The word from Kiffin
from Inside The Oakland Raiders by Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Predictably, most of coach Lane Kiffin’s Monday press briefing had to do with his job status in light of colleague Steve Corkran’s report that Al Davis was leaning toward firing his second-year head coach.
Kiffin did say that running back Justin Fargas is having an MRI to determine the extent of his groin injury and conceded he couldn’t be sure that Darren McFadden’s turf toe condition wouldn’t be an issue for Sunday’s game in Buffalo against the Bills.
The entire transcript will follow, with Kiffin saying much of what he said following the Chiefs game about not worrying what he can’t control. Kiffin said he has no problems with defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. He said he was told in advance Ryan would address the press and that Ryan was simply doing what he was asked to do.
Kiffin said he has not been apprised of any meeting with Davis to discuss his job and conceded his blunt approach may have gotten him into a little trouble.
See for yourself:
Kiffin: After watching the film, all three sides of the game, very similar comments to yesterday. Very pleased with the effort our team played. The three phases of the game I think you have to do extremely well on the road to be able to win, we did. We played really good special teams with great effort, we played very physical defense stopping the run and on offense we ran the ball extremely well. I think when you do those three things you’re going to win a lot of games on the road. We did it yesterday and we got a big challenge this week to do the same thing.
Q: Talk about McFadden?
Kiffin: It was a unique game for Darren as far as to have so many yards but then to go back and look at how many yards he could have had, and when he looks at it and for him to get caught from behind, I don’t think anybody on our sideline or anybody watching the game would have ever thought, especially (Bernard) Pollard who’s a very physical safety but not a safety that you’d say is a cover speed safety. It was interesting to watch the play again. It’s like he almost got so upright that he locked up a little bit because if you watch the first 15 to 18 yards of the play, he’s moving faster than at the end of it even though he’s going a little sideways at the time because his weight’s forward and he’s got great forward lean and all of a sudden he goes to a straight up and slows up. That was strange to see and he got into … we’d been so heavy on the ball security issue with him, especially after his fumble, that he got a little bit tight right there holding the ball.
I thought there were times where he went down where usually you don’t think he would go down just because of the two hands. Then Michael after his fumble did the same thing. I thought (Tom Rathman) did a great job with those guys. Michael’s a rookie, he’s never played before. For two rookies on the road, a team that’s played well on defense against the run for a long time, and for those guys to go in there and rebound after fumbles and be able to play the way that they did, I’m very pleased with them.
Q: Darren’s toe have anything to do with getting caught from behind?
Kiffin: I don’t know. I kind of hope so just because that was such a surprise for all of us. But I don’t know. It could have been a combination of him playing so many plays and finally getting what everybody wanted to see. We’d always talked about the runs and then in the opener Justin had the one in the second half when Darren was out by then, so we’d never really got to see him in the open like that. Maybe all that build-up to it, he tried to hard and he got out of his normal running form.
Q: His toe an issue this week?
Kiffin: It could be. We’re hopeful that he practices. The only injury that we have is that he may not practice. We’re going to see how he is Wednesday and Fargas is getting an MRI on his groin right now as we speak. We’ll have more information on him then.
Q: How did Mario Henderson play after seeing the film?
Kiffin: Yeah, he did well. If you go on the road and you don’t hear the guy’s name a lot, he’s doing good. That’s what he did. Obviously, there are a number of things to get better at. He was better on the back side of runs than he was on the front side. It was good to see. It’s just a good story for our guys. We always talk about, adversity is going to happen. The next guy has got to step up, whether he has played for 10 years or whether he has never played a snap ever before. Mario was a great example of going in there, plugging in, not worrying about anything. We took care of him with a lot of protections. We didn’t throw the ball downfield. We really only took one shot down the field the whole game to manage the quarterback’s first start on the road, which we were very pleased for him to make his first start on the road and win is a big deal. That doesn’t happen a lot, especially in a noisy stadium like that was. So, all that went into the game plan. They did a really good job. You saw the quarterback throw the ball away, too, at times, which was very big of him. He could have gotten frustrated because there were eight runs in a row, then there were nine runs in a row, then there were 11 runs in a row at different times throughout the game. That’s hard on a quarterback not to get frustrated at times and try to force the ball. He did a really good job of throwing it away when it wasn’t there.”
