Durham Smythe – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
TE Durham Smythe
(How much pride does the group of tight ends take when your offense rushes for 250 yards, and what went into it beyond just the offensive line blocking well last week?) – “I think we take a lot of pride in trying to helping the run game have days like we had on Sunday. It’s something that we’ve been focusing on for a while now, to really get the run game going. I think that opens up a lot within this offense. Really in this league, you have to run the ball to win meaningful games. That’s something that we’ve been focusing on. The offensive line has done a great job of honing in on what we have to do to be successful in the run game. As a tight end group, we take a lot of pride in trying to get that going.”
(What’s the conversation like with your quarterback now that the Rose Bowl is between your Irish and Alabama?) – “It’s funny. I try to talk a lot of trash to guys throughout the year when there is a matchup, Notre Dame and whoever. But it’s kind of hard to talk trash to Tua (Tagovailoa) because he’s such a nice guy when it comes to things like that. He’s come up to me already and said, ‘it’s going to be a great game. It should be a lot of fun to watch.’ It’s hard to say stuff to him, but it is fun that we have a little connection there.”
(What has it been like playing with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick the last two seasons?) – “That’s been something that not just personally but as a group, as a young team, I think it’s been something that’s been valuable having a guy like that in the locker room over the last two years. Obviously the things he’s done on the field over the last year and a half were great; but I think just his presence in the locker room, his leadership – I think that’s something that will go a long way for a lot of guys that are young in this locker room. I’ll always cherish the time that I’ve had with him.”
(You talked about the run game earlier. You also have a career-high 40 receiving yards. I actually just saw on the Good Morning Football “Angry Run” segment that TE Adam Shaheen got nominated for his run after the catch. You guys both were kind of running some dudes over in the passing game. I was wondering, was there some sense of urgency when you knew that TE Mike Gesicki was down, that you guys maybe had to pick your game up a little bit in the passing game that way?) – “I don’t think Mike being out really led to us changing anything that we do. Talking about the ‘Angry Runs’ thing, that is something that we’ve talked about all season, trying to get on that. (Tight Ends Coach) George Godsey has talked to us about that segment since training camp, so finally we got somebody on it, which is exciting. We’re out there trying to do that every week. Obviously we had a few opportunities this week and tried to make the most of them.”
(TE Adam Shaheen looked like former NFL TE Mark Bavaro on that one play. I don’t know if I’m dating myself here. I don’t know if you’re too young to have watched Mark Bavaro highlights. Is there a tight end that you have watched, maybe more in your generation, who is hard to bring down? Like your favorite?) – “You hit a good one right there. As a Notre Dame guy, a guy who did a lot of good things for the Giants back in the day – I actually didn’t get to watch him live, just because of the age group; but I know a lot about him. That’s a big one there that you hit. Back in college, we used to talk about him just because of that connection. There are a ton of guys I can list, but I think you hit a big one right there.”
(Football aside, how will you look back on 2020 in a year that none of us have ever dreamt of going through? What was this experience like this season, with unprecedented circumstances? – “It’s definitely very unique. I think one thing that I’ll take away from it – I mentioned this earlier in the season that one of the things that I love the most about playing football is the locker room experience, being around the guys on a day-to-day basis. Obviously that’s been different this season; but I think one thing I’ll take away is that I think this team adapted pretty well. Obviously we’re not right next to each other every day in the locker room; but there are things that we’ve done in a safe way that we can really keep the team camaraderie up and things like that. One thing I guess I’ll take away is obviously in a unique situation, there are always way you can end up making the best of it or at least try to to the best of your ability.”
(I wanted to ask you about the run-pass option stuff. Obviously there are a lot – you don’t know exactly, or I think you don’t know exactly, what’s going to happen before QB Tua Tagovailoa makes his decision. How difficult is that for a player on the line to operate?) – “There are things the defense shows you before the snap that kind of gives you an idea of what can potentially be happening. If you read certain coverage or a loaded box or something like that, you can kind of insinuate the ball is either going to come to this or this, or maybe he’s giving the ball. I think there are clues pre-snap that you can take to make an educated guess about what’s going to happen. But then you just have to react. If something changes post-snap and Tua sees it, then you have to be ready. I think it’s kind of taking an educated guess before the snap and then being able to react post-snap to whatever is happening.”
(I want to go back to the ‘Angry Runs; thing. You seem like an easy-going guy off the field. How do you get yourself psyched up for an angry run and what goes into it physically? Have you had on that you thought would get on this year and they somehow overlooked you?) – “Yeah. I am a pretty even-keeled guy off the field. Really on the field, too. I’m not someone who pre-game is getting super hyped up or anything like that. I try to stay pretty consistent with my emotions throughout a game. Obviously there are certain situations where there is a big play in the game, a big situation in the game where if we get a first down here or there, some emotions come out. Obviously we had a few runs between the two of us where we had some yards after the catch, but I think Adam (Shaheen) – obviously he was the one nominated – was the big one. I told him after the game, if we don’t get on the ’Angry Runs’ segment, if we don’t get that scepter this week, then it’s never coming to us. That was a pretty great job by him.
