SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR HEATH FARWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025
(On K Cam Little breaking an NFL record) “Obviously, I’m so fired up for the kid. It’s
something he had been working on. We talked last week about just kind of what he put into
that BYE Week, how pressure he puts on himself and I just felt like he was in good shape
and I was expecting a great game by him. James [GM James Gladstone] and I had a
conversation before the game and I told him, ‘I think he’s going to have a spectacular game.’
I didn’t know it’d be record breaking, I wish I could have called that, but I was expecting him
to have a good game because I saw where he was at. And he’s so talented, he’s such a
great kid, it was just a cool moment for him. It was a cool moment for the specialists in
general, those three guys work together like brothers and they love each other and they
spend so much time together. They have so much invested in each other on the field and
off the field. And then you saw the reaction from the players and the energy it brought, and
it just shows you how much they care for him, but just the team. It just shows you what our
team is like around here and where we’re going. There was a big momentum factor in that
game. Going into halftime, I felt like we were a different team coming out at half. So, it was
really cool to be a part of it and be an impact on the win. Anytime special teams can be an
impact in a good way, I love it.”
(On the record-breaking field goal itself) “As he kicked it, it sounded good. The first thing I
look at typically is the returner deep and when I see a guy go back there, that makes a
coach a little nervous because it is the possibility of a return. The one thing I did look for
him as the ball was kicked, he didn’t move and when he didn’t move, to me that meant it
was on line. That was the first thing I looked at was it was on-line, I felt pretty good, pretty
comfortable because I knew he had the leg strength to get there. And then feeling Logan’s
[P Logan Cooke] reaction, I think about halfway down the field, to feel some of the guys
could see it, it felt good. And again, it was just good to see, cool to see. It was a good
moment for us.”
(On what the conversation was like on the sideline with Little) “It’s something we set the
lines pregame, and we have a good idea what that looks like. We have a line that we started
with and then he told me before the fifty [yard line], and I of course communicate that with
Coach [Head Coach Liam Coen]. And as always before that drive, I mention that again. We
have a line, but he did say the fifty. He said if he gets to the fifty, he said he wants it. Of
course, it goes on second down and then of course it comes up again, and he said ‘Heath,
what do you think?’ and as I looked to see, I said, ‘He wants it,’ and as I looked to
communicate with Cam as I normally would to see if he wants it, he was already on the
field. And I think that told us enough what his plan was and he kind of looked at me with a
smirk, and a smile and I said, ‘Coach, he wants it.’ It was great. It was cool. It’s the classic,
after him not playing to his best the last few games, I’m sure some people were hoping for a
nice short one, an easy one. Let’s send him out for the record breaker and see what he can
do with that, but I guess it just shows you the belief in him. The belief in himself to never
waver, nobody wavered here. That’s the cool thing. No one lost confidence, so I had no
problem sending him out there. It sounds crazy to send him out there in that circumstance,
but everyone believed he could make it.”
(On Little’s relationship with the team) “They love him to death. He’s not like one of those, a
lot of times when you have a specialist they can be weird at times, he’s one of the most
popular guys on this team and I think from a specialist’s perspective, that’s not super
normal. We’re fortunate here, we have three good ones where that’s the case, but I think
he’s so lovable. I think everyone loves Cam, they love his personality, they love his focus
when it comes to his craft. They know he puts more time than anybody and I think they just
love him to death. And I saw that from the first time I went and worked him out when he was
still at Arkansas. We went to dinner together and it was something right away, where I was
like this guy has it. There’s something about this kid. You just love him to death.”
(On if P Logan Cooke is the first guy who knows if the kick is good) “Yeah, he usually is and
there’s times when I even ask him on game day or mid-game, ‘How was that? How did he
hit it?’ And he has a good feel of the sound, the feel, how it got off, just because he’s the
closest to it and it’s on his hand. He is the last person to touch it and he’s so talented and
has so much experience. He has the ability that he knows right away. I think he knows when
he hits it clean. And again, he’s the first guy to see it.”
(On WR Austin Trammell’s return late in the game) “I think it’s great. I think that’s cool. Like I
said, credit to him obviously, he gets reps in practice but a lot of times those are not—
obviously he’s not planning on playing in that game, especially in the overtime. But he
prepares every single day. He is on practice squad most of the season, never wavered his
buy-in, never wavered on preparing. Like he was going to play Week One to even this
weekend. So, he was ready and the fact that he hit it downhill, he broke a tackle. And then
the guy’s blocking for him. They blocked it up really clean. That was very again, it was credit
to the guys blocking for him as well of just clean blocks sound, just everything was super
fundamentally sound. It was perfect.”
