Head Coach Jack Del Rio
Victory Monday.
The Silver and Black chalked up another victory in the "W" column on Sunday, as they beat the Tennessee Titans 17-10. Jack Del Rio was back in Alameda, Calif. on Monday to discuss the game and where he thinks the team can continue to get better. The Raiders Head Coach also shared his thoughts on the recent transaction the organization has made regarding Pro Bowl fullback Marcel Reece.
Here are the quick hits from Del Rio's press conference:
**Monday the Raiders released fullback Marcel Reece, and Del Rio weighed in on the former Pro Bowler.
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"Don't know that the suspension played a big part in the decision. Really other than to allow the guys that played… The backfield that we have, we're using all those guys. They're all doing a nice job in the roles that they have. We feel like it's a good group, and we don't want to disrupt it. Well, I think I pretty much laid it out in the statement. I have a lot of respect for him as man and a lot of respect for him as a player. I appreciate the effort that he gave here for the Raider organization. Wish him nothing but the best going forward."
He talked about the amount of rookies and undrafted players getting playing time.
"Not as we came out of camp, no. No, I think we knew. The number of undrafted [rookies] might be high because I know several of those guys are undrafted guys. We felt good about the draft class, the draft picks, the guys we brought in. That's a good sign for us that those guys are helping us win on the road."
Del Rio provided his thoughts on Sunday's game overall and how he felt the team performed.
We started fast. Offensively, went down in the opening drive. We did a good job controlling the ball at the end of the first half and getting that touchdown. Then obviously they tried to do something late and we had a potential opportunity for a field goal that they ended up not allowing us to make that attempt there…I thought overall our secondary was a whole lot sharper. Forced three turnovers on defense – that was good stuff."
He elaborated more on all three phases of the team coming together to be successful.
"Well, I think the good news is we've shown signs of those two phases, and there's a third phase, special teams, that we'd like to get rolling as well to be impactful. And, the idea is to get all three phases really working together and playing complementary football. So yeah, we work hard at all three phases. I'm very invested and very into the details of all three units and making sure that they're operating at a high level."
Del Rio shared his thoughts on how rookie linebacker Cory James and safety Karl Joseph performed in their first NFL start.
"I think they did a nice job, as I suspected. There are plenty of things we'll clean up with it. Karl [Joseph] was good, he was good. He came up and hit people and communicated well, did the right things showing up. He was part of that secondary that played very well. Cory [James] made a couple of rookie mistakes, but he's a tough kid. He finds the football and I thought they both played pretty well for their first opportunity to start."
He expressed his confidence in defensive end Khalil Mack and thinks he's doing a solid job on defense.
"He'll get his numbers. I think he just keeps doing what he does, keep playing ball. It's not about Khalil [Mack]. It's about us. What he did was he was a part of a pass defense that allowed 2-of-12 on third down that came up with three interceptions, or two interceptions and a fumble, three takeaways. There's more to playing in football than getting sacks and there's more that he's involved in. He's directly involved in everything that we're doing and he's a fine football player and he's busting his butt and doing a nice job for us. Just keep playing."