(With WR Lynn Bowden Jr., what’s it like having him as a teammate? And when he has the ball in his hands and you’re on the field blocking for him and he’s zig-zagging all over the place, how exciting is that knowing that he’s probably going to pick up more than a couple of yards? He’s always fighting for extra ones.) – “He’s a very exciting player. He’s improved throughout this season, both on the field and with his understanding of the game. I think that’s cool to see and something I think we’ll see continue to improve moving forward. He’s a very dynamic guy with the ball in his hands obviously. I think there was a run on Sunday where he took the ball to the opposite side of the field. I was on the far back side of the field and I was almost walking because I was so far away from the ball, then all of a sudden in half a second he’s right behind me and I’m turning around and trying to block someone completely on the opposite side of the field. When you have a guy like that who can extend a play, it’s always exciting because you know if something breaks down, which it kind of did on that play, he is able to turn it into something. I think we have several guys like that. Malcolm (Perry) has done things like that this year. I think we have several guys on this offense that when the ball is in their hands, you really never know what’s going to happen.”
(When Alabama blew out Notre Dame in the 2013 BCS National Championship game, if I remember correctly Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly started out that game trying to throw to TE Tyler Eifert. Were you committed to Notre Dame and were you supposed to be the next Eifert? Were you at that game?) – “I was a senior in high school at that point. They opened the game in 13 personnel. It was Tyler Eifert, Troy Niklas, and Ben Koyack, all who were in the NFL for at least a portion of time. I think the game plan that week was to get Eifert the ball as much as possible. Ultimately like you mentioned, the game didn’t work out. Actually at the time, I was committed to the University of Texas during the national championship game. Some things happened there in the last two months. Mack Brown was kind of on his way out at UT and I didn’t know who was going to come in as the head coach, so I ended up taking a visit to Notre Dame a couple of weeks after that National Championship game,and fell in love, and the rest is history from there.”
Gerald Alexander – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander
(I know all the focus and attention is on the Raiders from speaking to everyone, but last night when you heard CB Xavien Howard made the Pro Bowl, how happy were you for him and how deserving do you think he is of that nod?) – “I was happy for ‘X’ (Xavien Howard). I know that he had a significant injury last year and it’s something that he really battled through to get himself back healthy and get him back to playing at a high level. Any time anybody goes through that kind of adversity – I know that in my playing career, not that I was any type of player that ‘X’ is, but just the mental things that you go through when you go through injury and the rehabilitation and getting your body to function the way you want it to and the frustrating days that come with that process; for him to be able to go through that and then reap the benefit of his hard work and the way that he’s played this season, you can’t be happier for a guy like that who’s battled through that kind of adversity.”
(What does it take for a cornerback to not panic when the ball is in the air? Because a lot of people say that they don’t, but then you see them get flags or hold or pass interference or they just overreact to it. What makes CB Xavien Howard so calm when the ball is in the air?) – “I think his confidence. I think that probably before that we’ve ever had a chance or myself has ever had a chance to work with him, I think he’s probably always been confident in his ball skills. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a receiver in high school and just kind of formulated those ball skills to attack the football and not panic in those situations. Then it’s obviously a little bit different when you’re a defensive back. I think when you do get to that moment of truth, you see a lot of guys who do panic because they think about the things that could happen that go wrong. It’s one of those things where mentally, there’s a difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. I think that you see that all the time within certain reps from defensive backs in that moment of truth when it is about attacking the ball, even in situations where sometimes it looks like that defender is beat. And there have been times where guys have caught up and even ‘X’ has caught up at certain times where it looks like he’s beat and the next thing you know, he makes the play. So that’s the major difference if you just look at defensive back play. Sometimes it just goes down to that moment-of-truth mentality.”
(I wanted to ask you about S Eric Rowe. I noticed him playing a lot of deep centerfield in the game on Sunday. I just wanted to ask you being a former corner that got switched to safety, plays box and plays deep center field, how valuable is it to have a guy down your secondary that can really play any position back there?) – “It’s valuable because it allows us to be versatile as a defense – just putting different guys in different spots based on game plan, based on matchup. Eric (Rowe) has done a good job of that. Obviously Bobby has done that really all year, but when you have a guy like Rowe who could be in the deep center field, who can match up on tight ends, who obviously has the versatility – being a former corner – to be able to be matched up on the outside if we needed him to do something like that, it just allows us as a defense to use that weapon and be versatile.”
