the best communicator on your unit do you think?) – “I don’t know if I have that answer, but it needs to be your inside linebackers and your safeties. I think our guys our doing a good job. It’s getting better. Part of that communication too involves getting that play call in on time from my part to where they can be ready to go. Some of that is slowed down. You get teams subbing off then and you aren’t sure what’s on the field. But I think our guys are communicating better, but I agree with ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) it can get better even more.”
(Just out of curiosity, are you an analytics guy? Why or why not?) – “I look at it, but it’s just a piece of the equation. It’s not the end all, be all. There’s a lot of guys that give you the analytics, but they’re just reporting what they bought from some service. They didn’t actually look at the tape themselves to verify. If you sell me something, I want verification. And either you need to give me verification or I need to watch the tape and get my own verification. So I do listen to it. If there’s something interesting, I’m going to verify. I’m just not going to take that as the Gospel.”
(Sometimes coaches say they get into a self-scout on the bye since you’re not just focused on one opponent. I’m kind of curious, what is your mindset relative to we’re going to do what we do best based on personnel and/or when do you say to yourself, I’m going to break my own tendency here on this drive or this quarter?) – “I mean, you self-scout yourself every week, not just on a bye. You have to weigh all those factors you just said. What do we do best? A major factor is who we’re playing. A lot of the times, that changes things. We may have played a bunch of similar stuff in one game, now we go against another opponent and we’re playing totally different and it’s because of the opponent. It’s a factor, but you have to take everything with a grain of salt. It’s a combination of who you are, what you do best, and how do you have to play to stop the other team.”
(Kind of building on that, I’ve been talking to offensive players about how many unscouted looks they face because of the speed on this offense. Wink Martindale always blitzed. He hardly blitzed against y’all I’m told, and Bill Belicheck with the three-high safety look. How many times have you gone out of character this season and overall because of a specific opponent?) – “Not to the degree that I think you’re insinuating, but definitely you got to play what you need to play to compete with your opponent. So if that means you have to change something and do something radical, you can. We’ve never gone out and created a whole new defense. We do things different from week to week, but conceptually the players know it. We’re just getting to it a different way.”
(And when you go out of character, that’s good for the matchup as you say for the specific opponent, but you’re doing something unfamiliar. At what point that does not jive I guess?) – “Yeah, that’s a fine line you have to weigh. A lot of times you’ll be sitting there in staff meetings and you come up with a good idea or one of the coaches does, but it would be foreign to our players, and in the short amount of practice time you have, you wouldn’t be able to perfect it to the degree you want to perfect it to be comfortable. So there’s all that stuff that goes into the final decision.”
(You’re thinking well on your decision to play S DeShon Eliott virtually all snaps or all the snaps with S Jevon Holland. That said, do you have in the back of your mind a package that would take advantage of S Brandon Jones’ unique blitzing skills that he showed the year and a half prior to your arrival? Or maybe we might see that?) – “Yeah, maybe.”
Danny Crossman – November 16, 2023
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(With WR Braxton Berrios, he didn’t practice yesterday. How many options do you have at kick returner? I mean to me, RB De’Von Achane, WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. are the two that come to mind. Are there more than that?) – “We have the traditional guys that we’ve been repping and working and you guys have seen them out there. We feel good about where Braxton is. He had an extra day yesterday, but we feel good about where he is for this weekend. Fortunately, we have some other guys that have history, which is the most important thing, that you feel comfortable putting guys back there.”
(Would you feel comfortable putting WR Tyreek Hill back there?) – “I would.”
(When he initially came here, WR Tyreek Hill said that’s something that he wanted to do. Obviously, you guys were like, ah, we’ve got other responsibilities for you. But would you put him back there in like critical game situations?) – “There is not a guy on this team that, regardless of the situation, if the opportunity presents itself, we will put him back there.
(DT Christian Wilkins?) – “Christian would volunteer. He’d be happy to do it. He asks me every week. (laughter) I don’t know if we’ll go that way, but it’s an option.”
(Who is the best big man catcher? Do you ever have like a big man skills competition?) – “No, we don’t. But we have guys, several guys, that are much more athletic in catching the football than you would presume. We also have some guys that fit the mold exactly like you would expect them to.”
(OL Robert Hunt?) – “Not saying anything. Not mentioning any names. (laughter)”
(Well what about on the good side? Who is someone who’s skills would surprise us?) – “I’m not mentioning names because if I forget somebody, I’ll hear about it. (laughter) If I mention somebody bad, I’ll hear about that. We’ll keep that to the practice field.”
(Is S Jevon Holland still handling punts?) – “Yeah. He works every week. Like I said, we have a lot of guys that we try and get back there every week to catch balls, because you never know what’s going to happen in the game.”
