Mike McDaniel – November 15, 2023
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(You brought in three veteran guards yesterday for a tryout. Are any of them being signed? Then number two, could you talk about the specific skills that WR River Cracraft has that you like as he returns now?) – “It’s a very particular set of skills. That’s all I got I don’t have an impression. (laughter) So the guards, sometimes we just bring guys in because we just like to look at new players. We’re fans of football, so we hung out with them a little bit. (laughter) No, that’s part of the process. You try to get in front of things that could potentially happen. We all know that we can’t control injuries in this game. We all know how many that we’ve sustained during the course of the year and so we have to be prepared if that whole pattern continues. So that’s what that was. They were all taller than me, which I didn’t like. I like coaching people shorter than me. (laughter) That’s not true. I’m trying to throw you off the scent. (laughter) Then River Cracraft, there’s a commonality with guys that are vested veterans in the National Football League, have been in it for multiple years and have been cut. In that process, they didn’t let – just getting cut from a team, I don’t think people really give it’s due to the true weight of that. Your identity is in that, you’re fully invested in that, then the guys that you’re with every day, you’re not a part of anymore. Well, he’s been cut multiple times and he’s made that part of who he is. There’s no detail left unnoticed, or no page not turned, in regards to how he prepares. When you put your best foot forward for an extended amount of time, karma has an interesting way of working itself out. Sure enough, when it is your moment to take advantage of, no matter how many times you’ve felt like you’re getting the short end of the stick or whatever the narratives are in human nature brain, well shoot, he was prepared for his opportunity on a team that’s very talented. I didn’t take votes, but I don’t think you guys voted that he was, in 2022, going to make the team. He represents a lot of what is going on with this team right now, where guys are not thinking about the wrong things. I’m very passionate about things like this so thank you for getting me started on River. That’s the hard thing in life for all of us, not just players, just people in general. Everything’s an opportunity cost. If you’re thinking about how you got short-changed, you’re not thinking about things that you actually can control. The list goes on and on and on from everything that we do as we exist. He represents a lot of guys on this team. We have a lot of undrafted free agents and generally your culture is affected by each and every person. When you have a collection of people like River, it gives you – we’re all just trying to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be and not look in hindsight and be like, man we should have done this, that or the other. I’m fired up for him and he’s definitely earned it.”
(Despite half the season still left to be played, how much emphasis do you put on winning the division? How important is that to you versus just getting a Wild Card, for example?) – “You can learn to deal with anything. That’s part of what you learn as an NFL football player or coach. We can handle whatever, but the goal is to win the division. That is the only way you ensure that you’re, for one, in the playoffs, you have a home game in the playoffs and you set yourself up for a journey, not a game. You play these teams twice a year, so there’s no hiding. I put a huge emphasis on that. I don’t think that’s unique. I think a lot of people do. But you know, as long as you’re paying attention to the NFL, that is the way outside of – I mean, what are there, two wildcards ever to make it through the playoffs and be the final team that wins that year? Or however many, it’s very rare. So that’s a big point of emphasis, as well as just getting better in the process. My bottom line is that we continue to improve and we’re at our best at the end of the season. Does it mean the only way that can occur is if we win the division? It doesn’t. Maybe you have to learn the lessons while not winning the division, but then you’re going to have a harder journey in front of you and that’s your path. Regardless, you can handle whatever. But our goal is to the teams that we play the most, the teams that dictate whether or not you can get into the playoffs and have a home playoff game, yeah, it’s very important to us to win the AFC East.”
(Can we get an update on OL Robert Hunt?) – “If you’ve talked to Rob in the last week, you want to talk about like a cat being in water. He hasn’t ever missed a game. So we’re feeling that out. That’s why for me, I’m a little more gray with it because this is uncharted territory for even our training staff, in terms of nothing’s black and white. It’s not like, ‘okay, no, you’re good if you do this. If you do this, you’re going to be bad.’ It’s educated guesses with the wealth of the knowledge that you’ve worked for at your disposal, and then communicating from player to trainer and to coach. So to answer your question, nothing’s been bad, but I’m saying week to week because that’s how I feel, because you’re nervous about guys just saying I’m sick of not playing and then going out there when it’s 75 percent but they’re telling you it’s 95 percent. So we’re feeling that process out. He’s doing well. There hasn’t been a setback. I could see him playing in this game. I could see him playing in the next game. I could see if we pull back because we’re not going to, if we can help it, if we can control it, we’re not going to make this a more extensive injury. It’s our mindset because he’s playing some of his best ball. Guess what? We need him to play his best ball down the stretch at a very important position. He’s a huge part of our team.”
(Is OL Robert Hunt going to be practicing today?) – “No, we’re kind of taking the road of it’s on the side, it’s working with the trainers individualized. So much when you get soft tissues with linemen, you just think about blocking someone and it’s really hard to protect yourself when you’re straining in a direction and then he uses his hands to try to disengage and you have to redirect. You can picture it. If you stood up right now and we just got into a blocking drill, even if I’d be easy to block, you’d still be able to tell, ‘hey, if I had a sore hamstring, this might be bad.’”