(I’d like to go back to earlier when you were talking about CB Xavien Howard battling through the injury. If you could think back to early September when you were getting ready to go up to New England, where was he physically? Did you have any question in your mind about whether he was going to get to this level that he’s at now where he’s probably playing his best ball of his career?) – “I’m not sure where he was physically. I know that he had continued and always does continue to get his body to perform at its peak performance. I just now got introduced to ‘X’ obviously as a person. Before I got the job, I was obviously a fan of really good defensive back play and I know that he’s done some special things throughout his career, so it doesn’t necessarily come as a shock that he’s playing at the level that he has been playing at this year because he’s done it before. I’m just getting a chance to obviously look through it from a different lens. It’s a special thing that he’s done and we’ve needed every single bit of his play and we will continue to need that as we continue to go forward throughout the season.”
(Two games left, but after the Bengals beat the Steelers last night, the Dolphins defense became tops in the league in scoring defense. Just what does a stat like that mean to you guys?) – “The stat doesn’t really matter. Maybe when we get a chance to unwind and look back on the things that we’ve done this season and evaluate it, then maybe we can then reflect and look at the things that we’ve accomplished; but as of right now, we all know what the task is at hand. The task is to do the necessary things to prepare our players, to go down to Vegas and play our best football. At this time of year, you see all over the league that it doesn’t really matter what your record is on a Sunday or a Saturday in our case; you have to go in there and prepare to play your best football this time of year, especially if you want to accomplish the goals that you set out for at the beginning of the season.”
Anthony Campanile – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile
(I wanted to ask you about LB Jerome Baker. The last couple of weeks, he’s had I think 17 tackles, a couple of sacks, tackles for loss. In what areas do you feel like he has strengthened as this season has moved along?) – “I think just in a lot ways, to be honest with you, every day he’s a guy that comes in – and I’ve told you this before – he works relentlessly to get better in each part of his game. I feel like as the season has gone on, there really isn’t one part of his game that he hasn’t improved upon. The run game, the pass game, as a pass rusher, he’s had some success doing all of the things we’ve asked him to do. I’m happy for him. He’s a guy you love coaching because he loves to come to work every day and try and get better. There’s something every day that he’s come in to work on and in terms of studying as well, he does a great job preparing. He has a really good feel for what the opponent is trying to do and who the personnel is. He’s a great guy to coach and I think he’s progressed in a lot of ways.”
(I don’t want to put a hex or jinx on you guys here, but you haven’t had a game postponed or delayed or anything because of COVID. Your team has had issues, but you’ve gotten through it. What has your instruction been to your players on how to stay as healthy as possible and what do you think about the job they did in 2020 and navigating a really tough season?) – “I think they’ve done a great job and really, it’s Coach Flores’ message, to be honest with you, that I think has resonated with everybody. It’s just that you’ve got to be as careful as you can possibly be. We’re all in it together and like we say in here, I want to do the right thing for the guys in the room. I’m here and I’m home with my family, and they all kind of do the same thing. They’ve done a great job with that. We’ve just got a bunch of accountable guys, great people – like I said, great guys to coach – so I think they’ve done a great job with it and the credit really should go to them. They’ve done a tremendous job.”
(When it comes to LB Kamu Grugier-Hill, what is it about his personality? What does he bring to the room like in meeting rooms, off-field interactions and also I’m wondering – we all know you’re a foodie – has he ever recommended any Hawaiian dishes or have you guys talked about…?) – “We’ve talked Hawaiian food. (laughter) I want to get out there. My brother Nunzio has been to Hawaii a few times. That’s like his favorite place. Me and Kamu have talked food a little bit, too. In terms of his personality, just a very upbeat, positive guy and has a lot of multiplicity to his skillset. He can do a lot of things. He’s a very good athlete and a good teammate – a guy in here that people enjoy being around and a guy that I certainly enjoy coaching. He’s a positive ion. He brings a great energy to our room and to the practice field; so yeah, I think he’s been awesome to be around and he’s got a great way about him.”
(I’d like to go back to the COVID question for a second. Going back to say the spring, was there a time that you had some serious questions about whether there would be a season?) – “I personally did not. We were all just taking it in and I think the league has done a great job with all the protocols, and everybody’s tried to the best they can. Like the rest of the country, we’re all doing the best we can and learning as we do. I think the biggest part of it is trying to follow the protocols and our organization has done a great job keeping us informed if anything ever changes and just kind of guiding us through the process. I can’t say enough about how – the people here obviously are the people I’m around every day in terms of our organization – how good of a job they’ve done with ourselves and our family in terms of giving us information and doing the best they can to keep us healthy.”
