DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE CALDWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2022
(On how teams are playing against OLB Josh Allen) “Teams are paying attention to him. They’re chipping
with backs and tight ends. Last week the interior guys had success, and Josh did his part as far as
keeping the quarterback in the pocket for the most part. He’ll just have to continue to do that, then
hopefully his plays will come.”
(On if Josh Allen has to step up to help the rest of the defense get better as a whole) “The message
really this week has been ‘Raise your level,’ everyone, and Josh (OLB Josh Allen) is one of our good
players, and you need your good players to play good, so yes.”
(On CB Tyson Campbell shadowing Raiders WR Davante Adams) “We did a little bit last week. This week,
we’ll just see how the game goes. There’s always a chance of doing it, but right now, we’re just trying to
figure out how they’re trying to attack us and find out what our best plan to attack them is.”
(On what makes WR Davante Adams special) “He’s a go-to guy. He’s a guy that has great quickness off
the ball, and he runs the entire route tree, and he’s an athlete playing receiver. He’s a guy that—I don’t
know him personally but—the way that he moves, you can put him at any position, and he’d be
successful. That helps him out being a receiver. He’s able to use his quickness, use his speed, and he can
catch anything close to him.”
(On if the plan is to continue the cornerback rotation they have been using) “That’s the plan. I think
other than one play last week, you didn’t hear Tre’s (CB Tre Herndon) name, and we go to him, and he
played some really good plays, just like we all did. One play stands out, but his head’s up, he’s confident,
we’re confident in him. We’re going to go back out there this week and continue to play.”
(On DL Dawuane Smoot’s quiet leadership) “He really does. In that room, there’s a lot of vocal guys.
Arden (DL Arden Key) is a vocal guy, but Smoot is a quieter guy, but he commands that respect. Because
one thing, he’s been here for a while, other thing, he’s a good player that goes after it and works in
practice. You could see last week, they started jumping off the ball again and continued to work that
early on in practice, and it paid off for him in the game. They’re doing a great job.”
(On if the backbone of an NFL team is a bunch of guys like DL Dawuane Smoot) “When he plays, he’s one
of those elite guys. He’s a guy that can get after the quarterback from any spot. We just want him to
continue to do that. His chances have been limited so far because we have teams that have kind of
played us, but now he’s getting the chance to get out there and get more reps in. We’ll get him going.”
(On CB Tyson Campbell shadowing some last week) “We shadowed a little bit, but Tyson, he’s been
consistent all year. He’s in position to make plays, and his target rate is pretty high. We like that. We feel
comfortable with him guarding different people, and we’ll continue to let him grow.”
(On how excited he is to see CB Tyson Campbell go against a top receiver in the league, Davante Adams)
“Oh it’s good. Anytime you get a guy who’s talked about as the number one person at a certain position,
that should raise a hair on everybody’s neck. It’s not just Tyson, it’s everybody. It’s a team defense, and
we understand that we have to pressure the quarterback to make him get rid of the ball so we don’t
have to cover as long on the back end. It’s a team effort. We’re excited about it, get a chance to go
against a really good one.”
(On preparing to go against an offense that got shut out the week before) “I think every week is
different. You go back and look at what the previous team did, but you have your own identity. You’re
going to fit it to what you do, and anytime you lose a game, that next week, you’re hungry, ready to get
back out there, so I know they’ll be cutting at the teeth ready to get out there, and we’ll do the same.”
(On going up against RB Josh Jacobs) “It’s the same one. Again, we’ve talked about our division. We have
guys that are similar, guys that can tote the ball, and he can tote it, believe me, he can tote it. He’s doing
a great job this year. Again, just like our division, we understand that that’s going to be the focal point.
