National Football League

Del Rio on Karl Joseph: "I'm excited to see him play."

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:01 p.m. ET

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May 31, 2016; Alameda, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio reacts at press conference at organized team activities at the Raiders practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Jack Del Rio shared some praise for Karl Joseph, following practice on Friday. That, and other notable quotes from the Oakland Raiders leading up to their Week 3 contest against the Tennessee Titans.

It was a busy week with plenty of notable quotes, so let’s jump right into it.

Del Rio was asked about rookie first-round pick Karl Joseph, who is yet to log a defensive snap through two weeks:

“I’m excited to see him play. I know he’s excited to get a chance to play. We plan on playing him. So there we go. He’s had a really good week of practice. I feel like we’ve had a good solid week of preparation and we’re excited to go play.”

Del Rio continued his praise for Joseph, particularly his attitude:

“What I’m most impressed with is his attitude has been great. He works hard. He’s conscientious. He’s got some explosive abilities as a football player. I think the health issue is really kind of behind him now. I feel good about that. I feel good about the way he’s preparing. Now we just look forward to all of us going out and playing well on Sunday.”

Asked if Joseph and sixth-round rookie linebacker Cory James would start against Tennessee or not:

“I don’t think is any benefit to declare what we’re doing. We’ll let it play out on Sunday.”

Typical Del Rio to not tip his hand, which certainly makes sense in this situation. It’d be nice to know if Joseph and James were going to replace Keith McGill and Ben Heeney, but we’ll just have to wait and see how much that actually happens.

Here are some notable quotes from earlier in the week. Starting with Thursday’s post-practice presser.

Jun 15, 2016; Alameda, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave at minicamp at the Raiders practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Notable Quotables: Bill Musgrave

Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave spoke on the offense’s slow start to games.

“I don’t think we started as fast as we wanted to these first couple of games. We want to get out there and play from the lead. We just want to be more consistent. Our goal is to score every time we touch the football. That’s our goal so we can enjoy the victory at the end of the day on Sunday. We’re going to keep working to that end.”

The slow start to games is a bit concerning, but it’s very low on the list of problems the team should be concerned about. As an example, Derek Carr was 17 for 20 for 116 yards in the first half of Week 2, but finished the game 34 of 45 for 299 yards and three scores.

Oakland has scored an average of 23.5 points per second half, likely because they’ve shown more urgency while trailing in the second half. If they can find a way to play with that type of aggressiveness for all four quarters, that will make this offense that much better.

Musgrave also commented on Carr’s progression, lauding his footwork:

“I think mechanically, [quarterbacks] coach [Todd] Downing is continually working on foot work with all the quarterbacks and that’s where throwing starts, with your foundation. But Derek is talented enough to be accurate when he has his foundation and also when he doesn’t.”

Musgrave is spot on here, as Carr’s footwork is noticeably improved. Which says a lot, because Carr took a big step forward in this area in 2015. Just take a look at this play:

I can’t even begin to explain how good this play is by Derek Carr. https://t.co/rK5E4tunRq

— (((Robert Ortiz))) (@DraftOrtiz) September 20, 2016

Lastly, Musgrave commended Latavius Murray and the great start he is off to:

“Well he’s definitely catching the ball a lot better. He caught it well last year, but he’s really worked on his hands in the offseason. I mean every single day, he really worked hard at it. I think just the familiarity of knowing our concepts and getting more turns at running the running plays, running the pass routes. He’s really started fast this year and we’ve really enjoyed what he’s brought.”

Murray has caught all seven of his intended targets, totaling 57 yards. Not numbers that jump off the page, but he’s fourth on the team in both receptions and receiving yards, and is yet to suffer a drop.

If Latavius can continue to be reliable in the pass game, it gives the offense another dynamic, making them even harder to keep out of the endzone.

August 30, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. during the third quarter in a preseason NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals at O.co Coliseum. The Cardinals defeated the Raiders 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Notable Quotables: Ken Norton Jr.

Norton Jr. was asked why it’s taken time for the defense to gel. This was his response:

“It’s hard to tell. I mean, there’s a lot of things that we’re looking at. At the same time, we’ve had some adverse situations. We all had high expectations at the same time. We’re a work in progress. Continue to improve, continue working hard, paying attention to the details and I’m accountable for it. We have to work harder, work better and we expect to come out of this.”

The “it’s hard to tell” part isn’t exactly the answer most fans hope to hear. When your defense is struggling, you expect your defensive coordinator to have answer. Norton Jr. does not.

But at least the defensive struggles aren’t from a lack of effort, or a lack of care. The team hasn’t quit, body language is fine. As Norton Jr. elaborated:

“You can tell the guys really care. No one wants to play as bad as we’ve played, no one plans for that. We’ve dug ourselves a hole and we have to fight our way out of it. That’s what good defenses do. That’s what good people do, they fight out of it and that’s what we plan to do.”

Asking about Karl Joseph was popular amongst the media this week, for obvious reasons. Norton Jr. had this to say when asked about the rookie safety:

“Well, you know, we have high expectations for Karl [Joseph]. He’s a guy that, again, practice is that place where you get better. You really have to be competitive in practice. And, as he practices this week, we’ll see exactly. We don’t know exactly how much he’s going to play, but you’re going to see him play.”

So it just confirms what we already know. Karl Joseph will make his defensive debut, but we still need to know how much he’ll play.