(What is a positive ion? That’s the first time I’ve ever heard it and you have intrigued me. I’m fascinated. I need to know what a positive ion is.) – “(laughter) He’s just a positive guy. He brings a lot of positive energy. He’s somebody who is happy to go to work every day. He’s never a guy that is too concerned with the last play; he’s just ready to get going on the next play and whatever he can do to help the team. Those are the type of guys you want to be around. You want to be around guys that are positively charged because I think that energy, that radiates to the rest of the guys in the room.”
(I’ve really enjoyed these biweekly press conferences with you.) – “Me too, man. I appreciate it.”
(We ask you a football question, you have this real, real mellow tone. Then we ask you anything about food and you brighten up like nothing I’ve ever seen.) – “I know, right? I guess that’s my upbringing.”
(So serious question, what’s the Christmas spread?) – “You’ve got to go Festa dei Sette Pesci – you’ve got to have the Seven Fish Dinner for Christmas Eve. That’s like the biggest dinner of the whole year. Forget it. Our family, that was like the biggest day of the year. You’ve got clams, scallops, shrimp, calamari, scungille. Hopefully you’ve got some lobster in there, maybe some Baccala. So all the people at home know what I’m talking about, but that’s a big – the Seven Fish Dinner, that’s a huge meal for us and it’s just a great time. Everybody’s together, the family. So maybe this year we’re not; but my wife and my kids, I’m so thankful I get a chance to do that with them. My wife, she’s trying to make a little bit of an addendum to the menu, so we were having a little bit of an argument about that the other day, but I think we got it settled. (laughter) She was really trying to deviate a little bit, which is a little crazy to me, but she’s a little bit more adventurous than me.”
Marion Hobby – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Defensive Line Coach Marion Hobby
(I wanted to ask you about DT Christian Wilkins. After the game on Sunday, he told he was – acknowledged the fact that he’s a bit of a weird guy. And knowing that you’ve known him since his days back at Clemson, I was just wondering, did you recognize right away with him that he had that big bubbly personality? Did it take some time to get it out of him? Has he always been this guy?) – “Yes, he’s been very consistent since the first day I met him. I guess the first day I met him, he was really quiet because he was just trying to figure us out as coaches; but as soon as he arrived on campus, his personality was contagious. That’s kind of who he is.”
(I wanted to ask you about DE Emmanuel Ogbah and as his position coach, your thoughts on him getting snubbed for the Pro Bowl, which he certainly appeared to be deserving. Also, I wanted to ask you from this vantage point, it looks like after a couple of weeks where maybe he was a little bit quiet, that he’s back to his disruptive ways and I’m wondering whether you see that as well and what might have contributed to that.) – “I’ll tell you what, he has had a good year for us and I think we’re very proud of him as a coaching staff. We’re very proud of him. His teammates are very proud of him. I was glad to see him get back on track this past weekend with getting a big sack for us. He’s been consistent with his rushes. He’s been adding pressure pretty much every week. There’s a lot of good football players out there in the National Football League and I’m sure he’s proud to be mentioned with the top-tier players in this league, but I’m sure he’s ready to get on with the Raiders as well.”
(I wanted to ask you about DT Raekwon Davis and his development. How much growth and what areas of growth have you seen from him considering he’s getting a ton of snaps lately?) – “I think his confidence level is really high. You can tell that as the week goes on and as he goes into the game, he’s starting to get that feeling that he can be a dominant player. He’s doing a great job. I think his confidence – as a rookie sometimes you’re wondering ‘can I play at that level? How well can I play at that level?’ But I think he’s taken hold of that fact and I’m really excited to continue to see him grow.”
(I wanted to ask you about Raiders RB Josh Jacobs. What do you think his strengths are? What’s unique about his approach to the game?) – “You’ve got third-down backs in this league, you’ve got first and second-down backs; he’s a complete player and watching his days in college and then watching what he did last year and this year, he’s going to be mentioned as one of the best backs in this league. He’s a very versatile, every-down player. I’m really impressed with him when I turn the tape on.”
Danny Crossman – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I wanted to ask you about the fake with the reporting or lack thereof – declaring eligible by LB Kamu Grugier-Hill. What’s the procedure for that and why is there some confusion sometimes with players that they thought they did but they actually didn’t?) – “Again, there shouldn’t be. The league has made an emphasis about the middle of last year. They’ve really expanded that process where they want everybody reporting whether you’re eligible or ineligible, so they’ve really widened the scope of what their expectations are, but it’s simply a matter of – again, it’s part of your assignment, the ‘takes no talent’ bucket that we’ve talked about here for a couple years, and just understanding how that has to happen.”
(Following up on that question – is it a matter of a player speaking, “I’m eligible” to one of the officials? Is it a hand signal and what specifically happened on that play?) – “It’s a combination. It’s the referee and it’s solely the referee. That’s changed. It used to be the umpire; now it’s the referee. And it’s letting him know verbally that based on your position and what you’re doing, whether you’re an eligible or ineligible player based on your jersey number.”
