CB Xavien Howard
(Congratulations on the Pro Bowl berth. Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander said something earlier today that I thought was interesting. He said in the moment of truth, Xavien Howard plays to win. He doesn’t play not to lose. What’s the difference between playing to win a play on the ball and playing not to lose?) – “I feel like it’s just finish. Finishing strong and not just giving up plays – even if you give up plays, finish or attack the ball and try to make something happen for the team.”
(Last night, were you with family when you found out or did you celebrate with a drink at home, were you studying for the Raiders, what were you doing?) – “I was watching football. I was watching the football game when I heard I got selected for the Pro Bowl. It was cool and everything. I don’t want to feel arrogant, but it didn’t surprise me. Right now, my main goal is to finish what’s in front of us and take on the Raiders this week.”
(You guys now after that Steelers vs. Bengals game have the No. 1 scoring defense in the league. You were the only Pro Bowl selection from your defense. Did you think the rest of the guys should be getting a little more recognition?) – “Yes. I definitely feel that. All the guys want to get recognized that are performing well on defense. I feel like if we take care of what’s in front of us right now – with that being said, we’ve got to take care of what’s in front of us right now. We can’t focus on the individual goals right now.”
(Does this Pro Bowl nod mean more than the one in 2018 because of how last season went or you with the knee problems, and the fact that it’s coming in a season where the team is making a push for the playoffs?) – “I feel like after everything I’ve been through, with the knee surgery and everything, it means a lot. There are a lot of things that are in store for us for me and the team. If we just take care of what’s in front of us right now, everything will pay out.”
(How is it that the No. 1 scoring defense in the league has only one Pro Bowl player? How does that happen?) – “We get overlooked, I feel like. Miami always gets overlooked. If some of the guys were on a different team or something like that, they’d get recognized. But just us as a team, we can pick that off with a Super Bowl and everybody will be happy. If we just control what’s in front of us and take care of the Raiders this week, we’ll be great.”
(Speaking of the Raiders, you know they have the speed receivers but TE Darren Waller, how tough of a matchup is he because you see he runs all the routes and can get over the top?) – “I definitely see that from that guy. I was just talking about him. He also lines up at receiver. That guy is a problem. I think he had almost 200 yards last game. He’s a threat. That’s one of the guys we definitely have to look out for.”
(Somebody mentioned earlier the no. 1 scoring defense. How important is that for you all as a team to finish with that and have that on your resume?) – “I feel like we don’t pay attention to the accolades that they have for the Miami Dolphins defense. We just focus on playing week-in and week-out and just really performing.”
(You almost had a fumble recovery touchdown. I think that would have been the icing on the cake for Defensive Player of the Year. Talk about that award. Obviously that is something you want to reach for. You want to be considered for that, right?) – “Right. That’s definitely a goal of mine; but like I said, if we take care of the Raiders this week, everything else will take care of itself.”
(Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander was saying you were probably a receiver in high school and I know you were, right?) – “Yeah.”
(Can you talk about where you learned to not be afraid of the football and to believe that it’s yours? The second question, if you can answer two for us, one is ball skills and then the second one is he was saying you’re a willing tackler. You’re not afraid to mix it up. How important is it to you to be perceived as a complete player. Where do you get the ball skills and where do you get the willingness to mix it up and get dirty in there?) – “This is where I come from. I feel like just being a kid in the neighborhood and just throwing the ball up and catch it with some of the older guys. I just wasn’t afraid to play against some of the older guys. I always played against older guys. I feel like that made me better. I feel like that’s where I get my ball skills and also being a physical corner too.”
Outside Linebackers Coach Austin Clark
(I noticed you guys get a lot of your sacks late in games. I was wondering, is there a change in terms of philosophy once the opposing offense has to put the ball up in the air more? Do you coach it differently? Why is there more sack production late in games?) – “There’s definitely a part of situational awareness, whether that’s down-and-distance, score of the game, how much time is left, all those type of things. Last week was a good example of guys finishing the game and we always want to affect the quarterback. If sacks come, that’s great. I’m fired up for those guys.”
