Head Coach Jack Del Rio
Here's the transcript from Oakland Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio's press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Opening statement:"Alright, got Sunday night game. Cowboys. Should be a lot of fun. It'll be an exciting game. Glad to be at home. Looking forward to it. Ready to have a good week of prep. Questions?"
**Q: What have you seen from their offense the last two weeks?
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Coach Del Rio:"All the tape you look at, they run it well. They have a big offensive line. Obviously, Ezekiel [Elliot] is special, but all the backs are good. They're all talented. They run behind it. Dez [Bryant] obviously going, [Cole] Beasley. They've got a good group. That definitely gets your attention. Defensively, [defensive coordinator] Rod Marinelli, very aggressive front. A lot of sacks. Getting Sean Lee back obviously is big. He is very productive for them. It's a good football team. I think the two of us probably expected to have a few more wins at this point in the year. We are where we are and we're looking forward to playing."
Q: What have you seen out of Dak Prescott?
Coach Del Rio:"He's a good player. He can do things with his arm and with his feet. They involved him in some zone-read things where he'll keep it and take off. Then he'll do some things just scrambling. Definitely a threat. Good football player."
Q: Do you think players think too much about the expectations?
Coach Del Rio:"I just think that's just part of the hype around the game. It's understood. Been talked about a lot. It doesn't really matter. It's what you earn on the field. Obviously, both teams are capable and both teams really want this win."
Q: Why do you think Derek Carr's deep ball hasn't been as successful?
Coach Del Rio:"I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I think you get opportunities to bring it down. I've always considered him really an accurate deep ball thrower. We've taken a few shots and haven't been able to connect on them, or not as many as we'd like. It's something obviously, we'd like to have the answer. If we had the answer we'd utilize it right now. We're not going to wait. We're not holding anything. We're trying to execute the best we can. That's definitely something we haven't done as well this year."
Q: How do you harness the emotion of frustration into these final three games?
Coach Del Rio:"To me, look, you have to own up. Tuesdays is that day of the week for us to kind of own up and move forward. We've done that. For us, it's about getting ready for the next one. Whether we're being praised or we're being attacked, that doesn't matter. That's just the noise on the outside, but inside the building we're being very purposeful of getting back to work."
Q: What has struck you about the increased sack totals over these past three games?
Coach Del Rio:"What about them?"
Q: What struck you? What do you think is the culprit behind it?
Coach Del Rio:"It's always a combination of rush and coverage. Coverage is a little better. Rush is a little better. It comes together and you get those results."
Q: Anything new with Amari Cooper?
Coach Del Rio:"No. He won't practice today."