(K Jason Sanders as we all know is having this incredible season. Now though he’s got a miss in each of the past two games. Do you tell him anything to maybe get his confidence back on track or do you leave him alone?) – “His confidence hasn’t wavered. And for me, if he’s hitting good balls – and the ball he missed on Sunday was a good ball. It faded a little bit left at the end – but as long as his operation is clean and he’s hitting good balls, we stay the course.”
(I’d also like to ask you about the two-point conversion play. It’s one I’ve never seen before. I don’t know if anyone on this call has seen a hook-and-lateral on a two-point conversion. Can you tell us how that idea came about and what you saw in the execution?) – “Again, that’s the offense executing a good play; but any time you get can people to have to change what they’re doing in terms of where the action is going and where the final result is going, you sometimes give yourself an opportunity to have a successful play.”
(I wanted to ask you how you personally have handled 2020? We’re getting close to the end of the year now and it’s been just a year that none of us have ever seen before. How do you think you’ve handled it? What’s something that you can be proud of in the past year and what’s something that “man, if I had to do over again, I would?”) – “Oh geez, we don’t have enough time on this call. I think the thing I’m proud of is the fact that we’re here. That we’ve played 14 games, we’re getting ready for our 15th game. It’s really been a difficult season, offseason, season for everybody. You play the hand you’re dealt, but this has not been a fun hand to play. A lot of the things that you truly enjoy and make this job so special in my opinion – the camaraderie with the staff and the players and a lot of those things – it’s hard (not) to miss those things.”
Josh Boyer – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(Question for you – you guys are right up there in rankings. I know you try not to pay attention to all that from a defensive standpoint, but what in your mind determines “this is a good defense.” Like what is it? Is it turnovers, is it points allowed, is it yards, is it third-down efficiency, is it red-zone efficiency? What, in your mind, is the No. 1?) – “Wins.”
(What’s the challenge this week – you’ve done it before this season – preparing for two quarterbacks and if it Raiders QB Marcus Mariota, what does he present for your defense?) – “I think going into every week, you prepare for their entire roster and sometimes you’ve got to prepare for practice squad guys that could be flexed. Obviously we’re going to do our due diligence on Derek Carr, we’re going to do it on Mariota and we’ll study (Nathan) Peterman, too, as well. Usually, backups, no matter – it’s not exclusive to the quarterback position, but there’s usually differences. So we have to make our players aware of what we feel like their strengths are, what we feel like some things that they might struggle with and then we definitely have to be aware of who’s in the game. We’ve got a very good opponent this week. They have a very good scheme. They’re very well-coached. They’re also a team that things that have given us problems over the season, they’ll do those, too, as well. So we’ve got a lot of guys to prepare for and we’re working hard to do that.”
(When we spoke to LB Jerome Baker yesterday, I kind of complimented him on his performance against the run the last couple of weeks. He’s made a lot of tackles, he’s had tackles for loss, he forced a fumble, he’s had sacks. But he said something interesting and I wanted to ask you about it. He said “I’ve learned that I don’t need to make every tackle, sometimes I just have to make sure I’m a part of a solid wall.” Can you kind of educate me a little bit more on that in terms of what you want the players to do relative to assignment?) – “There’s 11 guys out there on the field and they all have to be working as a unit. If we have one guy that breaks down on every play, then a lot of times those are going to be big plays against us. It doesn’t hurt you every time, but the majority of the time it really does and I think a lot of guys – and we’ve talked about this before – the splash plays, the splash stats, sacks, interceptions, tackles for loss – sometimes if you go try to make those plays and it’s not within the structure of what we’re trying to do defensively, what happens is you open up creases and lanes for either quarterbacks to throw and step up in or for running backs to find and take off. So again, it’s really a team thing and a lot of times that you see guys make plays, there’s usually somebody else involved in it. We’ve had a number of interceptions this year where there’s been good pressure. There’s been a number of sacks this year where there’s been good coverage. And then we’ve had some really good individual plays, too. I’m not saying that, but I think it all kind of goes hand-in-hand and again, we’ve got a good group of guys that they care about each other, they play for each other and they’re all genuinely happy when somebody else has success. Eventually their time will come and because they have success, somebody else probably set that up, too. So I think that’s probably a little bit of what he was talking about.”
(I wanted to ask you about the challenges of playing on a short week with obviously a holiday in the middle on the road going cross-country. Did you start your game planning as soon as the game ended on Sunday? How did that work?) – “It’s a difficult situation, but that’s what’s presented in front of us and you’ve got to cram as much in as you possibly can to compound. We are human, too, so there’s a holiday element here that sometimes you’ve got to be able to block all that stuff out and prepare and go. We’ve worked really hard all year to put ourselves in this position to play meaningful games, so our sole focus is on the Raiders and putting our guys in the best position to succeed. Whatever the clock says or the time says, things have got to get done. So that’s where our time, effort and energy has really been.”
