Podcast: What to Expect, Raiders vs. Packers
Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast discusses what you can expect from tonight's Monday Night Football game vs. the Green Bay Packers.
Transcript
00:00 Hey everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fannation Las Vegas Raiders
00:07 Insider Podcast.
00:08 It's game day, it's Monday night football here in Vegas.
00:15 Man, huge game.
00:18 And I understand all 17 are huge games.
00:23 I get that.
00:24 I completely understand it.
00:26 But I would be hard pressed, I think, to find either the harshest critic of this franchise
00:31 or the biggest supporter who would not concur with me that this is a massive game.
00:38 This is a game that the Raiders should win.
00:41 It is a game that I hesitate to use the term "must win" because with a loss, Josh McDaniels
00:50 isn't going to get fired.
00:52 So it's not a must win as far as Josh keeping his job, and I'm not calling for a firing.
00:58 I'm just saying it's not the reality.
01:02 But it's a must win.
01:05 These next six games are going to tell us everything that we need to know.
01:13 Everything.
01:16 Everything that we need to know as far as the direction of this franchise under the
01:21 leadership of Josh McDaniels.
01:23 That's just the reality of it.
01:26 There's no way, whether you're a supporter or you're a critic or like me, who's not a
01:30 fan, who's neutral, whose job is to just present truth and live in realville, that's a fact.
01:40 You got games against the Bears.
01:42 You got games against the Packers.
01:44 You got games against the Patriots.
01:48 You're headed to Detroit.
01:50 I don't remember the others off the top of my head, but six winnable games.
01:56 That's not true.
01:57 I would not predict the Lions to be a winnable game, but all the rest of these ones that
02:02 you have a clear shot in, and some of them, I think the majority of you should be favored.
02:09 This is big.
02:10 So big.
02:12 Absolutely so big.
02:14 I told you all along I thought this was a 9-8 team.
02:18 I believe that's where the talent is, and I believe that's where coaching and where
02:21 this team should be.
02:23 So if they exceed expectations, then you applaud Josh McDaniels for a great coaching job.
02:29 If they achieve those objectives, then you say, okay, good, you did your job.
02:34 If they go lower, then you've got to bring in analysis that says, what is going on?
02:40 Now, I think there are several things going on, and we're going to talk about these because
02:43 you know me.
02:46 This is Uncle Hondo's reckless abandonment for truth tour, and I'm just going to spill
02:52 to you exactly how I feel.
02:55 Number one, the coaching has been bad.
02:58 Now, I've pointed out several times where I thought Josh McDaniels had really good scheme.
03:08 I think player execution, which we'll get to in a minute, has been terrible, but everything
03:12 rises and falls on leadership.
03:14 So when you have guys that are executing terribly and you keep trotting them out there because
03:19 you're invested in them, well, you picked them.
03:22 It's like if you don't like your wife, boy, thank God I do mine.
03:27 I'm married out of my league.
03:30 But if you don't like your wife, don't blame anybody but you.
03:33 You married her.
03:36 You married her.
03:39 And it's just the situation.
03:41 You invested in these guys.
03:43 You brought them into your organization.
03:46 If they continually fail, then it's upon the people who felt like they were guys they could
03:54 go to battle with.
03:57 That's just reality.
03:58 The coaching's been terrible.
03:59 I think Josh's scheme, other than when it feels like he's pressing, panicking a little
04:06 bit, is really good.
04:07 I think Josh McDaniels is a good play caller.
04:11 And we certainly point to places where he has not called plays well this year.
04:17 Absolutely.
04:18 No doubt about it.
04:20 But it doesn't change the fact that I think we've seen demonstrated just since he's been
04:27 here in Vegas, where he's had good schemes or guys have executed and it's produced.
04:34 Coaching's been bad.
04:35 Now, let me just say, I think he has a lot of good coaches on his staff, really good.
04:39 But boy, he's got a couple of bad.
04:44 And I alluded to this earlier in the year.
04:46 I alluded to this in training camp.
04:49 I alluded to this during OTAs and mini camps.
04:55 There are some guys on this, some really good coaches on this team who the players love,
04:59 they play for, they respect, they trust, they can come criticize them and they take it.
05:06 And then you got some guys that are continually making really terrible mistakes, not improving,
05:12 who have tuned their coaches out.
05:16 Not all of them.
05:17 And I'm not trying to even remotely give you the false implication that it's all of them
05:22 because it's not.
05:27 There are some guys on here that don't make sense.
05:31 So number one, coaching.
