McDaniels on the Home Opener: “I Feel Confident That Our Guys Know What to Do.” | Press Conference

McDaniels on the Home Opener: “I Feel Confident That Our Guys Know What to Do.” | Press Conference

It’s your first game back as a team. Yeah. Um I don’t think it was really a big reaction. Um you know, there’s every year, every team is different, you know, and um there’s obviously people on a lot of teams in the league that we all have familiarity with or know well. Um certainly there’s some people there that I still know well and uh have relationships with and hopefully will have forever. Um but just excited about our opportunity, you know, to to get going. Um excited to be home on opening day. Um I think there’s a difference between playing on the road and being at home on opening day and we’re one of the teams that has the opportunity to be here in front of our home crowd and um you know try to get off to a good start. So um just excited for the the preparation, really excited to see what our guys do um for the first time uh in a in a game setting. Uh, we know it’ll be a big challenge. It’s a good team with um a lot of good players and obviously the the unknown of how much is Pete’s influence with Pat and Pat’s influence with Pete and got a really good coaching staff, a lot of experience. Um, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds uh like it is on most opening days. Maybe setting aside your own personal experience with that franchise. What is this week about? How difficult is the challenge of team planning for a team at a relatively new coach? Uh, you know, I think opening days there’s always some um healthy anxiety because you just don’t know. Um, none of us know exactly what we’re going to get from the other team in terms of strategy or schematics. Um, you have an idea, but they have every right to hide everything they want to do and uh as do we. So, um, you’re always going to see things you didn’t necessarily practice or prepare for on opening day. Um, I think opening day is really more about, uh, yourself and trusting your rules and how well have you ingrained those rules into your team so that whenever you get a look, uh, defense, um, a blitz, a coverage, um, you just you trust that you know what to do. Um, and then you just got to follow your rules. And I think the second part of opening day is it’s I think it’s always about making an adjustment. You know, you’re going to have to you’re going to see some things that force you to turn left or right. Um you know, as soon as you kind of see it becoming a pattern. Um and then, you know, how quickly can you do it and how well can you uh acclimate to what the game’s actually becoming, you know? So, whatever you prepared for is one thing. What happens on opening day is usually a separate thing. um high, you know, I mean, he’s the quarterback of our of our football team and so I’ve always had high expectations for the quarterback room in general. Um I know how hard they work, so um I have confidence in his preparation. Um I know there’s going to be opportunities to improve as we go through every day, every every week. um it’s my first opportunity to to coach a game uh with him and with a lot of our guys, you know, so I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot, but um I always go in, you know, my feelings are always based on what I see every day and how hard they work and what they put into it. And I couldn’t ask Drake to do more than what he’s doing. He’s trying um, you know, to to to understand exactly what we’re doing. Uh is really um you trying to be as well versed as he can on what we know from the Raiders. Um, but uh just looking forward to going out there and watching him play and and seeing our entire group out there together. Josh, I know this is almost two years ago now, but obviously things didn’t end the way you wanted in Las Vegas. So, in terms of the lessons you took from why that happened the way it did, what are those lessons and how are they helping you now in I think there’s a lot. I mean, there’s probably so many there’s too many things that you learn from each experience to list them in terms of uh a press conference. I appreciate the question, but we can talk. Yeah, we can. Yeah, that we might need a while. Um, but I think, you know, you you go into every opportunity and this is my next one, you know. Um, and you do the best that you can and you learn a lot about um you you learn more honestly when you when you fail than when you you know have success. So, always tried to take each opportunity um as an experience that I can learn from. um some you learn more from than others. And uh the one thing I know I’ve I’ve tried to to to get really good at um over the course of time is just, you know, take the lessons and digest those and use them for something positive. You know, there’s no reason to have I don’t have any I don’t harbor any ill will towards any of the things that haven’t worked out in my career, you know, and there’s been many of them. And you know, it’s it’s you, you do the best you can with uh what you have and you know, you give everything you have to the job that you’re in and you hope it works out, you know, the best the best that it can. So, um you know, like I said, I have a lot of relationships across the league that are good and healthy and um hope to continue those. Josh, how well prepared is your group? this is the way you want it to be, but understanding and grasping and getting ready with this offense going into opening day. Yeah. I mean, it’s always a kind of a balance opening day where you just, you know, you don’t want to try to do too much, you know, cuz you can, you know, sit there and say you think it’s going to be A, B, and C and all of a sudden you get in the game and it’s E, F, and G, and now you’re, you know, you’re you’re