HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) are back at work trying to fix a faltering franchise before they head to Los Angeles this Sunday to take on the (1-4) Rams.
The Silver and Black are not good enough to head to Los Angeles and beat the Rams and themselves.
That is why player execution and tremendous leadership from the coaching staff are critical to the win.
Today, OC Luke Getsy addressed the media, and we have everything he said for you.
You can watch that presser in its entirety below:
Below is a transcript of Getsy’s entire press conference today:
Q: You lose Davante Adams at WR1, but you still have one. Would you talk about Jakobi Meyers and what he can do even more now?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, I think anytime a player like Tae [Davante Adams], and you plan and do whatever, and you have to move on to a different direction, whether it be injury, or whether it be this type of situation, whatever it might be, you're always going to have those things that happen during the season, and then the luxury of having versatile players on your roster is really cool, and it helps ease that burden, and you find different ways to go attack what you're trying to attack. And Jakobi [Meyers] is an outstanding example of that, like the flexibility to be outside, inside, in the backfield or whatever, and the football IQ capability to be able to handle all that, the toughness to handle all that stuff, all that just exemplifies who he is."
Q: First drive coming out of the second half, first-and-20, that's not your fault. That's a player execution mistake. But you run up the middle, second-and-18, then you throw on third down. Maybe take us through, again, not specifics, but just your strategy and your play calling philosophy."
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, you go through your whole week of preparation, right? And you have a plan for everything that you're going to see in the game. And occasionally you get kind ofsurprised by a few things, but usually not. And in those situations, sometimes you're in second and long and you want to run it, and sometimes you're in second and long, and you want to throw it, and it's more about what you expect to see. And I think as you're going through the game, now you're the second half, you're evaluating what the defense is doing to you too. So then from that perspective, you give your guys a chance to go execute a play. And we did that. We gave our guys a chance. Did we execute them? No, obviously not. We didn't do a very good job of that. But as far as run or pass, I don't think one gives you a better opportunity to get the other, right? The mindset is, when you get back on track, as we refer to, we're trying to get half of it back. And whatever that is, if it's a throw down the field, if it's a screen, if it's a draw, if it's a run, whatever it might be, yeah that plan happens during the week, and we make sure that we take a look at everything and whatever the best opportunity to get us that opportunity to get half of it back, that's what we're trying to get done."
Q: Yesterday, Davante Adams said he felt helpless in the offense kind of as far as ability to make an impact. Why do you think it went wrong? Where did it go wrong with Davante you think, asfar as having an impact in your offense?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, I don't know the answer to that to be honest with you. I think after all those conversations, his whole time here, for whatever reason it went the way that it went. We wish him nothing but the best, right? Obviously, I have a pretty special relationship with him, and so I wish him nothing but the best. But as far as all that other stuff we're in great shape. We feel great about who we have in the building, and we're just moving forward."
Q: In the first drive on Sunday, Alexander Mattison had a lot of touches and then didn't get touches the next couple of series. What's your philosophy on balancing out, making sure that a player gets into the flow of the game, versus mixing it up a little bit?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, I think that's - what was the first drive, 10 or 11 plays, right? And I think he took all 10 or 11, and so you want to give balance to all the guys. And then in that particular week, you had Ameer [Abdullah] in. And we had a really - that first play coming out in the second drive obviously we went three and out, but whatever you want to call it, just our guard turning just a little bit to his left away from a 40- yard gain on a screen that Ameer is running wild and we're all going crazy. And then credit to Ameer too, because the rest of that game, I think his play style, his running, obviously he had the issue on the goal line, but other than that, I thought he was running hard. He was doing a great job. So to be able to have multiple guys do that stuff, I think that's really important. I think that going through one game or a season with one guy taking a ton of the carries, or having to handle all the protection issues and stuff like that, I think it's impossible. And so we want to get more than one guy going, we always will. And I think whenever we go through the game, we do a pretty good job of evaluating exactly kind of who has the hot hand, and we usually stick with it."
Q: Has Alexander Mattison kind of earned that first spot, or is Zamir White coming back make it like a platoon?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, I mean to answer your question, 22 [Mattison] has earned everything he's gotten since he's been here, right? He's kind of done it the right way. He's come in, he's he's worked hard. He's not expected anything. He's earned everything. And I think all the reps and his play style and his efficiency in what we're trying to get done. He knows what to do, how to do it, the way to do it. He's taking care of the football, all that stuff. So I think he's earned all those opportunities for sure."
Q: I know that Brock Bowers is listed as a tight end, but now maybe more so, maybe even more pronounced in terms of his versatility and just being an ultimate kind of a weapon. Does this open the door maybe for him to show more of what he's even capable of doing and being a part of this offense?
Coach Getsy: "I mean, I'm going to say yes, because I think he's a young man that's capable of a lot of things. And I think what makes him so dynamic though is that he plays the position in the complete sense. He can play in-line, he can get off the rock, he can block, he can do pass protection. He can run routes out of it. He can run from the backfield. You can widen him out and he can run them. So from that sense, I think that versatility, same thing we're talking about with Jakobi [Meyers], that's what makes it so dynamic, right? Because he's not only just capable, but he's more than willing, and he loves this game and when you have a bunch of guys like those guys that love the game, that are playing that way, and they could do a lot of different things, because they just got a really high football IQ, it really opens up a lot of stuff. And we hope just keep continue to build his game, right? It's not something we're trying to put everything on him. We want to just let his game just continue to grow each and every week."
