VegasSportsToday.com
The Raiders officially opened training camp this week with a new general manager, a new coach and some new players, but the goal is always the same.
Just win, baby.
“It’s always a great feeling to get in there with the team, the entire team and you can see how excited they are,” said head coach Josh McDaniels. “And eager to get to work, eager to start becoming whatever it is we’re going to be able to become this year. And the coaching staff’s been eager to get out there on the grass and start coaching. It’s the thing we love to do the most in our profession and certainly there’s a lot of anticipation and excitement today.”
McDaniels is in his second stint as a head coach, having led the Denver Broncos in 2009-10. He was most recently the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
“I feel like I’ve gone through a few of these and just really trying to enjoy the process as being a head coach at this point and got a lot of great people here that are on top of all the things they need to be on top of,” he said. “As I’ve said before, just trying to do the right thing in my role and be a good leader for our team.”
McDaniels and the Raiders will have ramp up the process a bit as they get to play an exhibition a week early, facing the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 4 in the Hall of Fame Game. It will be a homecoming of sorts for the coach as he’s from Canton, Ohio.
“I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to go back home and take the team to the Hall of Fame. Interestingly enough, a lot of our players and coaches have never been there,” he said. “So it’s a pretty cool fraternity, when you get an opportunity to go through there, it’s humbling to see all the history and the tradition and you’re part of it.
“And so our team will be eager to do that. Looking forward to all that’s going to come with that, but certainly the most important part of that trip will be what we can do on the field, how we can improve as a football team.”