(On if he was watching when Cowboys K Brandon Aubry attempted a 68-yard field goal) “I
actually was watching it live. He’s very, very talented as well and it was like we were
watching it kind of going, ‘Ah, no way. Not for one day.’ But there’s so many talented kickers,
this is this is a record that wouldn’t surprise me if it gets broke again and hopefully our guy,
like I said, our guy can break it again. So, there’s going to be people going after that record
because these kickers are so talented.”
(On the Raiders coverage on kickoff returns last Sunday) “They did a really good job. They
had a good plan and give credit to McMahon [Raiders Special Teams Coordinator Tom
McMahon]. He’s a heck of a football coach. I thought they had a really good plan. And
ultimately it comes back to us. I’ve got to do a better job of really getting back to the details
of getting off blocks. We do a good job of leveraging them. Now we’ve got to get back to the
fundamentals of getting off blocks, pad level down more knock back at point of attack. So,
these are things that we work on a good amount. But I’ve got to emphasize them more and
that’s on me. So, we’ll work on that this week. There’s no question about that.”
(On if the new NFL kicking ball rules have changed anything) “I think it gives the equipment
guys more time to do it. As far as the ball, they prepare it the exact same way just have
more time to do it. So as far as the football perspective, they don’t do anything different
other than it’s more time to do it.”
(On Cooke talking Little out of continuing to use the record-setting ball) “Logan’s the voice
of reason. He’s like the big brother they all listen to.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY CAMPANILE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025
(On where the onus shifts when the quarterback gets the ball out quickly to limit the pass
rush) “Yeah, I think with that there were times we changed it up to try and play some man
coverage just to get on them a little bit tighter. And obviously they made a couple plays in
man to man against us. We had one miscommunication there that got us but yeah, you’re
just trying to spin it around, move it around a little bit when that’s the case if they’re dinking
and dunking, like you said. And then really in the types of zones that you play. There are
some more matchier zones that you can go to but that’s really where the onus shifts.”
(On preparing for a QB who hasn’t made a start this season) “You go back to his old tape
and then obviously last week against Denver you get a pretty good idea of who he is and
how he operates. But good player, he’s athletic, in terms of being able to move in the pocket
and get the ball—he’s an accurate thrower, get the ball to their playmakers. So that’s still a
challenge and looks like a guy that is obviously very decisive and has been there quite a
while.”
(On if the old tape holds as much value even if the offensive scheme may be different)
“Yeah, I mean, just to watch the player you do definitely go back and look at that, but yeah,
systematically it doesn’t hold as much value but definitely to watch the guys and kind of
see their skillset, for sure.”
(On getting LB Devin Lloyd back) “Yeah, Dev’s a big part of everything we were able to do
early in the year because when I was talking about him in the past, there was more—I think
Devin really is just capable of doing a lot of things, whether it’s the pass coverage, the pass
rush, playing in the box as a linebacker and then playing on the ball is really just a unique
skillset set that way. So, it gives us a little bit more in terms of options, things that you can
do. And he definitely presents some problems for the offense, for sure.”
(On WR/DB Travis Hunter being placed on injured reserve) “I think whenever you lose guys
in the season and you’re going into a game plan with one idea and then things shift or
change, you’re feeling out to do what you think is the best or use the best options possible, I
would say, at that point. But Trav I felt like was doing a really good job in some of the man-
to-man stuff, also on third down. Because the thing with him is he’s got ball skills. So, it’s a
challenge to throw the ball at a guy like that because he can go ahead and make a play.
He’s got great stop-start and change of direction. So, that’s what makes him really elite, in
my opinion, as a defensive back. So yeah, losing him, you lose a little bit there and you try
and shift the guys into positions as best you can.”
(On what he thought about WR Jakobi Meyers when scouting the Raiders) “So, it’s funny, I
was talking to him yesterday. When I was at Miami, we played him like twice a year when he
was in New England. I’m like, ‘This guy is a total pain in the ass.’ He just catches everything,
and he blocks everybody. Like, he would go in there and you’ve got guys, like in 11-
personnel, the Z receiver’s usually getting in there and MDMing [blocking] the safety and
he’d go in there like a damn fullback. So, I always had a lot of respect for him as a player
and coached against him in college too, actually. But he’s really—when you look at
receivers, you value guys like that so much. They go make contested catches and he’s
tough. I always felt like he was a hard guy to defend when we were in Miami because there
could be two guys at the point of attack and he really attacked the football and going up in
the air for the ball a lot of times. I remember he made a couple sick catches against us that
I’m definitely over by now [laughs]. But yeah, I’m happy to have him here, man. He is an
awesome dude, too.”