Q: Has there been any discussion about moving you upstairs to get a different perspective on the game rather than keep you on the field?
Coach Getsy: "I mean I think that that part of it is a little bit irrelevant in my mind. I think we had that discussion maybe in training camp. I think you guys asked me that question. And my perspective of being able to see or being able to communicate on the sideline is really cool, really important. And I think the benefit of being upstairs is that maybe you get a bigger picture of the whole thing. So, I've done it in college. I told you in college when I called it, I was upstairs, and this level I've been on the field, so I'm comfortable either way."
Q: You guys have talked about you like that Aidan O'Connell kind of gets the ball out quickly and makes decisions pretty quickly. But would you like to see him be a little bit more aggressive in situations, in terms of pushing the ball downfield, maybe taking some shots to him over to develop, and maybe he's not getting the ball out of his hands as quickly?
Coach Getsy: "I mean, there's probably momentsthat you could say, 'Yes', and then there's momentsthat you would say, 'No.’ I think that's the cool part of playing this position, is knowing when you have those exact opportunities, you've got to take them. Or even as you go through the week and you plan and you say, 'Hey, when this is the call, the expectation of this call is that we're taking that opportunity.' So, are there a few of those? Sure, but that's every week with every quarterback, to be honest with you. And some guys are just a little bit more, and some guys are a little bit less, but I think it's all part of the growth and where we're going with them. But like you said, I thought what was really cool to see, I just thought his footwork was awesome this past week. I thought the processing part of it was awesome. He really impressed me with a lot of that stuff. You could see his growth from where he's come along in his career."
Q: At the start of the season, you struggled with getting that early start. Now, you've had back-to-back games with good starts, but then kind of just dies off. So, what's the message to your team, and how do you get them to play those four quarters?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, I mean if we just look at it very critically, we've just got to take care of that ball, right? That's the thing that a lot of that stuff that will go away if we get rid of that part of it. And these other teams are good too, so you're going to have plays that don't go your way. And I think handling the adversity of all that stuff is really important, and I think we're getting way better at that each and every week. And so, we've just got to continue to do that. And whether it's a fast start or whether you've got to play the middleweight or you've got to finish strong, I think those guys are all on the same page, and we're just going to continue to get better with it all. I really do believe that. I think you see it out there, I think the way you see these young guys like DJ [Glaze] and Jackson [Powers-Johnson] and Brock [Bowers] and all these guys, it's just getting better each and every week. I think it's all really positive, and we're really excited about where it's going."
Q: Tre Tucker's been a guy that you've been able to take shots down the field with, however, how much more involved would you like to see him kind of in the short game and the intermediate route game, stuff like that, instead of having to always go deep?
Coach Getsy: "I think Tuck [Tre Tucker] is capable of doing a lot of that stuff and he already kind of really has, to be honest with you. I think part of it all goes with who's in the game and how we're doing and how we're going about it. And now, there's more opportunity for him now, too. So, I'm excited to see him kind of grow in all those different areas. And, I mean he's as tough as they come. I mean, you guys watch the film, you go in there and he's sticking his face on second level defenders, third level defenders all game long. So, he's capable of doing all that. And we're excited to see where he can take this thing now, moving forward."
Q: The Rams have allowed a lot of yardsthrough the run game, and obviously you have struggled a little bit. But do you feel like this is a game where you can have a productive run game?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, absolutely. Not necessarily because of them, that’s part of it, but because we believe in what we're doing, and we believe we're getting better at what we're doing, we got to get more cracks, right? We had 20 snaps in the first half last week, 20 before it becomes a two-minute drive. And so we’ve got to find a way to get more cracks at the bat. And I think that's as much as anything. If you're living in that 55 to 60 play games, you're not going to get those types of numbers or opportunities. You're not going to see a 20-carry game from somebody. So, we’ve got to execute better as we come out, and can't have the three and out, we got to execute better and finish that thing. And I think that's what changes all that stuff. We take care of the ball, and we can start those drives a little bit cleaner. All that stuff, as far as balance and where we're going, and all that stuff will clean itself up."
Q: Can you talk about your two rookie offensive linemen?
Coach Getsy: "Yeah, it's really cool, young players, I mean I threw Brock [Bowers] in there too. I think it’s just really cool to see how these guys have come in here, their confidence, their comfort and playing the game at this level, and their ability to pick up things, right? And you try to do your best to kind of grow it. But these guys really allow you to go out. They go out one time, and whether they make the mistake or they got it, like the next time they're not making the mistake. And I think that on top of their play style, their relentlessness, I think that's just all really cool stuff for future Raiders. Yeah, it's going to look good."
Q: Going back to Brock Bowers, why is he so good after the catch?
Coach Getsy: "He's a natural football player. And what I mean by that, he understands spacing, his awareness of what's going on around him. I think all that's real. I think so when he catches the ball and he knows he has space, there's no wasted movement. There's no figure it out. There's no bubble around it. It's catch, drop, step, get vertical and go, right? So, you're seeing him catch checkdowns and they're turning into explosives. And so, all that awareness of space and the people around you is something special that not everybody has, but he hasit. And I think that on top of understanding where he'ssupposed to be conceptually, and then the toughness part of it. I think that that part of it is probably the most important."