05:34 I'm going to be watching that really, really close.
05:39 Number two, I think it's fair and I think it's 100% germane.
05:43 Josh McDaniels is a guy who's now a head coach, who's had great success as a coordinator,
05:54 limited to almost no success as a head coach.
05:58 Now, let's look at Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M, but there's others in the NFL and there's
06:03 others in college.
06:05 I'm just using this as one example, who's a prolific play caller, but gave up play calling
06:10 because he had to help the entire team.
06:12 This entire team needs Josh McDaniels' leadership.
06:17 This entire team is struggling.
06:22 And Josh can't be working with the offense when the defense out there.
06:26 He has got to be the head man.
06:27 Mark Davis invested in him to lead his franchise.
06:32 And I'm going to watch this closely because I think we are getting to the point where
06:36 it's going to be a fair question to ask Josh, do you need to give up some play calling duties
06:44 so you can focus more on the entirety of the team?
06:47 Listen, the entire team is struggling.
06:49 Now I think the defense, considering the amount of money that they spent, over $102 million
06:56 in the offense and a lot less in the defense, $60 million.
07:06 Do you need to give up some of that play calling because you got to help your defense?
07:13 That's a very fair question.
07:15 And I'm watching that closely.
07:17 That's a legitimate question.
07:19 And I have not reported this yet, but this week, talking to some people around the league,
07:25 I'll just read one quote to you.
07:28 But this comes from an NFL GM.
07:32 And I want to give my wife all the credit in the world.
07:38 This gentleman and I were on the phone when I was with my wife.
07:43 And he said this, and then I sent him a text and he followed it up with this.
07:47 But this is what he said.
07:48 One thing that stood out to me on Sunday night, as I noticed several times Josh interacting
07:54 with the offense when the defense was out there and could have used his leadership.
08:01 I agree with your thought that potentially he needs to look at letting some other people
08:07 at least partially call plays when he's giving his full attention elsewhere.
08:13 That's a legitimate.
08:14 I've had a coach with that issue in the past and had to deal with it.
08:17 So that's a legitimate question.
08:20 And if the Raiders were to lose, it's something I've been planning on asking him.
08:25 Or if they win, but that still seems to be an issue.
08:28 Those are germane things, but he's got other guys on the staff.
08:31 Now you just can't go fire guys in the middle of the season and then have a void.
08:36 Now could you fire some guys if you think there are some people there who can help?
08:47 Or can you fire some guys if you can elevate somebody else, but think someone else can
08:51 talk to them just to get their voice out of the building?
08:59 So that's number one.
09:01 Number one.
09:02 Number two.
09:04 I should have made number one a number two because number one smells like a number two.
09:09 Ooh, got you.
09:11 Okay.
09:12 Sorry.
09:13 Dad joke.
09:14 Number two is I want to see this Raiders offense, $102 million offense.
09:23 I don't know if you're like me.
09:24 I enjoy watching bowl riding and there is a reel, which is a, I'm told it's that the
09:32 tick talks and reels are very similar.
09:35 So I don't do the tick talks.
09:37 I do do reels.
09:38 But there's a reel of a, of Jamie Mooney, who is a tremendous bull rider.
09:45 And it talks about he's a $7 million bull rider.
09:49 Okay.
09:50 You got $102 million offense.
09:53 Look like it.
09:56 Please, please.
10:00 Someone said to me, if you're not a fan, Honda, why do you care?
10:02 Because we cover this team.
10:07 You know, these players, these coaches, Dave, good people want them to do well.
10:15 Listen, heart goes out to Josh's family.
10:23 When I see people put memes up there, mocking him, not just criticize, but mocking him,
10:30 calling him stupid and dummy and other stuff.
10:34 And I feel for his children and his parents and his wife.
10:37 I feel for Josh.
10:38 I don't want them to fail, but they are.
10:47 So number two is I want to see this $102 million offense do something.
10:55 Can we can, can the, can they score 20?
10:59 20.
11:01 You ever seen the old Sergeant Bill Coe, Steve Martin movie.
11:06 What a great comedy.
11:07 If you haven't seen it, go rent it.
11:09 Well, I guess you, I don't know if you can rent it.
11:11 Yeah, you can rent it on your TV or I'm sure it's not one of those streaming things, Netflix
11:18 or whatever they are called.
11:19 I think it's Netflix and I don't remember the other one.
11:21 I think there's two, but Netflix.
11:24 Oh, Max.
11:25 Go rent it.
11:27 Great comedy.
11:28 Really good comedy.
11:29 You can watch it.