(I wanted to ask you about Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden. What’s it like preparing for one of his offenses and how ready will you guys be for a Spider 2 Y Banana?) – “(laughter) I’ve actually had a couple interactions with Coach Gruden. He’s a University of Dayton alum and he’s a tremendous individual. He’s a very good football coach. His playbook is massive and he does a very good job of attacking defenses, so we have a big challenge, like I said, in front of us this week and he’ll be quick to adjust. They do a lot and there will definitely be a game plan element to it, so there’s a lot for us to prepare for. But again, we’re going to put everything we have into it and try to put the guys in the best position that we possibly can and hopefully we can go out there and execute.”
(You mentioned splash plays and splash stats. CB Xavien Howard obviously is one of those guys. Could you explain to someone who hasn’t seen him play why he is successful doing what he does?) – “First of all, he’s gifted athletically. He has a really good skillset. He’s strong, he’s able to diagnose plays, he’s got a good feel, he doesn’t really panic when the ball is in the air. And I would say the thing that pleases me most about Xavien (Howard) is he’s really a selfless player. He’s done really well in the run game and he’s really made some big plays for us. He’s just a guy that you can count on consistently week-in and week-out. He has a nose for the football and he’s done a really good job for us and he continues to work hard. He comes in and puts in a good week’s work every week and he’s striving to get better, so all good things to say about him and hopefully he’ll come in here this week and work harder to get better. He’s been a productive player for us, for sure.”
(Keeping on the theme with CB Xavien Howard, I wanted to ask you first your reaction to his making the Pro Bowl – I don’t think anyone was surprised at that – but how would you feel about his candidacy for Defensive Player of the Year? There seems to be more talk about him as a strong candidate for that award as well?) – “When it comes to offseason stuff or awards and stuff like that, I think we have plenty of players that are deserving of things that work hard and that are good players. Obviously stuff like that is out of our control. I’m sure ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is a deserving candidate, but the important things for us as a group collectively are all team-oriented goals. We’re always happy for individuals and when they achieve success and like I said, I think we’ve got more guys that are deserving of things. ‘X’ has done a good job. Like I said, he’s played consistently week-in and week-out for us, made big plays for us. He’s been productive and really like a lot of things that don’t get seen, I would say he’s really a complete player. He can play in the run game. There’s a lot of things that when the ball doesn’t go his way that he does well. So as far as the stats and all that stuff, those things are great. They’re nice. But at the end of the day, our sole focus is on the Raiders and winning and everything that we can do – all our time, effort and energy is going to be put into that.”
Chan Gailey – December 22, 2020
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(I wanted to start by asking you about the offensive line. In our eyes, this was their best game of the year, certainly on the ground. What made it so successful, and the success you had with G/T Jesse Davis at guard…) – “I think that the guys that have been playing will continue to play if they are available. It depends on who’s available. The great thing is we’ve got some guys we really trust and like in some back-up roles. If they have to go in there like Mike (Deiter) had to do, he went in there and played pretty good. It’s a plus to have those guys available when you need them. We did some good things in the running game, I thought our backs saw some things really well this week. They were able to bounce outside a couple of times where we haven’t been able to do that before. Our line stayed on the downs really well. Those linebackers – we kind of pushed those guys back into the linebackers and those linebackers couldn’t see the fits as well. It was a combination of several things there, and we had some good downfield blocking too.”
(I wanted to ask you about run-pass options. How important is the run element of the RPO to actually make that style of offense work? When in the college football era did you see the RPO start getting success?) – “Wow. I can’t even remember when that was. It was back in the 2000s when all of that started. The run element is huge. If you don’t have the run element, the PO (pass option) part doesn’t take effect. You’ve got to have the run element. You’ve got to be able to put it in there and run it. Then if they collapse, or they move the linebacker or whatever you’re reading, then you have the opportunity to throw the football.”
(I’m asking about WR Lynn Bowden Jr. and his development, and just how he’s progressed throughout the season. What is it about his skillset and ability to typically make that first defender miss that makes him so dangerous and useful for your offense?) – “I’d say that you can watch kids that come through today and which ones played tag growing up and which ones didn’t play tag growing up. If you played tag, then you know how to make a guy miss. He played a lot of tag, I guess, because he can make a guy miss. I’ve had a couple of guys like that in my career that can make a guy miss and see the field and see the next guy. There are a few of those out there and he’s got that little knack to be able to side step, juke, whatever term you want to use. He’s pretty good at avoiding that head-on collision, that full-speed tackle. He sees things very well and can control his body. His development has not been as quick as he’s wanted, but he had a lot to learn. He had a lot to learn in our offense. He got here late. He was learning what to do and where to line up and how to run the routes and where we wanted him. He’s really, really come on really well in the last three to four weeks. He’s starting to find where he is in the offense and make contributions. When he makes contributions, then that gives us more confidence to continue to use him and it’s a two-way street there.”
