The Las Vegas Raiders are preparing to face the Dolphins in Miami. On Friday, head coach Antonio Pierce presented his concluding words and provided vital updates.
The Las Vegas Raiders travel to Miami to face the Dolphins with a renewed spirit following a bye week that saw several changes.
The impact of interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner on the new offense, as well as the Raiders’ handling of the Dolphins’ explosive offense, will be closely studied. Head coach Antonio Pierce is hoping for his third win of the season, and he provided his final update on Friday.
Q: You addressed Norv Turner’s arrival in the building; what role do you envisage for him as interim offensive coordinator alongside you?
Coach Turner: “He has so much knowledge. We were kidding about it, and I told the men that he called offensive plays in the NFL from 1991 to 2019, missing only one season. He missed out on 2017. So, you have someone who has done that. He had the most infractions in three distinct decades. And he’s my father, so we enjoy being around each other. We lost some offensive coaches, so we just need another pair of eyes. He knows how I see football because I learnt the majority of it from him. So having him at practice every day, rather than just watching the games from afar and providing input, is invaluable. And, on a personal one, it’s definitely beneficial to have him around. And my kids are excited to have their grandfather around.”
Q: What is the first step towards that? Is that, ‘Here’s our tapes, can you look at them?’
Coach Turner: “Yeah, I mean, he watches football all the time. He understands what we’ve done on offense. Obviously, the language is completely strange to him, but I simply translate it. He simply expresses his thoughts. And I know, ‘Oh yes, we call them this and whatever.’ So, it’s really not that difficult. Then just fundamentals and quarterback nuggets. He sits in on a lot of quarterback meetings, which is something you don’t think about. Again, I can only see so much. We have an excellent coaching team. Those guys are also doing an excellent job, but he brings a fresh perspective and a plethora of expertise. Also, he isn’t scared to tell me what he truly believes, so that part of it is great as well.”
Q: What have you observed with the run game this year, and how are you trying to improve it?
Coach Turner: “We’ve had some problems, certainly. We understand that we are not doing a good job of running the football right now. I’m simply trying to make sure the communication is clear from the start, so we know who we’re speaking with. Coach [Joe] Philbin is going to do an excellent job, as seen by his performance at practice yesterday. Just focusing on the fundamentals of hat placement and knowing what we want to accomplish out of each run.
Hopefully, we can stay a little healthier and maintain some continuity, which will help us get started right away. And then the backs, just be decisive; don’t worry about making a mistake or putting the ball in the wrong spot; just go hit it, run, and get your pads moving forward. And then we need to get first downs, just like you do, whether it’s in the run or pass, to give yourself more opportunities to run the football, because that’s where we’re also missing. We’re deficient in attempts. We haven’t been particularly efficient, but we’ve also made less tries.”
Q: You’ve previously served as an offensive coordinator. What did you learn from that experience that could be useful in this situation?
Coach Turner: “Yes, a lot. This league is tough. It’s quite competitive. You’ve got to bring it every day. Different people will play you in different ways. Certain matchups will favor you schematically more than others. However, it is simply dealing with people. This is a relationship business, and you must understand what your team members do best and then find a method to draw that out of them so that they can perform at their peak every week. Because there are no bad teams in the league. Anyone can beat anybody. There are no poor coaches. Every week, you’ll face a tough matchup, and you’ll need to stay sharp and deal with adversity. I told the guys that this league is about overcoming hardship, and they learned it. That’s what I learnt in Washington. I was the coordinator for three years and got fired because we were 8-8-1. It did not work out. So, I’m getting an opportunity, and I’m simply happy to work with our players and try to get them to perform at their highest level.”
Q: Obviously, this is not the time of year to revamp things and entirely install a new offense. But how do you go about trying to make adjustments and perhaps make it look a little different? And will it appear dramatically or obviously different?
Coach Turner: “Yeah, like you mentioned, you’re not going to come in and establish a brand-new offense in the bye week going into Week 10. But any true offensive, and I’ve only been in a couple systems, you may coach differently, but they have a lot of schemes. And then what appears on Sunday isn’t necessarily what was at training camp or what was installed; it’s simply a matter of what you get to. So, maybe certain things that I’m more comfortable with or that I believe will help us succeed.
We got everything; now it’s just a matter of communicating it to our athletes in a way that makes sense to them. And there might be a few new things here and there, but we’ll see how that develops as the season progresses. I’m not going to stand up here and say it’s not about the plays; it is, to a large extent, but it’s about the players believing in the plays and knowing exactly what to do so that they can play quickly all the time and then reach their full potential, and everyone is different. So, whatever that is.
