Following walk thru Friday afternoon, Oakland Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio addressed the media; here's the full transcript.
Q: It sounds like the game is going to be played here.
Coach Del Rio:"Yeah, it looks like we'll play here. Should go off. I think Cal plays tonight, Stanford plays Saturday. I don't know if they are canaries or not, but we'll get an indication. I think we're going to be fine. Obviously, it's a serious situation, what's going on up North. A lot of people have had their lives turned upside down. A lot of people lost their lives. It's a tough deal, but the smoke part of it for us, we adjusted during the week, did the best we could with the situation. Now we're prepared to go. Looking forward to going out and playing good football. We really just need to play some good football."
Q: Will you guys have anything on the sidelines to help with breathing?
Coach Del Rio:"No. Nothing that's not normally there."
Q: Did today seem better out here?
Coach Del Rio:"Yeah, it seemed. The last two days have been a little bit better, but I don't know what the numbers are saying."
Q: In a couple of weeks you have to make a decision about the guys on IR. Where are they at and have you made a decision yet?
Coach Del Rio:"Well, I think there's a strong likelihood that we'll be able to get Obi [Melifonwu] up and then we'll have to make a decision on the others. I know he's eligible to return to practice next week. Then will be eligible to play after the Buffalo game, so the Miami game. He's doing well working, trying to get back."
Q: What have you seen from Derek Carr this week?
Coach Del Rio:"He'll be ready to play. I think it was smart to give him the week, which we did. Even though he was pushing for last week. He's cleared to go and got the green light. Doctors and trainers all gave him the go. He had a full week of practice for the most part, so we're ready to go."
Q: What sort of resource has John Pagano been this week?
Coach Del Rio:"Yeah, it's no different than anyone else that's been somewhere. You have an understanding of the personnel and a certain feel for some of the things they like to do. So you're going to pick their brains for all the kind of stuff. At the end of the day it comes down to we need to play good football. We need to be sharp, execute, be smart, be tough, and find a way to win. Anything we can do adding up to it, we'll take. Certainly, having him here has been a plus."
Q: How do you guys, as a staff, make the most of your time on the practice field given the shorten practices this week?
Coach Del Rio:"We shrunk everything a little bit. We got the body of work, the reps that we typically get. We got looks at, we just didn't do it in pads on Wednesday like we would have. The pacing was reduced a little, but we got the looks we needed to get."
Q: How much of challenge does the Chargers pass rush present?
Coach Del Rio:"They're good and they have good design and they go. They've done a solid job with it. That's one of the challenges. We need to be good in the trenches this week. That's going to be one of the keys to us getting a big 'W.'"
Q: With Marquel Lee out, what did you see from Tyrell Adams and Nicholas Morrow last week? What do you expect from them going forward?
Coach Del Rio:"We're working on it. Putting it together. Cory [James] looks like he might be able to make it, so that'll help. We're going forward with the guys we have. Prepared to go. Obviously, that's an important piece for us. I think Marquel has played well for us. We'll want him to hurry back. In the meantime, those other guys will get an opportunity to play."
