Q: How are you feeling physically? Everything all good now?
McCown: "Yeah, I'm doing better. Thanks for asking."
Q: Did you practice already today?
McCown: "Yes, we practiced and things went good. Good Wednesday practice for us."
Q: Anything jump out on the Raiders film defensively?
McCown: "I mean a lot jumps out. They're a good defense. Obviously, starting from the back end down, Charles [Woodson] is Charles. I played against him when I was in Chicago and he was in Green Bay. For a while now. It's awesome to see him out there, and it's encouraging as a fellow old guy that he's out there running around making plays and doing what he's doing. Seeing how dialed in these guys are as far as where they're supposed to be in their drops and in the style of defense they're playing, they're playing hard. Linebackers are good players. Then obviously with Khalil Mack and Justin Tuck in the front, it's a good group and we understand that. We feel like Mack is an exceptional player, obviously. We know we're going to have our hands full. We're going to have to go out and play good football to move the ball against these guys, it's a good defense."
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Q: They still don't have a sack. Is there anything you see with their pass rush that's not happening yet?**
McCown: "No. In our mind that just means that they're going to be that much more hungry to get there. They've been close. They certainly got their fair hits on the quarterback. We'll have a plan to neutralize that as much as we can, however we can, both with scheme and with extra guys and things like that. They're good. You have to account for these guys because at any moment they can disrupt the game and change the game. This is the NFL and it's early in the season. It's early too in the season. It's hard to paint a team one way or another. They don't come out and have two sacks. These guys are good pass rushers. I mean they don't have sacks in two games, it doesn't mean anything to us because it's so early. These guys are good pass rushers, and they can get after you, so we'll have to account for them."
Q: Did the coaches tell you once you were cleared that you would go right back to that starting spot?
McCown: "They told me after I was cleared. Yes. So really it wasn't a conversation until I was cleared because it didn't need to be. But after I was cleared, they said, 'Hey, you're back up.' As a competitor that's what you hope for, that's what you expect and then you move accordingly. I'm excited to be back in there."
Q: They've given up two touchdowns to tight ends these last two weeks. Is your guy getting excited over there?
McCown: "Yeah. I think there's obviously some opportunity there. Those two guys, first two weeks, are exceptional players in [Tyler] Eifert and [Crockett] Gillmore. There may be some areas to take advantage of that. But again, like I said with the sack thing, when things like that happen, especially early, you know they're looking to correct it. So it's not just a given that you can go out there and just think we'll expose that. They have practice Wednesday through Friday as well, so you know that they're going to work to make those corrections. Like every game plan, our tight end is involved for sure. But to say that he's any more involved this week, I don't think is fair. It's just as much as normal probably."
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Q: Derek Carr gave a lot of credit to John DeFilippo. How has DeFilippo as a coach for you?**
McCown: "'Flip' [Offensive coordinator John DeFilippo] has been great. His approach is just making the quarterback feel as comfortable and as confident as possible when you get to the line of scrimmage. Giving the quarterback the tools to work with to get himself in the right position to be successful. He obviously did a good job with that last year with Derek [Carr]. To see Derek from last year to this year and see the steps he's made, obviously there was a great foundation laid there by 'Flip.' We're thankful to have 'Flip' in the situation we're in. Both for myself and developing Johnny [Manziel]. Based off of the success and the steps that Derek took last year and where he's progressing this year, it makes us even more excited to have 'Flip' here."
Q: What have you seen from Travis Benjamin? McCown: "We feel good about our receiving room. Everybody always asks the question about us not having a guy or the guy obviously with Josh Gordon suspended. But we feel really good about that room, and we have all spring. I think what we've seen out of Travis is reflective of that. And we feel like there are other guys that can make plays like that, too. Time will tell, we'll see more of that from other people too, but we're certainly hoping that Travis keeps that up. When you have speed like that, it adds an extra element to any offense. When you have a guy that can knock off the top of the coverage and make the play on the ball, that's the key. A lot of teams will have fast guys, but you get them down there and they can't track deep balls, they won't make the catch. With Travis, he's shown that not only can he get behind people, but he can adjust to the ball and make catches and make plays and finish plays. He certainly brings an extra dynamic that I don't think is necessarily around the NFL. Not everybody has a guy like that, so we're thankful to have Travis."