(With RB Salvon Ahmed, for him to go undrafted and go on to have the success he’s having, what are his attributes – and maybe what you were just talking about is one of them – his attributes that weren’t readily apparent in college that are showing up now in the NFL?) – “He’s another one. Everybody looks at speed. ‘Oh he’s got great speed.’ But he’s got some awareness about blocks. I think (Running Backs Coach) Eric Studesville does a great job of explaining principles of running. Who you’re looking at, where you think the crease will be, when do you take the crease, when do you look for the next crease. I think Eric does a great job of teaching running backs about the theory of defense and defenders and how they see things. These guys are starting to learn those little things that are going to make the difference in being an average back or a good back, and then maybe eventually a great back when it’s all over with.”
(What has changed either from you or from QB Tua Tagovailoa or the offense as a whole, since the Denver game that has really led to Tagovailoa’s play over the last couple of weeks?) – “I don’t know if you can put your finger on one thing. I think it’s been a combination of him getting more comfortable. I thought Denver did a great job. They did some things that we didn’t plan on and it hurt us. That’s my job. It wasn’t him as much as it was me in that ball game. I think we’ve progressed in learning where he’s comfortable, what he can do, how we can incorporate what he’s comfortable with and what we have available to us, using our personnel better – things like that. It takes time. You don’t like to say that. You want it to all come together immediately, but it takes some time for all of that to happen. I think we’ve been working towards seeing what we can be at some point in time. I don’t think we’ve gotten there. I think we’re still progressing, but we’ve made some progress.”
(You’ve faced Raiders Interim Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Rod Marinelli’s fronts before and defenses before. What type of things, coming into this week, you’re looking to see with your offense, especially last week, which you may be able to exploit?) – “We try to look at Rod and I really call upon those other coaches that have faced him because as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, I threw away all of my notes. I don’t have any more notes. I remember when Rod was in Dallas that we played them. I’ll try to think back to that, but it’s just you try to see what they did last week that was different from the weeks before and see where they may be headed with their defense, and you just adjust. This really is going to be a game of adjusting on the move.”
(In looking back at some of the longer runs on Sunday, it seemed that TE Adam Shaheen, TE Durham Smythe and even guys like WR Mack Hollins and WR Isaiah Ford got involved in blocking. When you get the tight ends and receivers involved in blocking, how does that contribute, especially to longer runs?) – “You seldom have a long run without those guys blocking. Unless somebody falls down, you seldom have one of those. That’s something we’ve been working on and trying to get better at each week is how we can control those guys in the secondary, how we can affect them and get them blocked. They’re getting better every week. It wasn’t just yesterday. I thought they’ve been getting better each week doing that. So we’ve got to continue that.”
(Tight ends so often are judged strictly by the number of catches they have, which makes it easy for a guy like TE Durham Smythe to fly under the radar. How do you assess his value to the offense because of his blocking?) – “He really does a good job. He does a lot of things for us. He can play multiple positions, he’s very intelligent, he’s a tough guy. Just coming back from the knee injury he came back from this year, he’s a true tough guy. I feel like he’s very valuable to us as a football team, as an offense. He plays special teams. He does a lot of things to help this football team become successful. I’m glad he’s here. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
Jerome Baker – December 21, 2020
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Monday, December 21, 2020
LB Jerome Baker
(I’m wondering how often you’ve kept in touch this year with your good buddy Raiders LB Raekwon McMillan and how much you’re looking forward to seeing him Saturday?) – “Oh yeah, when it comes to ‘Kwon’ (Raekwon McMillan), that’s my big brother right there. I talk to him pretty much every week. We always just talk and just catch up on things. I’m definitely excited to see him. I’m definitely excited to see him play and do his thing. Definitely excited.”
(You guys have dealt with this before this season, preparing for more than one quarterback with the status of Raiders QB Derek Carr unavailable. How do you go about that this week and if it is Raiders QB Marcus Mariota, what kind of a challenge does he present, being a bit more mobile than Derek Carr?) – “It’s just a little bit more film work. You’re studying – honestly, you’re just putting more work in. You’ve got a bigger challenge in terms of it’s two quarterbacks and now you’ve got to put that work in to match that. But like you said, we’ve been doing it, so we’re definitely used to it. We’re definitely going to do that and when it comes to him as a player, he does it all. He can throw, he can throw on the run, he can run the ball. He does a lot of things. He gives us a lot of challenges. But ultimately our job is to ultimately come out with a win and get it done, so I’m definitely excited for that.”