We have to make sure our hat’s right, make sure our mind’s right, and see if we can go out there and
slow him down.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2022
(On if red zone efficiency can be something to improve midseason) “Well, I think it’s just a matter of
execution. We feel like we have an identity of who we want to be down there. I think our biggest issue
has been turning the football over in the red zone. That’s just taking points off the board. Whether
that’s 7-3, and really, our turnovers come on first and second down, which is disappointing. You feel like
you’re going to get touchdowns in those situations, especially when we had a couple inside the five. So
that is certain, you can never turn the football over, especially there. Worst case scenario, we stall out,
we kick three points, and it changes the complexion of a game. That’s just something that I think as that
improves, it improves your red zone efficiency. Whether it’s field goals or touchdowns, I think that’s part
of it. I do feel like that can improve, just putting a premium on and protecting the football.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence’s interception in the end zone against the Broncos) “Certainly. Understanding,
‘It’s first and goal right here, second and goal, we’re inside the five, we got multiple cracks at this thing.’
We’re trying to pop one really quick that we think was an advent they just called for in that situation.
Trying to get Christian [WR Christian Kirk] on the edge, their nickel did a great job defending it. Down,
gets extended, then it’s got to go into an ‘us or nobody’ mindset for Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence]. He
felt like he had Marvin [WR Marvin Jones Jr.] in the back of the endzone, give him a shot, but if it misses,
then it needs to go in the third row of stands. Understanding that you’re throwing in the back half of the
endzone, it can now be affected by grabbing in the front half of the endzone. That’s just continuing to
see those situations, learn from those situations, not repeat those situations for him and everybody. Our
entire offense in general, we are learning from every single play that happens and we want to work to
correct those mistakes and never repeat those mistakes.”
(On how to improve passing consistency in end zone situations) “It always just comes down to the
situation in a game. Is the situation in the game dictating pushing the ball down the field? Is there a
favorable matchup at receiver, DB, offensive line? Sometimes you want to keep yourselves out of bad
situations in the protection world. Do we have time to launch this thing down field if that’s what the
situation calls for? Are we in a situation where our defense has been on the field for a while, and we
need to continue to maintain it? Well, throwing a low percentage ball down field doesn’t really fit us
best in that situation. There’s a number of factors that lead to pushing the ball down the field, certainly
that’s something we want to add and continue to develop as an offense. Being able to create those
explosives, we’ve done a good job of finding ways to do those, but you want a defense to honor every
inch of the field at any given time. Being able to push the ball down the field is certainly an aspect of
that.”
(On if the offense has been determined by defensive styles) “Well, I think there’s certainly a trend in the
league going towards more shell coverages, the Vic Fangio [Former NFL Coach Vic Fangio] influence has
spread across the league at these variations of shell, safeties deep, limit the big play, keep things in
front, force offenses to execute for twelve or thirteen play drives. A penalty sets you back, a sack sets
you back, an incompletion could set you back. There’s an emphasis on that, it feels like, across the
league in terms of where the defenses are heading. Things are cyclical, more shell coverage dictates
more people, less people in the box, more advantageous looks to run the football, but as you know,
you’re grinding through drives there that makes it tough. I think you’re seeing that across the league;
you’re seeing creative ways to try to get the ball over the top of the defense or get guys on the move
and run through the defense to create explosives in the pass game.”
(On the defensive talent of the Raiders) “When you turn on the tape, it’s the two defensive ends. That’s
the very first thing you notice. Those two guys can cause problems, they have for a while in their career
now, so certainly, people are aware of him. You watch the way offenses attack them, there’s extra guys
on the edges to help the matchups with the tackles and the defensive ends. They’ve done a good job
with the same idea of eliminating explosive plays. They play a variety of looks, they’re in the first year of
this defensive system with these guys. There are some guys that have played for this coordinator before
that are here and understand it well. They present a lot of different looks; they do a pretty good job of
keeping things in front and trying to let these pass rushers get after you a little bit.”