11:30 I don't know what it's called.
11:31 I don't know what it's called.
11:32 I don't know what it's called.
11:33 I don't know what it's called.
11:34 I don't know what it's called.
11:35 I don't know what it's called.
11:36 I don't know what it's called.
11:37 I don't know what it's called.
11:38 I don't know what it's called.
11:39 I don't know what it's called.
11:40 I don't know what it's called.
11:41 I don't know what it's called.
11:42 I don't know what it's called.
11:43 I don't know what it's called.
11:44 I don't know what it's called.
11:45 I don't know what it's called.
11:46 I don't know what it's called.
11:47 I don't know what it's called.
11:48 I don't know what it's called.
11:49 I don't know what it's called.
11:51 20 with your hundred and two million dollar offense.
11:57 Please.
11:58 Number three, third thing we're looking for.
12:03 Can we see an end to stupid pre-snap penalties?
12:10 I don't mind aggression.
12:15 I don't like Jerry Tillery hitting a guy out of bounds like he did.
12:18 I'm not talking about that.
12:20 But when you see a jacorian Bennett getting all tangled and mangled up with a receiver and flicking for the football, I can handle that.
12:27 I'm good.
12:29 I'm good.
12:31 I don't mind aggression.
12:33 I hate stupidity.
12:34 There's a difference.
12:37 One is a lack of discipline.
12:40 One is playing a testosterone fueled game.
12:43 This game is physical.
12:47 This game is supposed to be played at a level of violence that at any other point in your life, if you did it, you would go to prison.
12:58 I don't mind that.
13:02 I don't mind a guy who's coming in on a quarterback and he throws the ball and he hits him and it wasn't intentional to try to hurt him.
13:10 It's just he had 290 pounds or 275 pounds headed towards the quarterback.
13:16 There's nothing he could do.
13:17 I'm okay with that.
13:19 I don't like the way that they protect quarterback in the NFL, but I understand why.
13:23 I don't blame the ref for throwing the flag.
13:25 I don't blame the player.
13:26 I get it.
13:27 I understand it.
13:28 I can deal with that.
13:29 I'm okay with that.
13:31 I'm okay with it.
13:34 But I don't want to see defensive backs, defensive backs lining up in the neutral zone.
13:47 Please.
13:50 Please.
13:53 I mean, dear God, you're a defensive back.
13:58 Give me a break.
13:59 Come on now.
14:01 When you're in offense alignment and you know the count, why do you jump off sides?
14:11 Here we go, boys.
14:12 On 2, on 2.
14:13 Set.
14:14 Blue 27, right 0.
14:17 52 is the mic.
14:18 52 is the mic.
14:19 Red razor, red razor.
14:20 Hut.
14:21 And you jump off sides.
14:22 It's on 2.
14:24 2.
14:25 Uno, dos.
14:29 Come on now.
14:32 1-1.
14:33 That's our third.
14:35 Remember, first, coaching.
14:37 Second, $102 million offense.
14:41 Third, big one here.
14:48 I want to see the discipline.
14:52 I want to see these guys come out.
14:56 Now, y'all know I love Max Cross.
14:58 I love him.
15:00 Great person.
15:02 Great husband.
15:03 Great dad.
15:04 Great friend.
15:05 I love every single thing about Max Cross.
15:07 We love the guy.
15:09 Personally and professionally.
15:10 Love him.
15:12 Tremendous human being.
15:15 Take aside all the football.
15:18 Let's just assume he worked for the power company.
15:23 If my daughters were to marry somebody like Max,
15:28 not the football, not the multimillion dollar football player,
15:33 just the man, I'm going to be a happy dad.
15:36 Just a tremendous human being.
15:38 Love him dearly.
15:40 And I'm tired of watching this guy go balls to the wall every week
15:45 and watch him be let down by coaching, let him be watched down by his teammates.
15:49 Come on.
15:50 Devante, same way.
15:52 I feel the exact same way about Devante.
15:54 Put him on the power company, I don't care.
15:55 Same guy.
15:56 Great guy.
15:58 Great human being.
16:01 I care about these guys.
16:04 I want to see that.
16:06 Number one, coaching's got to get better tonight.
16:08 I got to see it.
16:09 Number two, the $102 million offense.
16:15 Three, got to see discipline.
16:20 Please.
16:24 This is a disciplined game of controlled rage.
16:30 It is rage.
16:32 It is play.
16:34 You know what?
16:35 The other guy said something stupid.
16:36 Okay, then go kick his ass.
16:40 This is what's great about this game.