(On what DT DaVon Hamilton means to the defense) “Everybody on our defense loves D-
Ham, but I think what probably gets lost for us as a defense right now at this point, we’ve
been pretty good to this point in the run game. I think we made a significant jump
throughout the course of the season, and I would say he is as big a part of that as anybody.
You say he does a lot of the dirty work, he plays double teams all day and he plays them as
good as anybody I’ve been around. And coaching in the front and coaching the run game
over the years, I think he’s as good as anybody we’ve had, and he gives us the opportunity
to do that and play with depth to the defense because that guy’s able to two-gap people.
And that really comes down to, like you said, selflessness. And he really is a technician. If
you’ve got any love, for people who’ve got love for watching D-line play and guys playing
blocks and whipping blocks, he’s done a great job for us that way this year. A couple of the
media guys when they come in, we’re talking about the game on Sunday, and he definitely
jumps out to them as well. And he made a huge play for us the other day in the pass game.
It was a game-changing play. So, I love that dude. I think everybody here does. So, he’s a
great dude, too.”
(On how special it is for DE Josh Hines-Allen to tie the franchise sack record) “Yeah, you
talk to him, it’s like he couldn’t care less, which I mean that in a positive way. He’s just kind
of always talking about business for the most part and how we can get it better and where
we can improve, what we can take advantage of next game. He’s about as selfless a player
as you’re going to run into. He really enjoys all the other parts of the game. And in terms of
the rush and all that stuff, he’s a guy that cares about his teammates. So, that’s been really
refreshing just being around a guy like that. And obviously, I’m happy for him, but I don’t feel
like he in any way is satisfied, but he’s excited to get going again.”
(On the challenge of a six-lineman front) “Yeah, you’ve really got to do a good job at the
point of attack. Usually you feel like most of the time in the NFL where if you have defensive
ends on a tight end more often than not, especially if that guy’s more of a pass catcher, you
should have a one-up on them there in the run game. We talk about that all the time. When
you play with heavy personnels, they try and make it more—obviously they’re trying to
create a stalemate there and not give you the edge. So, you’ve got to be a technician in your
technique, especially in the run game, and it’s going to make you work in a pass game. They
keep those guys in six-man, seven-man protections, you’re working against an offensive
tackle again so that’s also part of the reason why guys do it and that’s the challenge of it.”
(On CB Jourdan Lewis leaving with injury last game) “Yeah, he’s such a savvy vet, too. He
just kind of understands everything and he’s done a great job of trying to prepare the guys
behind him throughout the whole year. I think his relationship with Jarrian [CB Jarrian Jones]
is pretty cool to see. He’s always there, they’re always kind of working together, talking ball
together. [CB] Christian Braswell, same way. So, he’s done a great job and in the game, the
guy gets hurt, I think the first or second play of the game, and he was right behind me the
entire game talking to the other guys. Like, literally you could hear him, I could hear him
talking behind me and communicating some of the stuff that you’re talking about getting
ready for in the game plan during the week and he’s behind you saying it. So, he didn’t step
away totally from the game when he went down, as bad as he felt. So, I have so much
respect for him, love coaching him and it’s awesome to have a guy like that though. Like, for
our team, it’s awesome for all the other players, especially in that room, to have that dude.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR GRANT UDINSKI
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025
(On what WR Jakobi Meyers can add to the offense) “Really excited about what he can add.
The presence and the type of person he is, first and foremost, for the room will be a huge
addition for those guys to get around a guy who’s been experienced, a competitive guy who
works and is focused and really tries to master his craft in so many ways. And then similar
things that Liam [Head Coach Liam Coen] and James [General Manager James Gladstone]
have talked about. A guy who plays strong, strong handed, strong in the run game, strong at
the top of his route, strong getting off the ball. He does that at a high level and then he still
has the ability to separate underneath, can run really routes at all three levels, third level,
second level, and first-level routes. So, he’ll be a good guy who can play inside, outside.
That versatility is huge for the offense, especially as you kind of piece things together and
find different roles for him in the middle of the season.”