changing gears already anyway. So, um I think there’s a certain um element of foundational things that we kind of know and I feel confident that our guys know what to do depending on the look we get and and then everything else is going to be, you know, uh ready to adjust if we need to. So, um confident in our approach. Um certainly not going to overdo the game plan in terms of volume and, you know, all these things we’re you’re guaranteeing you’re going to get, you know, because I don’t think there’s anybody that can do that. Um, and just get our guys as prepared as we can to do the things we know how to do well and then go out there and play fast and be aggressive and u follow your rules and talk to each other and adjust if we need to. Curious with the offensive line. Um, we saw some shuffling specifically at left guard uh towards the end of camp. Do you feel like you have a set starting five now? And if so, what’s your level of confidence in those guys? I have a high level of confidence in every one of our guys. Um, I’ll let uh Coach Raves tell you guys what the starting five is. I’m sure he’ll be eager to do that. Um, but you know, uh, I I think our our group has worked really hard. Um, and and you guys have seen it. I mean, we have young players. We have some experienced veterans. We have some players that are new to the team. Um, and and have some experience elsewhere. So, um, just continue to try to teach and and improve our techniques and fundamentals. And I think, you know, like it’s early in the season. Um, nobody’s played a full game uh in a long time. And so I think, you know, whatever the the final number is you go, you know, go in with on opening day, every one of those guys is going to be prepared to play. Um, and if we need them and if we want to use them to provide ourselves with some depth uh at whatever the position is, I think that’s worthwhile doing early in the season. You’ve worked for a lot of head coaches over the years. Uh it’s been several months with Mike. Just a little few thoughts on what is like working for him. Yeah. Um it’s, you know, it’s fun. Um I know he does a really good job of balancing the grind of football with the uh the human element of how difficult this job can be both from a player’s perspective and a coaching perspective. Um I’m really enjoying his perspective on that. Um and how he keeps it fresh. um you know he he’ll chase us out of here you know when it’s time you know to get out of here you know which I I appreciate um he knows how long the season can be and you know rest and and trying to keep your yourself in a healthy place is is an important part of it too so um that’s been great and and I’ve learned a lot you know I mean it’s been a long time since I was with uh with Mike um you know as as a I was a young coach and he was a player and so He’s obviously learned a tremendous amount from the people that he’s been fortunate to work around and then he’s adapted his philosophy when he had the opportunity to become a head coach. And I learned something new every day and that’s a great thing for me at this point in my life just you know going to a squad meeting listen pick up things from him you know how he’s handling the day the week the players etc. Um, it’s really uh it’s really gave me a a cool opportunity at this stage to to work for somebody new, different that has a little bit of a different spin on things, but certainly believes uh in everything we’re doing and I know that we all we all support that 100%. We heard a little bit from Steph yesterday and just in your experience, does he look like a guy who’s ready to go? Sure. Yeah, I hope so. I mean, that’s what I’m planning on. Tremendous studying the 2014 Super Bowl and the 2020 COVID game against Pete Carol’s defense. I was just curious because you played Pete Carol a few times over the years. What about those games specifically made those good teaching tools in this week? Uh Pete, look, Pete’s one of the the the best coaches in the history of our league, you know, and has has done it, you know, uh in pro football for a long time at an elite level. coached in college football, same thing. Produced wherever he’s been. Um, always has uh an incredibly difficult um defensive perspective. It’s changed some over the years. Everybody always says, “Well, everything’s the Seattle 3.” It’s not all Seattle 3, you know what I mean? So, um, he’s evolved and I think that’s a sign of a great coach. um he’s evolved what he’s done. Depending on the people that he has, depending on the the year that you know you look at, it’s not the same, you know, and um I think that’s the mark of a great coach is he looks at his team, decides what the strengths and weaknesses are, figures out how to use them the best way that he can. And so I just, you know, we’ve seen a lot of different tape. you know, we’re not getting married to one game or another from the past because there’s nothing, you know, you can’t you can’t really, you know, pinpoint one thing that, you know, you’re going to get, you know, on opening day. So, um, just try to subject our guys to a little bit of, hey, you know, historically they’ve done a little bit of this, they’ve done a little bit of that. When you add Patrick Graham in there and all the things Patrick’s done, I mean, you got a Rubik’s cube, you know. So, um, we’re just trying to, look, we at the end of the day, it’s about us, you know, our fundamentals, our techniques, our approach, our communication, and ultimately our execution and, you know, taking care of the ball and, um, giving ourselves an opportunity in the second half because we know a lot of these games are won then. Yep. Thank you.

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels addresses the media on Thursday, September 4, 2025.

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