(On if defenses adjusting is a major improvement across the league currently) “That’s kind of what it
feels like. It makes sense, try to force people to execute at a high level throughout long drives. I don’t
know if that’s right statistically or anything, I’m just purely going off of what my gut tells me watching
tape and stuff like that. As we prepare for these defenses, you’re always looking. We’ll watch the
explosive tape, we start on Monday, one of the things when you have a couple minutes is just buzz
through the explosives. How do people push the ball down field on this defense? It feels like it’s not as
often, they just drop back and throw it over their head. That doesn’t happen as often. There are certain
situations where that does, and you try to look at how we can create those situations for us. The
matchup with our personnel versus their personnel, protection, there’s a number of factors; situation of
the game. There’s a number of factors that lead to that, I couldn’t tell you statistically what it is or
anything like that, just going off our study and our preparation through the season, that’s what it’s felt
like.”
(On the ability to create explosive plays by RB Travis Etienne Jr.) “Yeah, that’s huge. It’s not, ‘Alright, we
got to call this ball to know we’re going to throw it 15 yards down the field.’ Our run game can create
that. It’s Travis, with his skillset. I really think that explosives, and this kind of came from my experience
last year in Indy, too, with Jonathan Taylor [Colts RB Jonathan Taylor] and Nyheim Hines [Bills RB
Nyheim Hines] and those guys hitting runs that good runs turn into great runs when the perimeter
players are blocking. I think you’ve seen that; you may not have seen the production in the pass game
with some of those guys. The things that Christian [WR Christian Kirk], Zay [WR Zay Jones], Marvin [WR
Marvin Jones Jr.], Tim [WR Tim Jones], and our tight ends are doing on the perimeter in the run game
has been critical to our run success as well. We wouldn’t be able to hit some of these explosive runs
without those guys doing, essentially in the receiver world, a dirty job and getting it done at a high level.
Those guys have been awesome.”
(On how much growth RB Travis Etienne Jr. still has left) “Oh, I wouldn’t say he’s anywhere close to
where he’s going to be. As he continues to learn what defenses are doing, why we’re calling runs for
certain fronts, the tracks on runs, how people are going to try to take us off, combinations and pullers
and different things like that. I think as he matures, just in his football knowledge and understanding
offenses with schemes and how we’re trying to attack, I wouldn’t put a ceiling on him.”
(On talent of Raiders DE Maxx Crosby) “He is relentless, he doesn’t come out of the game. We always
look and see if there’s a certain substitution pattern. Second drive of the game, you get backup D-
linemen sometimes, some teams do that. It feels like you can’t find a lot of clips where he’s off the field,
which is a problem. He’s just relentless. Whether it’s ducking underneath guys, swimming over guys,
changing his rush pattern, he’s got a deadly spin move we’ve all seen a number of times. He’s just
relentless in terms of pursuing the quarterback. If you’re in the pocket, a drive gets extended, you get
flushed out of the pocket, you push through an escape, he, 98, is still running. He’s doing everything he
can to chase down the field, get after the quarterback, finish the play. You certainly notice that effort
and then when you see the spin move, you see the spin, you see him ducking underneath pullers, things
like that. He’s got it all and he plays hard every single snap.”
(On comfortability and confidence in end of game scenarios) “There’s been certain situations and times
we’ve driven in the fourth quarter, and we scored when we needed to score. Regardless of the situation,
if there’s a minute when we get the ball back, a minute-forty when we get the ball back, whatever it is.
We got to be able to execute in those situations. A couple of them we’ve come up inches short as we
got in those situations, but I think that’s just continuing to put a young quarterback in those situations,
talk through those situations. We do a great job, I believe. There’s certain nights or days when we have
certain meetings that are just situational football. Let’s just sit, let’s watch what’s going on around the
league, let’s talk. What would you do here? Or understanding, ‘We have this many timeouts, how many
guards do we need?’ Just talking through those things with a young quarterback is beneficial in the long
run. We have things that we have been in a lot of end of game situations that have been great for him to
learn from, that have been great for us as an offense and as a team to experience. We need to learn
from those things and apply those moving forward to be able to execute in those high-leverage
situations that you’re talking about.”