(On if the offense in the second half against the Raiders was at peak efficiency) “It’s
certainly what we’ve been striving towards and we came off the self-scout and there are so
many things to improve, but the thing that always stands out is how much we had beat
ourselves in certain games. The times that we struggled, it’s because of those things you
mentioned, penalties, screwing up assignments, things here and there where we get off
schedule and being able to stay out of those and just play clean football, you see what the
guys are capable of when they’re in normal situations, just able to go out there and play and
execute. It’s so hard to live in those situations where you shoot yourself in the foot and put
yourself behind the sticks. So that’s absolutely what we’re trying to be on a consistent basis
and continue to be more explosive as we have opportunities that are created by staying on
schedule. But it was nice to see us string together a couple drives of what we’ve been
working towards pretty much since the beginning of the year.”
(On if the offense can survive injuries with plug-and-play players like WR Tim Jones) “Yeah, I
think that’s a credit to him and it’s really dependent on the guys. Who is the guy going in and
what spot is he trying to fill in for? There are certain guys that you’re never going to be able
to replace, but guys, when they prepare to play different positions and when they have the
skillset to play different positions, it keeps that playbook more open than it might be at
certain positions where you have to limit things down. Now there’s always going to be
certain plays that are designed for specialty players or specialty looks and you have to
adjust those or take those out and adjust how you’re going to call the game accordingly. But
when you have guys that prepare the way Tim prepares, prepare the way Trammell [WR
Austin Trammell] prepares and those guys are able to step in, in a big situation to go out
there and execute, it makes life a lot easier on everyone else around them and the play
caller because you can go in there and really run the offense.”
(On RB Bhayshul Tuten being an effective goal-line option) “Well, I think his strength and his
contact balance, you see a lot of yards after contact, very few times you see him finishing
runs going backwards and that’s huge at the goal line. Short yardage, any run really, but it’s
especially apparent on those where you need one hard yard or a hard run and he goes out
there, and he is able to get it on looks that aren’t always clean. There’s oftentimes a guy
where they’ve outnumbered you, so there’s a guy there at the point of attack and you’ve got
to be able to run right through a shoulder tackle, run right through an arm tackle. And his
strength and ability to accelerate on receiving the balls is what makes him an asset there.”
(On how many practice reps it took to feel confident in the Wildcat with RB Travis Etienne
Jr.) “Like Liam mentioned, it’s over the course of weeks of getting all of those reps. I don’t
know if I could pinpoint an exact time where you say, okay, now you’re exactly a hundred
percent comfortable, it certainly wasn’t the first time. But after a couple of weeks with a guy
like that who is able to learn and do things at a high level, do new things especially, you feel
pretty confident after a couple of reps when he does it consistently at a high level and is
able to execute cleanly. Of course, we’re trying to mitigate as much risk as possible, so we
probably over-prepared and made sure that we had more reps than maybe we needed. But
after a couple good reps and seeing those guys do it and really him practicing with a couple
different guys and a couple different iterations of it, felt good about showing those plays
and going out there and executing them in some crunch-time moments on Sunday.”
(On the ability of the offense to win gritty games) “Yeah, it’s another thing when we talk
about the guys being able to go in there and play and it’s kind of a testament to their
preparation. It’s the testament to the identity of the offense and the group as a collective
whole. That that’s who they are. That’s the way they win games, that’s the way they
practice, that’s the way they work. And nobody was phased when we were down, or even in
the first half when we were playing ugly. We didn’t start to play cleaner football until we got
into the late second quarter, into the second half. And the guys were resilient with their
mindset and their effort and their finish every single play. And that’s really the identity that
we’re trying to build and that’s who they kind of embody out there on the field. So, that’s
something that takes a lot of work and it’s the way they practice, it’s who they are every day.
It’s not something that you just show up on Sunday and say, I’m going to flip the switch and
now all of a sudden we’re going to play really hard and be able to win grimy games. They’re
going to go in there and work every day to have that outcome be possible on Sunday.”
(On the trust he has in OL Cole Van Lanen) “A lot. I think we’ve talked about it a couple
times with the versatility of a couple different offensive linemen and really throughout the
spring and training camp. Guys playing left, guys playing right, guy’s playing inside at guard,
playing outside a tackle. He’s taking snaps, he’s played all five positions on the offensive
line. And then he is running back and forth on and off the field reporting as an eligible tight
end, however many times it was 15, 20 times in the game and then goes in there and plays
guard. That’s not easy to do to switch positions. It’s a totally different world being on the
edge and then going inside a guard. So not only to prepare to do both of those things, but
then in a game to actually go out there and do it. I can’t say enough good things about Cole
and his effort to prepare and then his effort actually on the field. So, a ton of trust in a guy
like that.”