16:43 You're walking through a casino.
16:45 Somebody says something stupid to you.
16:47 You can't go kick his ass.
16:49 You'll go to jail.
16:54 This is what makes football the greatest sport in the world.
17:03 Somebody's going to say something or do something stupid on the football field, and guess what?
17:07 You get to line up and go kick their ass.
17:14 Please just be disciplined.
17:19 That's it.
17:21 Fourth, I want to see the defense continue to perform.
17:33 Now, this gets me so much criticism, and I'm not sorry about it.
17:36 I don't care.
17:37 When you look at what they've invested in their defense, I think the defense has been fine.
17:45 Do I think there's some bad coaching on the defense?
17:48 Yep, not a lot of it, but there is some.
17:53 There is some, but they keep getting big stops, and other than taking on Buffalo, where they were not helped by their offense at all,
18:06 this defense has kept them right in it.
18:10 Speaking of that defense, can I please see more John Jenkins and Adam Butler at the defensive tackle?
18:19 You all know I love John Jenkins now.
18:21 Go back and watch my interview with him when they were in West Virginia.
18:24 Great guy.
18:27 He's such a dynamic player.
18:30 Adam Butler, just good.
18:32 I mean, that kid, he just keeps fighting.
18:35 I know he's not a kid, but give me a break.
18:37 I'm old.
18:38 I just love to watch Adam Butler.
18:40 Just effort, effort, effort, effort, effort.
18:44 Why do you take him off the field if he's not winded?
18:48 Please?
18:49 Please?
18:51 Please?
18:59 First, coaching.
19:02 Second thing I'm looking for tonight, $102 million offense.
19:08 Third, discipline.
19:10 Fourth, defense.
19:13 Just want to see it.
19:15 Just want to see you keep doing what you're doing.
19:18 Just keep doing what you're doing.
19:22 Just keep doing it.
19:25 Just keep fighting.
19:28 And lastly, I want to see this.
19:38 I want to see a bunch of happy guys in that locker room afterwards.
19:43 Now I'm going to say something to you that many of you are not going to believe and you know what, I can't blame you.
19:49 I can't.
19:54 Earlier today, actually, I published an article.
20:04 And each week I get a bunch of questions that people want me to answer, and I love doing it, by the way.
20:09 Thank you all for sending them in.
20:12 But one of the things that I always notice about fans is they'll say to me, "Does anybody care?"
20:24 You know, I watch Josh McDaniels go to a podium and he smiles.
20:28 Or I watch the players hugging guys on the opposite team after the game, smiling.
20:32 Does anybody care?
20:33 I'm going to tell you something.
20:35 I don't blame these fans.
20:37 Raider fans are just freaking awesome.
20:42 I got to admit, 1% are on the fringe, and I struggle with them.
20:47 I just mute them.
20:49 I don't listen to them.
20:50 But I struggle with it.
20:52 But I'm not going to let 1% define the other.
20:56 These fans are awesome.
20:57 They care.
20:59 You guys care.
21:01 If you go back and read my Twitter, a lot of times at games, if I see a whole family, I'll take a picture.
21:06 And I'll tweet it out.
21:07 I love it.
21:09 I've been to every stadium in the NFL.
21:12 This is the fan base.
21:14 Every fan base has some element of good fans, even the four for the Chargers.
21:23 But I just love how familial Raider fans are.
21:29 It is really impressive to me.
21:32 And they care.
21:33 It matters to them.
21:35 I wish you all could see every email I get, almost every comment that we get.
21:41 I've been a Raider fan for X amount of years.
21:43 I mean, they care.
21:45 It matters to them.
21:47 But people will say to me, "Hondo, does Mark Davis even care?
21:51 Does Josh McDaniels care to the players?"
21:53 Yes, they do.
21:55 Do I think they all do?
22:00 I think there are a couple of players on this team that it doesn't matter to them.
22:10 But every team has a couple.
22:13 Coming into training camp, I didn't know that this team did.
22:17 I've learned it, though, as it went on.
22:20 But it's still far less than any other team I've covered.
22:24 Yeah, they care.
22:25 It matters.
22:26 I talk to them away from a camera, and they're hurting.
22:30 You want to know what's amazing?
22:32 And I wish you got to talk to coaches, players, management, whatever, like I do.
22:42 In a private or off-the-record setting, in a text setting, phone call setting.
22:48 Do you want to know what the first thing -- and no one's going to believe it,
22:50 and they're going to think I'm shilling for the franchise.
22:52 And that's okay.