(Watching college and NFL this weekend, I saw a few onside kicks. I was wondering – without giving away strategy – how many different onside kicks do you guys have, like the ones that bounce or skip? Then how much does using it depend on the look that you get from the other team?) – “It’s both. We’re very fortunate with both Jason (Sanders) – Jason has a lot of tools in the onside game – and then adding Jake (Bailey). Last year, Jake handled a lot of that stuff in New England. So we have two guys that have a great history of onside kicks. But like anything, more importantly, it’s trying to get the matchups of what we are able to do, and then tie that into what the opposition’s looks are. We try and put those things together and then you’re at the mercy of the bounce. That’s the wonderful thing about the football. It’s not round. It’s going to take weird hops. So you can do everything right, and you’re not going to get the bounce you want. Fortunately, and hopefully, we don’t have to be in a lot of those situations.”
(Did you do anything for K Jason Sanders on his birthday?) – “I did not.”
(It’s K Jason Sanders birthday today.) – “Yeah, I know that, but I did not. It’s still early.” (laughter)
(You’re coaching K Jason Sanders up.) – “Well, we’ll see how he does today.” (laughter)
(So the Dolphins are near or at the bottom of the league in field goal attempts, for various reasons. You score a lot of touchdowns, successful in the red zone, go for it on fourth because you guys are good at that. What is your message, if any, to K Jason Sanders relative to, at some point, you’re going to have to like kick us into the playoffs or something?) – “I’m fortunate that I’ve been with Jason for a long time. His mindset doesn’t change. His work doesn’t change. He’s constantly ready on the sideline. We’ve had many situations where it’s gone, the discussion of all of sudden it’s third-and-seven and we’re thinking field goal and it goes to fourth-and-two and we like the look and we’ve liked what we’ve looked at during the week and we go for it offensively. So I think the biggest thing you’ve said, we’ve been – knock on wood – we’ve been very good in the red zone. If you’re able to do that and you’re changing and turning sevens instead of taking threes, we’ll take that every time. But we feel very confident about Jason. Anytime we run him out there we expect to get points.”
(Is K Jason Sanders’ range similar to where it was when he was an All-Pro just three years ago?) – “It is. He’s the same guy. We feel very comfortable. It’s just, we’re playing the game a little bit differently now than we played it back then and it’s a great thing based on where our offense is right now.”
Bradley Chubb – November 15, 2023
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
LB Bradley Chubb
(When you’ve got a rookie quarterback, how much can you go to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and say, ‘let me go get him?’) – “You still want to play within the defense. You know he’s going to have a great plan for it, so I’m just doing my piece in this defense. Yeah, you want to get after him and yeah, you want to make him uncomfortable, but it’s going to come. It’s going to be one of those things that you just got to let the game to you and not try to go out there and force it. Like I said, it’s a rookie quarterback, so you’re going to be licking the chops a little bit, but he’s still a great player. He’s still got great guys around him so you can’t really do too much. You just got to do whatever the defense allows you.”
(What do you think about QB Tua Tagovailoa’s new look?) – “I love it. He told me he was going to do it, but I didn’t believe him. Then he came in the next day with the cornrows. The ‘uce’ is loose.”
(How difficult is it facing a team that looks like they are having a lot of fun right now and they are rejuvenated?) – “Before we left for the bye, that was one of the messages. They are a team with a lot of new life, a lot of great playmakers that can change the game at any moment. It’s not a, ‘oh it’s just the Raiders this week.’ They are a great football team and it’s a team we’re going to have to take very seriously and be ready to bring it.”
(Is there a difference – you guys are in first place, everybody knows who you are – from being the hunter to being the hunted?) – “For sure. Everybody is going to give us their best shot. There is no, ‘ah, man we started off slow.’ When you got people coming and gunning for you, you got to start fast and finish fast and maintain throughout the game. That’s going to be our main thing is trying to sustain and defuse their momentum and keep ours going. It’s going to be a great matchup. I’m looking forward to it.”
(You haven’t been there for all of it, but the Dolphins are 16-2 on the last 18 at Hard Rock Stadium. What is it about Hard Rock Stadium from your experience that makes you guys so successful at home?) – “The obvious is the sun kind of cooking them a little bit. That wears on you a little bit as the game goes on. But just the physical brand that we bring to the field. We don’t want to lose in front of our home fans. We don’t want to disappoint the people who gather up money each week to come see us play. We take pride in that. It means a lot to us. We just want to be there for each other.”
(How many texts did you send to your old Broncos teammates saying, ‘thanks for that win over the Bills?’) – “I didn’t send them out yet, but for sure it’s going to come out this week. It’s good to see those guys having success. No bad blood there. But at the end of the day, we want to continue to do everything we got going on over here and have the same success.”
