Head Coach Dennis Allen. Photo by Tony Gonzales
On thoughts about opening at home on a Monday night: "I'm excited about it. You grow up watching Monday Night Football, hearing the theme song. We're excited about getting a chance to open up the new era of Raider football both in the preseason, and then in the regular season. "
On whether seeing the schedule, knowing the dates, makes this experience more real: "I don't know if it makes it seem any more real that it's coming up. Obviously, it's exciting when you get a chance to look at it and, obviously, and know who you're playing, but you just go through the process of looking at those teams and, 'Alright , we've got this team early in the year or late in the year.' But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. We've got to line up and play those games whenever they call for us to go play them."
On whether any dates or teams jump out at him on the schedule: "No, I don't think anything just jumps out at me. Usually, when I get these things, I just kind of look at it; I don't really give it a ton of thought other than where we're traveling to and when we got to go there."
On having three straight home games late in the year: "I like the fact, when I look at the schedule, that we don't have any back-to-back road games until the end of the year. And then I like the fact that we have three back-to-back-to-back home games right there during the stretch run before we've got to go on the road for the last two and finish out the year. So, I think obviously getting a chance to play at home late in the year is an advantage."
On the voluntary veteran mini-camp and what type of work his team did Tuesday: "Really, we're using this as an opportunity to really install our core, base offense, defense and special teams, and really just kind of let the guys go through the motions of breaking the huddle, lining up in a formation, lining up in a defense, lining up in a punt-team formation, and allow them to get a feel for what we're going to do and how they're going to be asked to do it."
On what he's expecting to see from Terrelle Pryor this week: "Really, at the end of the day, what we're looking to see from him, not necessarily this week but the process as we go along, what I want to see is that everyday he gets a little bit better. That's really what we're looking for with all of our players. None of us is really where we need to be right now. Our job is to, as the process goes on, our job is to put our head down, put blinders on, and put one step in front of the other. Take it day-by-day. I know those are clichés, but it really is true. We've got to take it day-by-day and keep getting better everyday. If we can do that, and get better everyday, we're going to like the results at the end."
On the status of RB Darren McFadden: "Darren was able to go through all the drills today and did a nice job."
On having McFadden healthy: "Absolutely. I think he's one of our most explosive players on offense. He's a dangerous weapon and we're looking forward to finding ways of using him and exploiting his talents."
On the turnout at mini-camp: "We've had a great turnout. We've had two weeks of offseason conditioning program and today was the first day of the voluntary mini-camp. I think, overall, I've been very pleased with the turnout and the guys are really working hard to try to get better."
On how involved he's been in draft preparations: "We've been involved in draft meetings for about a week now. We're still in the process of draft meetings, so I'm balancing the two right now, getting ready for the draft and also running this mini-camp. As we get closer and closer to the draft, Reggie and I will sit down and really get a feel for what we want to do and what our plan of attack's going to be."
On whether he feels good about the holes they've been able to fill in free agency: "Yeah, I really do. And as we go through the offseason, we'll have a better feel as we go along. But I feel pretty good about the guys we've been able to pick up."