(On how much play calling changed at the end of the Raiders game due to injuries) “It
definitely caused a little bit of chaos, but that’s why you do all the preparation and go
through every conditional pregame of, okay, what if this guy goes down? What if that guy
goes down? What if these three guys go down all at the same time? And you try to have
plans and backup plans and backup plans to the backup plans of things you’re going to get
to. Most games, it doesn’t show up. You do all that preparation every week and then at the
end of the game on Sunday, you’re like, well, you did hours and hours of preparation for
different conditional plans that never happened. This so happens to finally come up and
thankfully the guys and the coaching staff—the assistant coaches did a great job,
phenomenal job preparing their guys for all of those different roles. Chuma [OL Chuma
Edoga] going in there at the end and playing tight end, a bunch of different calls. So, we
were able to still call relatively normal game. There’s always going to be a couple things you
take off the plate just from a standpoint of ease and execution. But because those guys had
done so much work preparing for all of the different things that could happen, the coaches,
the assistant position coaches and the position coaches and the players, we were able to
go out there and execute a bunch of different plays that we needed. The plays we really
needed to get to at the end at a high level to go down and win, which was huge.”
(On the foundation of his first season in the NFL) “Mine was certainly a little bit different
because of COVID, so kind of threw a wrench in it, but it’s a learning curve for sure because
there are differences. Probably more differences than I had realized at the time between
college football and the NFL. I think people make a big deal about the differences in the
players and say, ‘Well these are professionals, those are college players’, but the football
on the grass and dealing with players is very similar in a lot of ways. You still are forming
relationships with the players. You still care deeply about these guys on and off the field
and you still are so fired up when you see them go out there and succeed or execute
something that they’ve been practicing at or working at for a long time. So, a lot of those
fundamental aspects of coaching remain the same. It was really more of an adjustment to
here’s the schedule. If the games is on Sunday, you have to different weekly flow. The
offseason is a little bit different now. Mine was crazy because it was in COVID, so we were
virtual, we weren’t doing OTAs. Even training camp was a little bit different. Everybody was
separated for spacing purposes. But I think there’s so many things that are similar from
dealing with people and coaching, those foundational principles are the same, but learning
the schedule and new ways of doing things was definitely foreign. I think the one thing that
probably caught me by surprise, more so than I would like to admit is, you get through a
college season and you finish 12 games and then you look up and you’re like, oh man, we
still got like five more and potentially even more games after this, when you’re ready to be
done. We came off the BYE this past week or two weeks ago now at this point and you really
are looking at it from a guy like Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] or a guy who’s a rookie and say,
you still have basically a whole college season left. You just got to the BYE Week and you
have basically what you’ve been doing as an entire season for the rest of the year. So that’s
a definitely a mindset shift in terms of how long the season is. Those weeks kind of start to
stack together. It gets longer than you realize.”
(On how the Texans defense has improved since Week 3) “Yeah, the level that they’re
playing at, the numbers speak for themselves. They’ve been dominant in really all areas of
the game. So, they’ve improved. They were a really good defense when we played in Week
Three. Unfortunately for us, they’ve continued to improve. Those guys fly to the ball in
coverage, the rush, the run game, they’ve been lights out so it’s hard to pinpoint one area
that they’ve improved because really they’ve improved in all phases. You’re not the top
defense in the league without really being solid across the board.”
(On how to get the offense off to a faster start) “I think we’ve got to continue to find the
things that we do well and go out there and make sure we’re prepared to execute those
things at a high level. And as coaches, we’ve got to continue to find ways to get guys to
settle in and be able to perform at the level we know they’re capable of performing at. You
see what they’re capable of at the end of the game when kind of the nerves wear out and
they get into a rhythm. So, the challenge to us is how can we get them in the best situation
possible early, right away from the get go and make sure they feel comfortable to go out
there and execute right away. We know that they’re capable of that and we’re capable of
getting into a grove, but we got to continue to try to find ways, whether it’s schematically or
different personnels or even the way we prepare on Saturday or Friday at the end of the
week when we start to kind of dial in on how we want to start the game. Changing up and
doing more or maybe doing less or taking different avenues to prepare those guys.”