Q: Is there an advantage to closing out a game with a bigger back such as Bush?
Kiffin: Yeah, a lot of times there is because so many people are in the box and they know you’re going to run the ball at the end of the game. The safeties are up there and there’s going to be contact. You’re not going to get everybody blocked up, so there’s going to be a guy (unblocked) a lot of times at 4 or 5 yards. So, the bigger guy a lot of times is making the physical contact or he’s falling forward. He’s getting you positive yards in those four-minute situations to keep those sticks moving to end the game on offense.”
Q: Have you met with Al Davis about your situation or do you have a meeting scheduled?
Kiffin: Not that I know of. I have not spoken with him or I have not been told anything.
Q: Did part of you wake up this morning thinking you were going to be fired?
Kiffin: Not necessarily. I’m worried about what I can control. I’ve said that now for over a year and a half since we’ve been here. There are certain things I can control, there’s certain things I can’t. This happens to be the next one. He has a decision to make. It does me no good to worry about it right now. I was extremely pleased the way that our coaching team and our staff focused. The best thing that can happen for us — you guys have to do your job and ask the questions — is the more that we can stay focused as a team, as a coaching staff, and go forward from here, the better we will be.
Q: Is it an issue in the building, among players and assistants?
Kiffin: I think you feel it a little bit anytime that there’s so much media coverage about something and so many things, and you read something, and ‘this comes from the building, and this comes from the building,’ anytime that that happens, I think you have some issues. But like I said, that’s what I was most proud of our guys, for hanging together and not letting ‘em be a distraction. As long as I’m here, we’re gonna have to continue to do that all the time. So this happens to be the next week, and we’ll continue to do that.
Q: Do you feel that your fate is being decided today, tomorrow, whenever?
Kiffin: Like I said, I can’t control that, so I’m not really worried about it.
Q: Do you think that something may be going on considering your job status that you don’t know about?
Kiffin: Well, I don’t know. I would think so. If every paper that opens up, that they’re writing about it, that – whatever the term is that’s used around here – a team spokesperson is saying that job security’s an issue, or saying there’s a press conference today or later today, there must be something. But like I said, I’ve not had contact, or no one’s told me directly about it.
Q: You find it hard to work under these circumstances?
Kiffin: Well, I don’t think it helps. But like I said, I can’t do anything about it. So all I can do is try to get our coaching staff to stay together in this type of situation, our players to stay together, and they did it last week. Our players did a great job in not allowing it to be a distraction for ‘em. You guys have got to do your job, but the more that they stay together and they don’t allow those questions to bother them . . . And I’ve told ‘em, don’t worry, I can’t control that. They certainly can’t control whether I’m going to be here or not. So the last thing I want them to do is that they’re sitting there worrying about it. I guess a bunch of things were on the news last night, so I had players calling me at home last night that were upset, or all the different emotions that they go through. I said stop worrying about it. I can’t control it. You certainly can’t control it. So let’s go back to work tomorrow, and we’ll take it one day at a time.
Q: Do you want to have this settled by Wednesday?
Kiffin: I haven’t thought about it that way. It’s not my call. You’ve got to go somewhere else to find that answer. We just finished up going over this game in all three phases, and now we’re moving on to Buffalo until I know something different.
Q: Do you regret anything you’ve done or said?
Kiffin: I don’t know that I’d use the word regret. I think you’re always learning from different situations and handling situations. I think, unless you’re going to be stubborn and think you have all the answers. I think in any profession, you’re going to look at yourself, you’re going to evaluate it. The same way that you managed the game yesterday. What are the things we could have done better? Could we have played this guy better, could we have done different things to prepare for during the week? So I’m always in a competitive mindset of how I can get better and handle situations better with players, coaches, management, everything. So I’m always going to look at that.
