**
Q: With some of the personal and nasty criticism on Twitter, talk radio and in other outlets, is that stuff that you know goes on or do you filter it out?**
Coach Olson:"I'm certain that it goes on. Personally for me, I have never paid attention to that, just based upon the fact that whether you're doing well or not doing well, you never want it to affect your work performance during the week. I've tried not to pay attention to it, but I also understand the responsibility of the job as an offensive coordinator in the National Football League. I've done this 14 years, and I've been a coordinator at different places. So, I understand the frustration, and I don't think there is anybody that this has affected more than myself. Certainly, I understand I've got to do a better job and that the job has not been up to par at this point. I think you always that going in and know that it's, again, part of the profession. There is a responsibility to the fans and to the players and to the team and to myself to do better. Right now, that hasn't happened. But, we'll continue to work hard to get better."
Q: Does it get to your family?
Coach Olson: "Again, it's part of it. It's certainly not easy on anybody, and especially, again, I think whether it's the head coach, a coordinator, the quarterback, the general manager, those are the positions that most organizations whose names are in the paper the most, good or bad. But, my wife is a coach as well, so she understands that part of it. The kids are at an age now that, again, I think it's always good life lessons that you can teach them. When you go through a time like this, and again, whether it's good or bad, I think there always life lessons learned there to pass on to the children. We'll just keep working every day and try to get better. Again, it's not my first year as a coordinator. It's certainly not my best, obviously. But there will be better days ahead."
Q: Where do you see light at the end of the tunnel? What are the things that you see you can build on?
Coach Olson: "A lot of times, I look at the young players. When you're building, who are the core players to me that you can count on going forward? I think, again, especially this past year's class was a very good class when you look at the players that are contributing and have contributed. I think offensively, Menelik Watson, from the previous year, has been a good player. Mychal Rivera has now been a very productive player. So I think there are some pieces there that you can build on and certainly a lot of it falls on the quarterback, and I think now that there is a quarterback in place here. We've had to … When I say we, when you just look at the last three years when you've switched head coaches, switched offensive coordinators, switched systems. We did a different system for [Terrelle] Pryor. There has been a lot of change here. When you look at the whole thing, get some stability here, whether that's with me or without me, with Tony Sparano, without Tony Sparano, I just think there has got to be some continuity here for these players and this team."
Q: Is that why when Tony was asked after the game the other day a couple of times about maybe sitting Derek a little bit, he says, 'No, we haven't even discussed it,' because it's important to maintain stability?
Coach Olson:"Yeah, I think so and I think just in his development. Again, to the naked eye or the common eye, I just think that you may not see the developments in him, but I see it every week and again, he is a rookie. He's going to play a lot better football in the future for the Raiders. I think he's going to, again, be surrounded by better players in the future, which will help make him better. He's also just a rookie. There's always going to be some growing pains dependent upon the situation that that player gets thrown into, whether he gets thrown into a team that's on the rise or has already arrived. I just think he's going to be a part of this growing process here for the Oakland Raiders, and I think the experience is going to serve him well, again, based on where he's at mentally and where he's at physically as a player. I think that it all is different depending upon the quarterback, but I think where Derek's at right now in terms of the experience that he had in college and again, where he's at mentally right now, I think it's been very valuable for him to play."
Q: You brought in a lot of veterans on both sides of the ball on one- or two-year contracts with the hopes that they had chips on their shoulders and wanted to show the teams they played for previously that they made a mistake, but it hasn't really worked out for them as far as wins. How are they doing locker room-wise? Tony seems pleased with their direction and focus in terms of bringing younger guys along.
Coach Olson:"I think it's been good and that says a lot about those players that were brought in, those veteran players. It also says a lot about our young players. They continue to fight, they continue to prepare every week. I think it was something that the organization had to do. Again, we talk about the core of the team. There weren't a lot of players here based on previous drafts or giving away draft picks, so there wasn't really a core of players here so they had to do something last year with free agency. Everyone is in support of that knowing that we've got to field a team and we've got to try and get the most out of these veteran players. Again, starting with myself, I haven't done a good enough job to getting that done. In defense of those players, they have been great in terms of coming to work every day with a real positive attitude, work ethic, and they've kind of done everything that Tony's asked and that we've asked of them to this point."
Q: How is Maurice Jones-Drew holding up?
Coach Olson:"Yeah, I think, and again, I don't want anyone … Everyone needs to understand, it is very hard. I think when you talk about these players coming to work every day with a great attitude, believe me, there's not a player in this locker room or a coach that is not hurting, that it's not affecting them or their families. Maurice Jones-Drew being a local kid that grew up here, he's got a lot of family here and it hurts. It hurts everybody in that locker room. This isn't just secluded to just one or two players or one or two coaches, everybody is hurting in that locker room, but we appreciate the fact that it's not influencing the way that they come to work every day and the way that they practice. A guy like him, again, he's played in the league a long time. I talked to James Jones today on the sideline and really MJD as well, that some of them have been through some bad experiences, none as bad as this. I can't imagine a player on a team right now that has been 0-10 at any point in their careers, so they've been through some rough patches, but nothing like this. Again, it's a life lesson, it's a learning experience, but as long as they'll continue to compete and continue to work and continue to prepare, obviously it'll give us a chance here in every game going down the stretch."
Q: What do you see in Latavius Murray and what do you see from him going forward?
Coach Olson:"We were happy, obviously, with how he ran last week, and again, coming back this training camp he had a good training camp based upon where he was at a year ago when he missed most of the training camp with a foot. Just happy that he's healthy. I'm glad he got the opportunities last week, again, he's another one of those young players that we talked about that could be a core of this football team going forward. So, it was good to see him actually go out there in live situations, in a game situation there, and have some success there late in the game. Just overall, we've got to have more continuity and we talk about all the time it's about stringing plays together. We have not done that and that's been our Achilles heel right now is being able to put drives together and put more than one or two plays together. We've got to be – offensively, we're just not consistent enough."
