Raiders have no idea what to expect from new Colts coach
NFL coaches are notorious for their tedious preparation for each opponent as they comb over hours of game film to try to get the slightest edge.
That wasn’t quite the case for the Raiders this past week as they prepared for Sunday’s game against the Colts at Allegiant Stadium.
The Colts fired longtime coach Frank Reich on Monday and replaced him on an interim basis with former star offensive lineman Jeff Saturday, whose only coaching experience has been at a small Christian high school in Georgia. He named Parks Frazier his play-caller, even though he has never called plays at any level of football.
While the situation hardly seems conducive for success, it presents a challenge for the Raiders in trying to identify any patterns or tendencies in what the Colts might do offensively.
Coach Josh McDaniels said the key is to not get caught up in trying to make predictions.
“You just go like this,” he said as he covered up his eyes with his hand. “There’s no way to do it. We know what the tendencies are of the team that we’ve seen and scouted on film. The most important thing for us is to prepare for the players. For us to sit here and spend a lot of time and energy guessing on how they will or won’t call the offense, we would just be wasting our time because we really don’t know.”
McDaniels said the Raiders are well-prepared for the personnel the Colts will bring and what those players do particularly well. He doesn’t believe the Colts had enough time to revamp their system, so it probably will be minor tweaks and different tendencies than what the Colts did under Reich.
“Then if we’re seeing something completely different in the first quarter, we’re going to need to be ready to adjust,” McDaniels said. “In many ways, that part is a little bit like opening day, where you just don’t know. Are they going to go no-huddle? Are they going to be in empty (backfields)? Are they going to throw it the first 22 plays of the game? None of us are going to be able to predict that.”
The Raiders also might see more than one quarterback. Sam Ehlinger took over the job from an ineffective and injured Matt Ryan two weeks ago, but has been sacked 11 times and hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass. Ryan is practicing in full and could be the preferred choice of a coach such as Saturday, whose transition could be eased by the presence of a veteran quarterback.
Veteran QB Nick Foles also in on the depth chart.
McDaniels and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said they are preparing for anything.
“In this league, it’s about the people,” Graham said. “He (Saturday) has been there, and he knows the people, and he’s going to know who he’s going to try to get the ball to. It starts there. And then schematically, you can’t expect it to change totally over one week. … We just got to be ready to adjust.”
The Colts defense has more continuity, as Gus Bradley will remain in place as the coordinator. There is plenty of film on him, and several of the Raiders’ offensive players went against him in practice last season when he was the team’s coordinator.
“Being around him every day, he knows some of how we’re wired, what makes us go,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “He was around a lot of us. But we’re a completely different system now. It works both ways. We know things about him, but he knows that, too. It’s a chess game.”
Saturday is far more unknown, but McDaniels expressed admiration for him as a player.
“Jeff will have them ready to go,” he said. “He’s a football player at heart and knows what goes into winning and losing.”
Raiders receiver Davante Adams echoed McDaniels. He said the lack of coaching experience might not be as big a difference as others have expressed.
“They’ve all played football before,” Adams said. “We’ve got to remember that this isn’t the first time he’s on the field.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.