(On how much of year one with a quarterback in a new system is figuring out what he responds to well
and what he needs help with) “That’s week to week. We’re trying to figure out, we’ve put in plays that
we feel like put our guys in good positions to attack the defense, but we’re always in communication
with him. ‘What do you like? Why do you like this? Why do you not? What are you comfortable with?’
so then the next week, we come back, like we put this in, this wasn’t something we felt we did a good
job as an offense. ‘Do we need to change this? Why was that? Do we need to teach it differently? Do we
need to show it differently?’ You’re in a give and take every single day. We put in a plan, we install it,
there’s sometimes where it’s like, ‘I don’t know if I see it yet.’ Let’s rep it in practice. Let’s get it on tape.
If you still don’t like it, we’ll take it out. We’re not going to call anything our guys aren’t comfortable
with and don’t believe in on a Sunday because whether it’s first and 10 on the 35th play of the game or
fourth and 10 on the last play of the game, we want our guys to believe and understand why we’re
doing what we’re doing and know that they can execute it at a high level.”
(On what it takes as an offense to stay out of the second and long, third and long situations) “It’s
certainly tough. If you want to throw the ball on first down, you risk throwing an incompletion. Then all
of the sudden we’re on second and 10. That’s understanding as quarterback that every single snap is
situation. First and 10, let’s put the ball in play, let’s get moving forward. We may call a shot down the
field, they defend a shot down the field. Can we just find the next completion? Can we do the next best
thing with the football? There were situations we called a first and 10 pass, guy wasn’t open, Trevor (QB
Trevor Lawrence) scrambled for four, we’re on second and six, we can consider ourselves in that
situation on track. We can call whatever we need to call to get ourselves closer to getting that first down
and ultimately in the end zone. It’s just understanding every single situation is situational football and
executing that way that puts the team in the best position, our players in the best position, and always
protecting the football.”
(On RB Snoop Conner being activated last weekend) “We’re going to continue to develop him, work with
him, just continue as we go through the week of putting him in, seeing what he’s comfortable with on
his plate, and he’s a snap away from being out there and it being on his shoulders. We will certainly, like
we’ve done with all our backs, look for certain situations where, alright this is his play. He does this
really well. Now, right now with where we’re going with Travis (RB Travis Etienne Jr.) and the things
Travis has done really well, sometimes it’s hard to say we’re going to put another guy in for a carry that
potentially was one Travis took for 40. We believe all our backs have a skillset that they can contribute,
and you’re just trying to find out the right way to use everybody in any given time to put them in the
best possible position.”
(On timetables and preparation for healthy scratches) “The timeline is really a case-by-case basis.
There’s plenty of times where we’ve got a guy that we’re working through an injury, we need to see
how he practices on Wednesday. Maybe he can’t go on Wednesday, but he’s going to go Thursday.
Sometimes there are situations where we as a coaching staff may know if this guy goes, this guy is down.
If that guy can’t go, he’ll go up. You try to massage that without really telling a guy ‘You’re down, you’re
up.’ We try to do our best to communicate as early as possible in the week what’s going on. ‘If this guy is
down, you’re going to be up,’ so as coaches we can game plan. We can put personnel on certain plays.
We make sure guys get reps that they need whether it’s walk through, practice, live, whatever that may
be. We do our best to communicate that as early as possible or just communicate to these guys, ‘Hey
this is going to be a Friday, Saturday, Sunday decision. You need to get yourself ready to go. It’s us as
coaches making sure these guys are prepared as if they’re going to play. We do that with everybody
whether it’s practice squad, you never know what’s going to happen. Guy rolls an ankle on Friday, next
guy has got to be ready to go. We’ve tried to make that point of emphasis to our players. You’re sitting
in a meeting, we’re talking to Christian Kirk (WR), you need to be locked in. All of the sudden you need
to be able to play this spot in this play, you find out Sunday morning, the expectation is you’re ready to
roll.”