22:53 You're welcome to think whatever you want.
22:55 It's not the truth, but you're welcome to think it.
22:59 How many people in that group have said, man, I feel so bad for the fans.
23:06 This is terrible.
23:08 I don't know if you're a big social media person or if you use instant grams.
23:13 It's a new form of -- it's like Twitter.
23:17 I don't even really know the difference.
23:19 You can put pictures and video up there.
23:21 It's kind of like Twitter but for kids.
23:23 But I started on instant grams.
23:26 I've only had someone post for me pictures of my family.
23:29 I don't put anything on my coverage up because I was following Chandler Jones.
23:35 And the person that set it up for me had me follow a few people.
23:38 Max Crosby's one of them.
23:39 Max Crosby had a video on instant grams that was -- it was moving.
23:46 It was after the Chargers game, and he was just apologizing to the fans.
23:50 Listen, that's not Max being taught by a media handler.
23:56 First of all, nobody handles Max Crosby.
23:59 That was Max Crosby who absolutely cares about you, and he is not the exception.
24:09 Like I said, there may be a couple of guys that don't, but they do.
24:13 Management cares.
24:14 Coaches care.
24:15 They care.
24:18 I want to walk into a locker room and see a bunch of really good people happy.
24:26 I want to listen to Raider fans as they leave the stadium because down in the
24:30 locker room we can hear you.
24:33 I want to hear them cheering.
24:38 I want them to have something to cheer about.
24:40 This matters.
24:42 It matters.
24:45 That's one of my keys, coaching.
24:48 $102 million offense.
24:52 Discipline, execution, four, defense, five.
24:58 I want to see that happy locker room.
25:01 And let me tell you, if the Raiders win tonight, I don't want to hear one person
25:06 bitch and moan about how they won it.
25:11 Don't apologize for a victory.
25:15 Al's motto, "Just win, baby," doesn't say just win, but then how you have to do.
25:21 Just win.
25:23 Here's my prediction.
25:26 This is a 9-8 team if Jimmy Garoppolo stays healthy for all 17 games.
25:30 I've told you that all year.
25:33 All offseason.
25:35 He hasn't stayed healthy for 17, but it still should be a 9-8 team.
25:38 Should be.
25:41 Should be.
25:44 This is a game that starts a six-game trend.
25:49 These are the games they've got to win.
25:51 You're at home.
25:53 The nation is watching.
25:55 I told you, I've been to parties, Monday night football parties at players' houses
25:58 in previous years to watch games.
26:04 Take my family.
26:06 All of the NFL is watching.
26:09 All of the nation is watching.
26:15 Show them something.
26:19 I remember years ago sitting in a dry crick bed, and it was dark, and I'd been deer
26:30 hunting with my father.
26:35 And my first child was about to be born.
26:40 And I remember saying to my dad, I said, "Dad, I'm really scared."
26:45 He goes, "Why, son?"
26:48 I said, "I'm about to have a baby, and you are such a good dad, I don't know how to do it."
26:54 He was a great dad.
27:01 And he just looked at me and he said, sorry, talking about him, I'm not crying about football.
27:06 He said, "Son, being a good dad means being present and just doing your best."
27:14 He goes, "You don't remember how much I failed.
27:17 I do.
27:19 But just be present and do your best."
27:23 I thought that was really cool.
27:26 I thought that was really cool my dad to say that just being present is a big deal.
27:33 This Raider team has to show up.
27:39 You got to be present.
27:42 You got to do your best.
27:45 I love Raider fans because they just care.
27:51 You know, the Lions, for the first time ever, just sold out season tickets.
27:56 I'm from Michigan.
28:00 Because Lion fans, they like the Lions.
28:04 But they didn't really care because they knew they would lose.
28:07 The Raiders lose, and they still sell out.
28:12 Now you can talk about people selling their tickets, whatever, but the point is Raider fans shows up.
28:17 Raider fan isn't like Lion fan that just shows up when you win.
28:22 Raider fans, they're not great.
28:24 A lot of them are selling their tickets because you as an organization are giving them crap and selling it to them as a hoagie.
28:31 It ain't a hoagie.
28:32 It's a crap sandwich.
28:35 Show up.
28:36 Be present.
28:38 Do your best.
28:41 I'm going to hold the Raiders to the standard that I think they should be held to.
28:48 Tonight, Monday Night Football.
28:52 I'm Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, part of the Fans First Sports Network.
28:59 Show up.
29:00 Be there.
29:01 Raiders.
29:03 21-20.
29:05 See you tonight after the game.