Q: Did the defense performance vindicate what you said last week?
Kiffin: No, the statement I made earlier in the week was not to take accountability away from myself. For those of you guys who have been around here for over a year and a half since I’ve been here, I’ve been nothing but be extremely honest with you. Maybe that’s caused issues at times. As you ask me questions, there’s going to be times I don’t have an answer for you so I got to tell you the way it is. And that’s all I did. It had nothing to do with the way we played on offense, defense or special teams, what I said about the defense and Rob and Al’s communication with the defense. And I don’t think I really shocked anybody for you guys who’ve been around here to tell you that. So, I just told you the way it was and it was not reflective on the way we played on defense or to try to push the blame somewhere else. I was just answering the questions that were asked.
Q: Do you have the full support of this coaching staff?
Kiffin: Yeah, I don’t feel a distraction on this team. I don’t feel within our coaching staff or within our team any issues. I think that last week was a hard week for our players and for our coaches because there were so many things being said because we played bad. You guys did your job. You attacked the way that we played, some of our players and some of our coaches, and you should because we didn’t coach well in the opener. That’s why it was good to have a short week. It was good, I said the next day I said one of the best things to happen in a blowout, it’s different than when you lose a game because you miss a field goal at the end of the game or lose by a point and say, `Oh, well we had ‘em, we would have beat them if it wasn’t for that ref’s call or we would have beaten them if we made that field goal.’ And you overlook some things and there were a lot of glaring things in that opener to get beat the way we did that we had to come back and get to work on. And I thought our staff and our players did a great job. All three phases, the game plans were very successful in what we put in this week and the players performed and played better.
Q: You talked in camp about your `working relationship with Al.’ Can you describe it now, did you two not talk on the plane or after the game?
Kiffin: No, I haven’t. But that’s not unusual. Don’t make a big deal out of it. That’s very normal. We don’t sit next to each other on the plane. Al’s not around as much as he used to be. He’s around the office or he’s at practice. He wasn’t there all last week so I didn’t see him. There’s nothing new, that’s not a result of anything that happened or any issues with him or I, that’s just how the setup is.
Q: Are you getting to the point where go in his office and want vote of confidence or a resolution?
Kiffin: No, I don’t need that. Guys, I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about getting this team to play well and keep them together and not letting those distractions get to them. I’ve just go to keep our staff together and our players together the best that I can, and I was real proud of how our guys responded last week, and now I’ve got to do it again this week.
Q: How bad to you want to remain Raiders coach?
Kiffin: I want to be here. I think we have a real good group of players, and there are so many things going in the right direction with a bunch of young guys. You look on offense when you watch the film, there’s so many young guys playing that it would be exciting to see this thing grow the right way and be able to do it, and I’ve said it before, I think the neatest thing that can happen is when a place has been down for awhile and has not won many games, and you come in and you win and you’re part of that process, as opposed to going somewhere that’s won for a long time and you just happen to be the next group that comes in. We have a chance to do that, we have a bunch of new players that have come in, that would have a chance to be part of that story, and it starts with a quarterback being drafted to a franchise that’s been down, now to add the running back to it. It would be a neat thing to be a part of, if we can do it right to get a turnaround done here.
Q: With all this going on since the offseason, and dealing with it today, how much is it wearing on you?
Kiffin: It’s not. It really doesn’t. It’s probably crazy, I really don’t think about it very much, because what can I do about it? It’s not my decision. I think it’s a good lesson to our players. I even had coach with a different situation talk about it to me this morning. As long as you worry bout what you can’t control _ I know I’m saying the same things over and over again _ I talked about it to our team, quit going after the refs on every call, complaining to the refs every time. Hey, guess what? The next time you’re not going to get a call if you keep doing that. You’re wasting your energy. You’re worrying about things you can’t control. Well, that’s on a smaller stage than this, but it’s the same thing. I think you’ll do all right, especially in this profession, if you don’t let those things, especially as a head coach, don’t let those things affect you. The last thing I’m going to do is let anything that’s going on with the media or with the owner affect how I prepare this team every day and every week.
