Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak has been a sealed vault. The first-year leader doesn't say a lot to the media, whether it's referring to Ashton Jeanty as "on the mend" or refusing to name a starting QB, even though it doesn't take a genius to see the writing on the wall in Las Vegas.
This week, however, Kubiak did provide some more concrete updates for Raider Nation, at least when it came to a trio of injuries currently plaguing the team. And after the team's preseason finale, Kubiak said a handful of interesting things with roster cutdown day on the horizon this Sunday.
So, let's take a look at everything that Kubiak said. Whether you missed his two post-game press conferences, couldn't find the time or simply like reading better, we've got you covered right here with every word that came out of his mouth.
- Raiders Injuries
- General Takeaways and Comments
- On Fernando Mendoza
- On Roster Battles
- Roster Evaluation
- On Specific Players
- Roster Cutdowns
Raiders Injuries
Keyron Crawford:
"Obviously, Keyron [Crawford] went down, has an ankle. We'll evaluate him further."
"We're still gathering information there, so got to spend some more time with medical this morning, and we'll further evaluate him."
Ashton Jeanty:
"He's still on the mend and we're still working to get him back. We got another week to assess how he's going to look going into this first game, but we're counting on him."
Dont'e Thornton Jr.:
“He's still working to come back from an injury, working really hard at it too. And that's part of football, injuries are part of football, and he's straining to get better to get back on the field.”
General Takeaways and Comments
On Raiders playing first-stringers:
"That was my decision. Just wanted our guys to play together, so I was excited to get them out there together."
When asked about the Raiders' leadership:
"We have good leadership on both sides of the ball. Maxx [Crosby] has been excellent throughout, the way he plays, the way he talks to the team. I think there's leaders that are building on the offensive side of the ball. I like where we're at."
On the OL against the 49ers' pass rush:
"That's the NFL, and every week it's going to be that. It's going to be just like Maxx [Crosby]'s practices every day. That's the NFL. Offensively, we got to find a better way to get points on the board."
When asked about the importance of this game:
"The special teams reps are so important. Those are critical overall. Guys did a better job with penalties, played much better technically tonight but you're just trying to see those bottom of the roster guys. How much value can they add to your team, so I look forward to watching the special teams film."
On the third-down defense:
"Yeah, Rob [Leonard] and the whole staff did a great job. The guys played hard. I'm not sure if they converted one in the first half. I don't remember. But, defense came out fired and they played a great game."
Special teams:
"I thought the discipline improved."
Assessment of team's growth:
"I love our guys. I love how hard they work. I love how mature they are. I love how important the game is to them and how important playing for the Silver and Black is to them. I can't wait to go on this journey with them for the next 17 weeks in a row."
The urgency this offseason:
"Yeah, I think just from coaching, you know that any one little mistake on any given play can affect the outcome of a game. The edges are so short and the mistakes get magnified so much. So, if you don't treat the little mistakes in practice and in walkthroughs like it's a live rep in the AFC Championship game, then you're selling the players short. So, I think that's our coaching staff's mindset is to never walk past a mistake and to be as detailed as we can be, knowing how important it is that we get things fixed. So, that's just our job as coaches to never be lackadaisical, even in a walkthrough."
On Fernando Mendoza
His performance:
"On our offense, we didn't score at all, so we didn't help the team get victories. I think he has a pick, but I think it was a drop ball. We have a couple sacks, so play that I can do better for him as well."
His development:
"Yeah, he needs another three preseason games. All those rookies do. Now that the season's starting, the practice reps get smaller and that's just life. But, us as coaches, we got to get them ready to play, keep developing them."
The value of Thursday's game for his learning curve:
"Yeah, it is. It is. It's his reps. It's learning from Kirk [Cousins]'s reps, from Aidan [O'Connell]'s reps. Very valuable for him to get all those reps. I'd love to play him the whole game, but there's other guys that we want to get looked at. I thought overall, in this preseason, that we got him plenty of time. I'm happy with where he's at, but we just got to keep pushing him to be better."
On the interception:
"I thought it was an excellent throw. He ripped it just like we asked him to on time. Yeah, it was a little bit high. Jalen's [Nailor] got to make the play."
How to assess when he's ready:
"Well, he's got to be ready to go from square one. Nobody ever puts you out there when they think you're 100% ready. Whether you're a coach or a player, you just have to be ready."