(LB Elandon Roberts has this Dark Grind deal where he talks about how you go through stuff where you have to grind every day and other people outside might not realize the grind you go through on a daily basis. Did you get a Dark Grind hat? Have you seen this Dark Grind thing at all and what do you think about it?) – “I’m all in. I’ll tell you this – no, I don’t have a hat. Shaq Lawson’s got a brand, too. I’m on all those guys. I learned a phrase a long time ago from an old coach that said, ‘if it’s free, give me three,’ so I’m going to need a couple of those. (laughter) But Elandon Roberts is a hard-nosed guy. He does a great job in the middle for us and I’m excited about everything he’s doing on and off the field.”
S Bobby McCain
(Obviously you’re really close with CB Xavien Howard. I wanted to ask you what is it about him that makes him have a real nose for the ball out there?) – “He’s a real playmaker. He attacks the football. One of the biggest things that people don’t understand is we’re – he’s in a lot of man coverage and he’s attacking the football in man-to-man coverage and that’s elite. He’s definitely in an elite group or company of people. He deserves everything he gets coming for him. He definitely does have a nose for the ball.”
(You’ve been here for quite a while. This is the first time you’ve been a part of an elite defense. You guys are ranked up there in the top three of most of the important statistical categories. What is the difference? What is the secret sauce?) – “Just doing your job. We’ve got 11 guys on the field that want to do their job and do it well and play for each other. That’s one of the biggest things is just playing for each other and understanding that we’re a family, not just a football team. We have a lot of guys that are being selfless, doing their jobs and taking on blocks upfront, or whether it’s the back end or the linebackers. Regardless of what your role is, everybody is just doing what they’re supposed to do and having fun doing it.”
(CB Xavien Howard is the only player on this defense that ends up making the Pro Bowl on a team that is the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL. What are your thoughts on DE Emmanuel Ogbah not making it or any of the other guys from this defense and only Howard making the Pro Bowl?) – “It definitely sucks, especially in our situation. I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at the NFL and do this and do that. We all know that ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is deserving and we all know there is a couple of other guys on the team that deserve it as well. That’s not my role, that’s not my job to sit back and tell you what their job is; but we have a couple of guys that could’ve made it. It’s disappointing but we know we’re looking for bigger goals in the near future.”
(You guys are the No. 1 scoring defense. Is that a goal to keep that by the end of the year? How important is that moniker for you guys?) – “We just want to keep winning football games. To be honest, I don’t even pay attention to what number we’re ranked on defense. Really, some of the first time I hear it is from y’all. We just try to go in each and every week and get better. We try to play better than we did last week. That’s really the goal and that’s our goal as a team, to win every week. All of these games are big games, huge games for us right now, so very week we’re just trying to focus up on the Raiders.”
(How’s your ankle doing? You seem to come out really well last week. How are you doing from a health standpoint and especially with the Raiders, they seem to be throwing the ball all over the field, especially with QB Marcus Mariota?) – “I’m doing all right. I’ll be fine.”
(Last year exactly at this time, you were preparing to face the Bengals in Week 16 with the No. 1 overall pick at stake. A year later in Week 16, you’re in the thick of a playoff race. How crazy is it to think how far this team has come in just one year?) – “It’s definitely an exciting time of year right now for us and this organization. We’re going to take advantage of it and take advantage of each and every one of these opportunities, and just try to make the best of them and just try to get wins. Keep winning, keep preparing and preparing each and every week like it’s your last week. If you keep doing that, you just keep going and going and going.”
(These two games right here in mid-December, late-December football – they mean everything for your team. What’s the difference in these games versus a Week 2 matchup or when you’re not playing for something?) – “Because we’re playing for something.”
(When you’re playing for something, is there a different mindset? Is the approach different? There’s got to be anxiety. What’s the feel for a game that doesn’t have much on the line?) – “You try to make it as normal of a week as you can. Even though we know the stakes of winning and losing games, each and every week you’ve got to go in and prepare the same and be the same and even-keeled. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Just remain the same throughout the week and throughout the season so when these moments do come up, you’re not too excited or you don’t have too much anxiety. You’re just going out there and playing football and doing what you know.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
