McDaniels: Saints Are as Tough a Group Raiders Will See this Season
The Las Vegas Raiders are going to need to get gritty for every yard and every point in their Week 8 matchup with the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Raiders coach Josh McDaniels emphasized the need to prepare for New Orleans' physicality during his Wednesday media availability.
"Very physical," McDaniels said of the Saints. "This is as tough and physical a group I'd say on the whole as you're going to see, and I'm talking about every phase of the game of football. Dennis [Allen] is a first-year head coach but he's been there for a long time, so his philosophy and the way he wants to play defense is obviously very well ingrained in their players. [Offensive Coordinator] Pete Carmichael has been there with Sean [Payton] for a long time. Really, there's a lot of continuity in this organization when you talk about Sean Payton being there from '06 to '21 and now there's a lot of people that are still there.
"The general manager, the way they built the team, there's a lot of continuity. So they know exactly who they are. They know what their identity is, they play to it. They've played seven games and all but one of them was a one score game to finish, whether they won or lost. So very similar to us, they've been in a lot of close games.
"It’s a tough, physical group. They're explosive, I'd say, in all three phases. Offensively, they can score in one play with a lot of different skill players. They're very fast. Defensively, the guys on the edge; [Marcus] Davenport, [Cameron] Jordan, they can get to the quarterback quickly. And nobody's touched the ball more than Tyrann Mathieu since he's been in the league. We know they had a lot of guys that have been injured, but we're preparing for everybody on their roster right now. They've had a little extra time to hopefully heal up on their end and we'll see who ends up playing, but we're preparing for all their guys.
"But it's a very explosive group, very tough, very physical in all three phases. Play very hard in the kicking game. And playing down there on the road in this stadium is always a big challenge. It's going to be noisy. That's always an added burden when you go in there and play them. So a lot of things to prepare for, a lot of new players to get used to and learn. That's basically what we're hard at work at doing today."
The Raiders will face the Saints at Caesars Superdome at 10 p.m. PDT on Sunday.
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