(Is Dark Grind the LB Elandon Roberts brand and can you explain to us what that means?) – “Yeah, the Dark Grind is the work you put in when nobody’s looking. The work you put in when it’s just you and the grind. That hard sweat that you’re not doing it for cameras, you’re not doing it for people, you’re just doing it for you to get better. ‘E. Rob,’ (Elandon Roberts), he’s been around long enough; you can just tell he’s all about putting that work in when nobody’s looking. He doesn’t care who’s around. He doesn’t care if it’s coaches, he doesn’t care if it’s players – whoever it is. He’s just going to put the work in and get better. He got me a hat and I’m all for wearing his brand. I’m just happy he gave me a hat and I’m going to definitely rep it. (laughter)”
(I wanted to ask about the hat and in particular the impact of getting LB Elandon Roberts and LB Kyle Van Noy back into the lineup this Sunday. The three of you guys played a lot of reps in this game. I was just curious, what does it mean to the defense to get Roberts and Van Noy back in the lineup after missing them the previous game?) – “It means a lot. Kyle (Van Noy) and ‘E. Rob’ (Elandon Roberts), honestly they’re coaches on the field. We come to the sideline, we have a good idea of what went wrong and what we need to do before the coaches even say anything. That just helps all of us as a defense in the long run, so I’m always excited when those guys are out there and they coach me up, we coach each other up, we push each other. It’s just a great feeling when you have – in all reality – we have another coach. You have a coach on the field essentially, so it was definitely good to have them out there.”
(Two questions for you. One, you come from a college where the regular season ended, but your season never ended. You were always going to a bowl game and now in the NFL you haven’t tasted postseason yet, so if you can give us a sense for how much you’re hungry to get the playoffs and secondly, when you talk about Dark Grind, everybody has things that they have to do that maybe it’s not so much an inconvenience and other things, maybe part of your workout routine that you hate – what part do you hate?) – “(laughter) When it comes to playoffs, just going to The Ohio State (University), they prepared me for a lot of things I never would have even imagined. When it comes to the schedule, at Ohio State it’s pretty much, the playoffs just – we have to get there. That’s the standard. You at least have to get there. So when it comes to NFL, I want to get to that point of our culture is we’re getting to the playoffs and anything can happen in the playoffs. That’s the reality. So I’m definitely hungry. Our team is definitely hungry, but honestly I think the approach we have is just focus on this week and everything else will handle itself. If we win this week, if we do what we have to do this week, everything is still in front of us and that’s what I’m excited for. We’re going to come in this week and prepare and do what we’ve been doing and honestly just come out with a win and worry about the playoffs whenever they come. And the part I hate, for me I don’t really hate anything. That’s just such a strong word. I think for me, the only thing kind of bothers me, I’m not a morning person. So sometimes getting up at 6, 5:30 or something; it’s not as fun. (laughter) But I don’t necessarily hate anything.”
(In the last two weeks, I feel like you’ve played very well against the run. You’ve got about 17 tackles, maybe about three tackles for loss. In what areas have you really focused to do well against the run and in what areas do you feel like you’ve improved here in this stage of your career?) – “I think for me, it was just realizing I don’t have to make the tackle all the time. I don’t have to do the splash play. Sometimes building the wall is the best thing to do and for me, honestly, I study and I talk to ‘E. Rob’ (Elandon Roberts) because he’s quite good at run defense – the run stopping. So I talk to him, I’m in his ear, I’m in Kyle’s (Van Noy) ear. I’m pretty much just asking the question, ‘how can I get better?’ Sometimes the truth hurts, but you definitely just have to take it and you’re either going to just fold or you’re going to attack it and that’s what I’ve been doing. I want to be able to be on the field all three downs. I want to be able to help this team win in any way I can and I take that approach. That’s pretty much all I’ve been doing, is just trying to get better for this team. Whatever they need me to do, I’m down to do it. Yeah, that’s all I do.”
(I’m just curious how this year has been. It’s such a strange year and obviously you guys are finishing on a high note. I would imagine if you guys were losing, this season would be drudgery. With COVID and all the restrictions you have to go through, has it been a nice silver lining with how this season’s gone? How has it been just surviving this year?) – “I think this year was all about just being resilient. No matter what the season throws at you, whatever the world throws at you. You can’t just put your head down and mope around and just feel bad for yourself; you have to attack it, you have to get better at whatever you’re doing. You just have to attack it and go after it and I think our team as a whole, we’re built like that. No matter whatever challenge we have; if we’re down 20 or we’re down three, we approach it the same way. We can get it, we can get it done if we do it together. I think this year, that’s pretty much been – the fun ride for me is just seeing our team become a team and really have each other’s back. That’s pretty much been exciting for me, so happy just to keep getting it going and win as many games as we can and just do what we’re supposed to do.”
