Head Coach Jack Del Rio
The Oakland Raiders are just two days away from their Week 4 kickoff against the Baltimore Ravens. Heading into the game, the Silver and Black are ranked as the second-best offense in yards per game this season, while the Ravens are ranked second in yards per game allowed. The number two offense and defense will be locked in to battle at M&T Bank Stadium at 10:00 a.m. this Sunday. Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio spoke with the media on Friday to discuss how the team has prepared for the matchup.
Here are the quick hits from his time at the podium:
**Del Rio discussed how he thought rookie linebacker Cory James' first NFL start went and how he can continue developing.
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"It really went, really, the way we hoped. He went in. Don't feel like the moment is too big for him. We feel like he settled in and competed. We'll clean a few things up with technique and making sure the eyes are exactly where they belong, all those kinds of things, but he plays hard. He's got a little ruggedness to him. So yeah, he did a good job."
He added to his comment on James by mentioning whoever is more involved with the play calling will serve as the "green dot."
"Yeah, whoever has the majority of the play calling gets the green dot. That's what's behind the green dot. So if it's ever him that's getting the lead share, then he'd have the green dot; whoever's involved in the most packages. They'd make it a lot simpler if they just let us talk to everybody."
Fellow rookie Karl Joseph made his first start at safety last week, and Del Rio talked about his performance.
"As a team, that's what we need to do; keep progressing. Use last week's secondary as the floor. We can do more, but that's the standard that should be set and what we should expect. Karl was a big part of that. There's room for growth, but it was a good start."
The Raiders Head Coach shared his thoughts on the play of the offensive line and their overall versatility.
"[Matt] McCants and Vadal both took a lot of reps at that spot and some other guys did as well just in case. I think all of our guys are ready to go whichever way we end up going. I think our football team feels confident that we've got good players and they know what they're doing. We know we have a great challenge with their front and [Elvis] Dumervil coming back, so we're excited about going up there and competing."
Del Rio expressed how the team has recuperated and will prepare for its third road game in four weeks.
"I mean we'll find out. How well you recover this week going back and forth from West to East, the demands that are there. We'll see. We addressed it. We worked hard at it. We understand it's a challenge, but I feel like our guys have worked hard at it. We understand the things we need to be doing to recover properly and now we want to travel real well and go compete."
