TRANSCRIPT: Josh McDaniels Press Conference 9/4
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Here’s what New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had to say during his press conference on Thursday September 4, 2025:
On it being his first week back and it coming against a team he’s familiar with:
“I don’t think it was really a big reaction. Every year, every team is different. There’s obviously people on a lot of teams in the league that we all have familiarity with or know well. Certainly, there’s some people there that I still know well and have relationships with, and hopefully will have forever. But just excited about our opportunity to get going. Excited to be home on opening day. I think there’s a difference between playing on the road and being at home on opening day. We’re one of the teams that has the opportunity to be here in front of our home crowd and try to get off to a good start.”
“Just excited for the preparation. Really excited to see what our guys do for the first time in a game setting. We know it’ll be a big challenge. It’s a good team with a lot of good players, and obviously the unknown of how much is Pete’s [Pete Carroll’s] influence with Pat [Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham], and Pat’s influence with Pete. They’ve got a really good coaching staff, a lot of experience. So it’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds like it is on most opening days.”
On the difficulty of game planning for a team with a new coaching staff and a new scheme:
“I think opening days, there’s always some healthy anxiety because you just don’t know. None of us knows exactly what we’re going to get from the other team in terms of strategy or schematics. You have an idea, but they have every right to hide everything they want to do, and as do we. You’re always going to see things you didn’t necessarily practice or prepare for on opening day. I think opening day is really about yourself and trusting your rules and how well have you ingrained those rules into your team so that whenever you get a look, a defense, a blitz, a coverage, you trust that you know what to do, and then you just got to follow your rules. I think the second part of opening day is I think it’s always about making an adjustment. You’re going to see some things that force you to turn left or right. As soon as you kind of see it becoming a pattern. And then how quickly can you do it and how well can you acclimate to what the game is actually becoming. So whatever you’ve prepared for is one thing. What happens on opening day is usually a separate thing.”
On his expectations for Drake Maye:
“High. I mean, he’s the quarterback of our football team. And so I’ve always had high expectations for the quarterback room in general. I know how hard they work, so I have confidence in his preparation. I know there’s going to be opportunities to improve as we go through every day, every week. It’s my first opportunity to coach a game with him and with a lot of our guys. I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot, but I always go in, my feelings are always based on what I see every day, and how hard they work and what they put into it. I couldn’t ask Drake to do more than what he’s doing. He’s trying to understand exactly what we’re doing. He’s really trying to be as well-versed as he can on what we know from the Raiders, but just looking forward to going out there and watching him play and seeing our entire group out there together.”
On the fact things didn’t end well for him in Las Vegas and the lessons he took, and how they’re helping him this week:
“I think there’s a lot. There’s too many things that you learn from each experience to list them in terms of a press conference? I appreciate the question, but-
We can talk after.
“Yeah, we might need a while. But I think you go into every opportunity, and this is my next one, and you do the best that you can. You learn a lot about… You learn more, honestly, when you fail than when you have success. I’ve always tried to take each opportunity as an experience that I can learn from, some you learn more from than others. The one thing I know I’ve tried to get really good at over the course of time is just take the lessons and digest those and use them for something positive. There’s no reason to have… I don’t have any… I don’t harbor any ill will towards any of the things that haven’t worked out in my career, and there’s been many of them. You do the best you can with what you have, and you give everything you have to the job that you’re in, and you hope it works out the best that it can. Like I said, I have a lot of relationships across the league that are good and healthy, and hope to continue those.”
On how well-prepared his group is:
“It’s always kind of a balance opening day where you don’t want to try to do too much because you can sit there and say you think it’s going to be A, B, and C, and all of a sudden you get in the game and it’s E, F, and G, and now you’re changing gears already anyway. I think there’s a certain element of foundational things that we kind of know, and I feel confident that our guys know what to do depending on the look we get. And then everything else is going to be ready to adjust if we need to. So I’m confident in our approach. Certainly not going to overdo the game plan in terms of volume and all these things where you’re guaranteeing you’re going to get, because I don’t think there’s anybody that can do that. And just get our guys as prepared as we can to do the things we know how to do well, and then go out there and play fast and be aggressive and follow your rules and talk to each other and adjust if we need to.”
On with the offensive line, we saw some shuffling, specifically at left guard to the end of the camp and if he feels like he has a set starting five right now and if so, what his level of confidence is in those guys:
“I have a high level of confidence in every one of our guys. I’ll let Coach Vrabes tell you guys what the starting five is. I’m sure he’ll be eager to do that. But I think our group has worked really hard, and you guys have seen it. We have young players, we have some experienced veterans, we have some players that are new to the team, and have some experience elsewhere. So just continue to try to teach and improve our techniques and fundamentals. I think it’s early in the season. Nobody’s played a full game in a long time. I think whatever the final number is, you go in with on opening day, every one of those guys is going to be prepared to play. If we need them and if we want to use them to provide ourselves with some depth at whatever the position is, I think that’s worthwhile doing early in the season.
On the fact he’s worked with a lot of head coaches over the years and it’s been several months with Mike [Vrabel] and his thoughts on what it’s like working for him:
“It’s fun. I know he does a really doing a job of balancing the grind of football with the human element of how difficult this job can be, both from a player’s perspective and a coaching perspective. I’m really enjoying his perspective on that and how he keeps it fresh. He’ll chase us out of here when it’s time to get out of here, which I appreciate. He knows how long the season can be, and rest and trying to keep yourself in a healthy place is an important part of it, too.”
“That’s been great, and I’ve learned a lot. It’s been a long time since I was with Mike. I was a young coach, and he was a player. So he’s obviously learned a tremendous amount from the people that he’s been fortunate to work around. And then he’s adapted his philosophy when he had the opportunity to become a head coach. And I learn something new every day. And that’s a great thing for me at this point in my life, just going to a squad meeting, listen, pick up things from him, how he’s handling the day, the week, the players, et cetera. It’s really given me a cool opportunity at this stage to work for somebody new, different, that has a little bit of a different spin on things, but certainly believes in everything we’re doing and I know that we all support that 100%.
On the fact we heard a little bit from Stef [Stefon Diggs] yesterday and if he’s looked like a guy who is ready to go:
“Sure. Yeah, I hope so. I mean, that’s what I’m planning on.”
On Drake mentioning studying the 2014 Super Bowl and the 2020 COVID game against Pete Carroll’s defense, and what about those games that simply made those good teaching tools:
“Look, Pete’s one of the best coaches in the history of our league and has done it in pro football for a long time at an elite level, coached in college football. Same thing, produced wherever he’s been. Always has an incredibly difficult defensive perspective. It’s changed some over the years, everybody always says, Well, everything’s the Seattle Three. It’s not all Seattle Three. You know what I mean? So he’s evolved, and I think that’s a sign of a great coach. He’s evolved what he’s done depending on the people that he has, depending on the year that you look at, it’s not the same. I think that’s the mark of a great coach is he looks at his team, decides what the strengths and weaknesses are, figures out how to use them the best way that he can. I just …we’ve seen a lot of different tape. We’re not getting married to one game or another from the past because there’s nothing. You can’t really pinpoint one thing that you know you’re going to get on opening day. So just try to subject our guys to a little bit of, ‘Hey, historically, they’ve done a little bit of this, they’ve done a little bit of that.’ When you add Patrick Graham in there and all the things Patrick’s done, you got a Rubik’s Cube.”
“So we’re just trying to look. At the end of the day, it’s about us, our fundamentals, our techniques, our approach, our communication, and ultimately, our execution, and taking care of the ball, and giving ourselves an opportunity in the second half because we know a lot of these games are won then.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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