Q: is this job different than you thought it would be?
Kiffin: I don’t think you ever know everything no matter where you go. There’s always going to be things different than you expect no matter where you go no matter how much you know about a place. So there’s things that aredifferent but I don’t know if that’s different if it would be anywhere else.
Q: you regret taking the job or has it been a good learning experience?
Kiffin: no, I don’t have any regrets at all. I think it’s been a great experience so far for me. And to deal with adversity that I’ve had to deal with and all the different changes on the roster and all the issue that you guys are continuing to talk about, I think it’s great for me to have to deal with this at the age that I’m at. And with this team, to be able to hold the team together, if we can continue to play like we did last week and hold the team together, we can stay together in this thing. A pretty good story.
Q: is tough just to get ready to coach with all this stuff going on?
Kiffin: Everybody’s got issues and problems, I don’t care where they are. We just may have different ones than somewhere else. Really, after this 20 minutes that we’re in here and you guys ask all these questions, I really don’t deal with this after that very much.
Q: how close are you to having a functional passing game?
Kiffin: I don’t that. We continue to have the same issues going on. Once again we were in warm ups and we’re thinking Javon’s going to go and we’re in warm-ups and he doesn’t look like he can go very fast in warm-ups. So he’s down and in the conditions of that game we really didn’t need to throw the ball. And you’re going in to Arrowhead with a left tackle that’s never played and you’re going in your first quarterback’s start on the road and it’s windy as can be out there for those of you guys that were there. I kind of think if you look at the game, if you wanted to throw the ball and look at the other side and how many attempts there were, I think that kind of shows the way to go about that game with where we were at.
Q: Receivers talked of passing offense needing to step up if the running game wasn’t there. Can this team pass for 300 if you need to?
Kiffin: I couldn’t tell you right now that we could go out and win a game throwing the ball all around. I couldn’t tell you that. Receivers are supposed to say that. I’d hope our guys would say that they feel they could do that. But I don’t know. We haven’t’ been able to show that even in preseason when we tried to at times. We’ll continue to work on it and find ways to manufacture yards in the passing game just like we did the first play of the game and continue to see how much we can get better. Hopefully Javon can get healthy this week.
Q: Are teams taking Zach away from you?
Kiffin: Yeah I think what you saw in that game is you saw Kansas City come into the game and played fifty percent man. They are not a man team at all. They played over 50 percent snaps man-to-man, which is unheard of for Herm (Edwards) to do. That’s completely dictated on our personnel, get up in the receivers face, play some bump-and-run, which they are not a bump-and-run team, and dare you to throw the ball and keep the safeties down tight and keep an end in front of Zach, don’t let him free release and keep the safety on him. Denver did it the week before and these guys and these guys did it. We have to figure out ways to move the ball better in the passing game when we need to.
Q: Have you talked to Rob about your relationship?
Kiffin: I talk to Rob 10 times a day. We just got done watching this film together. I don’t have any issues with Rob. I don’t think we have any issues with our relationship at all. I talked to Rob late last night again after I had watched the game, just recapping some things about different plays that had happened. He hadn’t had a chance to see it yet. I don’t have any issues with Rob.
Q: So there was no tension last week?
Kiffin: The part that I saw of Rob’s press conference last week I didn’t take that it was really at me. I took it as Rob had to do what Rob had to do. Rob told me that morning that that was going to happen. He already knew that he had to do that. He told me that morning that that was going to take place so I had no problem with it.
That's pretty damned hardcore.
That's pretty damned hardcore.
That's pretty damned hardcore.