On Roster Battles
QB:
"I still don't think we need to name anybody. We got a lot talked about at a lot of positions. So, we want to watch the film and talk about everything as a staff."
"We have three guys that are ready to play. And it's going to be some hard decisions on who's one, who's two, and that's not a decision that we have to make today. But those are discussions that are ongoing."
RG:
"No, I wouldn't say that. Again, we got more decisions to make, and Jackson [Powers-Johnson] and Caleb [Rogers] have had a great battle, and both those guys are going to play this year."
Roster Evaluation
WR group:
"We didn't score, so receivers, running backs, tight ends, all around. We got to find ways to get the ball in the end zone."
Performance of young defenders:
"Oh yeah, absolutely. They had us in the game the whole time."
Defense:
"Obviously, I love how fast our defense started and how great of a job they did on third down, in the red zone. I thought our coaches have done an excellent job. I look forward to going and playing these games with our starters for a full four quarters and then playing a full game together. Offense, defense and special teams complementing each other. That's the goal, to get all three phases playing at a high level."
RB duo:
"I think that they're both going to prepare to play a lot of football and as these games unfold, you react to the game. I think we got two guys that we're really excited about. We got some younger guys that we're really excited about too. All of our backs are going to play this year, offense, defense, and special teams. They just got to make the most of every rep that they get. Not making any promises on percentages of play time. It's when you get to the game, sometimes the guy you think is going to have five carries has 20. Sometimes the guy you think is going to be just a scat protection back is in there blocking six-man protection for 20 reps. So, we got to get ready for them to play in all phases."
Getting the ball to TEs:
"Yeah, I think the thing is overall just getting your best players involved, the guys that are going to affect winning. You've got to get them touches."
QB efficiency:
“Well, there's so many details pre-snap. Snap points, getting protection set, communicating to your halfback who's behind you, signaling to receivers before the ball snap, cadence, on the sideline going into each series, going to each position and talking about the plays that are coming and things that he's looking for. And then all of a sudden, the whole picture changes and making an adjustment on the fly and getting everybody on the same page. So, there's just so many things that have nothing to do with throwing a tight spiral or an accurate football that goes with being efficient. And that's what the best quarterbacks do, that's what they are, and that's something that a young QB like Fernando will keep getting better at with reps.”
On Specific Players
Mike Washington Jr.:
"He kept playing like he practices. He's been consistent. He's an improving player, he's got a lot of good football ahead of him, and we just got to keep getting the best out of him every day."
Matt Gay:
"Matt [Gay] did a great job, four for five. Missed a long one, but I was pleased with Matt. Pleased with his whole training camp."
Trey Zuhn III:
"With how impressive it is for a guy to play tackle, to play center, he can play guard for us, there's a lot of things that he does really well. He's a very versatile player, great teammate. We're excited about his future."
"I've never been around a guy that can do what he does from rep to rep. So, we've just got to keep getting him better physically. He has a special trait upstairs."
Patrick Johnson:
"Saw a guy that's a professional, a guy that plays extremely hard, he's productive. Ever since he's come in here, he's made plays for us."
Kirk Cousins:
“I just think he's taking practice to the field. Like you said, he's led scoring drives. We would have loved to lead three touchdown scoring drives. So, we're not satisfied with field goals and that's an area that we need to improve at. But I see a guy that's leading the offense.”
Roster Cutdowns
Feeling going into cutdown day:
"Yeah, it's not going to be fun. It's hard decisions. There's guys that have been working their tails off with us since April that aren't going to get to be here and that's part of the NFL."
On adding external players:
"It's a possibility. Working really closely with Spy [John Spytek] and all the scouts right now. This will be a really important couple of days here. We're first in the order, so that's something we're going to look hard at."
What he'll tell players the Raiders cut:
"Yeah, it's awful. You develop relationships with these guys since April and they give you their heart and their soul and all their time, and eventually it comes down to this. But there's also so many examples of guys that have been cut and make practice squads and make a team, or guys that get claimed by other teams, or guys that get cut five times and make 12-year careers. So, there's lots of examples that you can share with them to encourage them because there's a lot of good football players that are out there in the NFL that have been sliced and diced multiple times. Coaches too, hired and fired, and you just get better. You get better and you learn and you fail forward."
Certain groups with tough decisions to make?
“Yes, I do, and I’ll probably just keep it at that while we go make these decisions.”
Add us as a preferred source on Google