(With RB De’Von Achane, we obviously saw a small sample size, but just elite play for him early in the season. If he’s able to come back this week or whenever he comes back, how does that change how you call a game? Are there plays that are just for Achane or is it the offense is the offense?) – “So much of what everything is is a product of all the players we have. It’s at the point where I don’t really think about that, but I know that’s the case. Things adjust with every player you have. You know their strengths and weaknesses. As you guys know, I view it as a non-negotiable that a job as a coach is to coach the player to be their very best and put them in their most advantageous situations and let them play. I think it would be dishonest to be like, nothing changes. They’re all human beings that you spend every day together. You feel like you know them inside and out. You can tell by how they’re walking, their confidence level, where their mind is at. All that stuff does come into play. I think each individual player has different things they bring to the table. And yeah, it does affect how the game is called because it will never be any different. It has nothing to do with our plays, which people refer to my plays. It’s the players and how we fit around them because it’s their game, their moment. That’s what we’re all here for is to watch them do what they do.”
(How has RB De’Von Achane looked in practices? Running, cutting?) – “Well, I mean you should’ve seen it Monday. The whole practice, he didn’t get tackled once. And he’s a running back. Right? (laughter) So he looked good running around. You have a padded practice on Thursday, you have a practice today. I just very much hesitate to get ahead of myself because I don’t even know what tomorrow is anyway. He checked all the boxes on air of doing ball handling, and he didn’t forget his assignments. He’s come a long way in a short period of time to become – it feels like he’s not a rookie in the locker room, and that’s what the locker room needed from him. We don’t have time for rookies anymore. This is pro ball. And he acted like a pro on Monday. So, we’ll see what that results in today in the most important practice and day of our lives.”
(The Raiders have already used three starting quarterbacks this year. The NFL is kind of on a record-setting pace for a lot of starting quarterbacks. I’m curious if your preparation has changed in recent years or if you’ve noticed change within the league as far as preparing for different quarterbacks for each team?) – “I have noticed. I’m not sure if it’s a trend. I notice it, but I don’t have statistical evidence to say it is on an uptick. It feels that way. From the day I got into the National Football League, I was kind of taken aback by the importance they put on the backup quarterback and his backup. Just because I didn’t think that way before I got into coaching. And then being around Mike Shanahan and then Gary Kubiak in particular, when we went to Houston, but he was a backup quarterback. Then you go through the years and you see how often they have to play, and then you see a whole team and organization that is affected by – you just realize you have to invest in the right people and it’s a huge position that is like maybe the experience of an NFL referee. No news is good news. Oh, shoot, now you have to play. Everyone wants to do well. It’s a hard job. Football is about rhythm, timing, reps, reps, reps that they’re inherently behind the eight ball. So, I’m not sure if it’s a trend but I’ve definitely noticed it a lot. I probably would have to speed you up on this, but in 2022, I as a head coach, experienced quarterbacks getting injured. It’s something that takes two to tango. Players and coaches and a little fortune.”
(We know that a good percentage of OL Connor Williams’ snaps have been uneventful. How have you approached with him, if at all, the ones that happen to be eventful?) – “I’d only approach him to communicate I was concerned. If I’m not concerned about – because I think about every snap that he does well and so I can get of ratio that. To be honest, if I don’t have something beyond ‘Do it better,’ it’s kind of like the coaching point, ‘Catch the ball.’ Oh, don’t worry. He’s trying. I’m not worried about his intent, his process. It would be one thing – he had never played center and he has been a starting center for us at a high level for two years. It looks second nature to him. That takes an incredible amount of investment. The investment is right. Everybody has to learn in certain ways. Sometimes, if I could tell he was nervous about, I’d just talk to him about go back to the moment, get yourself into that emotional state, and get another rep.”
(RB De’Von Achane, I know you talked about him earlier. Given what you know about his injury, is he the type of guy that you’d be able to put back in in his typical workload or would you have to ease him?) – “As I continue to stare into this crystal ball that’s not telling me anything, I do know that he really wants to play. He has shown that. I think I said it before, he was the one communicating to me, making sure that, ‘I can go on road trips, right? I want to be with the team.’ He’s a guy that has never lived outside of Texas and is a full-fledged Floridian now. I think it’s hard to say. I think it’s my job to not get ahead and just say it’s going to be this and then chase that. That’s irresponsible to the player. I kind of have to let the player tell me, but I see better than I hear. We’ll go through each day, but we have been pragmatic. Like I said, at least Monday, he was untackleable. (laughter) And we feel good about where he’s headed. If he’s ready to roll for this game, he’ll play. If he’s not, we have plenty of very capable players playing on the field and we’ll wait another week and see if he can play then. But I feel good about where we’re at.”
