Getty Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels.
The Las Vegas Raiders are finally on the right track this season after winning two of their last three games. The team has been fortunate as their wide receiver corps is getting healthy. Hunter Renfrow has missed two games while DJ Turner has missed four. Fortunately, both appear to be healthy now and played well in Week 7 against the Houston Texans.
To make room for Turner’s return, the Raiders had to cut veteran wide receiver Albert Wilson from the active roster. He wasn’t a free agent for long as the team announced that they have signed him to the practice squad.
We have signed WR Albert Wilson to the practice squad.
Wilson has been on and off the Raiders roster a few times since first joining the team earlier in October. The former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver was recently promoted to the active roster but didn’t get to play any offensive snaps. Wilson has played seven years in the NFL so he’s an experienced piece for the Raiders in case they need wide receiver help later in the season.
Josh McDaniels Talks Slow Start
In the offseason, the Raiders hired an offensive guru as head coach in Josh McDaniels and then added superstar wide receiver Davante Adams. They were expected to have one of the most high-powered offenses in the NFL. That wasn’t the case early on as the group struggled to score points consistently. That is no longer the case as the Raiders have one of the best offenses in the league right now.
The team is averaging 27.2 points per game this season, which is third-best behind the Buffalo Bills and Chiefs. They have scored 29 or more points in each of the last three games. McDaniels took some hits from fans earlier in the season due to the offensive struggles but he just thinks that it was always going to take time for players to adjust to his system.
“Whenever you change systems and terminology and philosophies, really the first thing you have to do is continue to teach ’em the why,” McDaniels said Monday. “Because players usually want to know, ‘Why are we doing this as opposed to that?’ And not every time you do that the first conversation you have is it automatic, immediate buy-in because they need to see some evidence of what we’re doing.”
McDaniels Praises Players’ Attitudes
It’s would’ve been easy for the Raiders to fall apart after the 0-3 start or after they fell to 1-4. However, the players and coaches have remained positive. McDaniels has been impressed with his players’ abilities to keep buying in despite some rough patches to start the year.
“I think we just continue to drip water on the rock and, hopefully, we’re gonna sprout something here soon,” McDaniels said. “And that’s kind of been our attitude since we got here. I think the coaches have done a nice job of being patient and continuing to teach and the players have done a really good job of continuing to listen and try to do what’s being asked of them. Anytime your leaders show the right attitude and urgency and work ethic … it’s not hard to follow those guys. When they’re the ones out there in front saying, ‘Yeah, coach me. Coach me harder. Tell me more what I can do better,’ and then they receive it the right way and then I see the players that are sitting all around them going, ‘OK, they’re doing a good job of listening and getting better, now I should do the same,’ I think that’s what our team’s becoming.”