Cardinals Coach Reacts to Win vs Raiders

Opening statement:

“ Good win. I liked some things that we did out there today. I thought it was a much better performance. It was cool to see us learn from Week 2, made improvements and did a little bit better today. I think we got out clean on the injury front. JJ (CB Jaylon Jones) I think he had a nose on the one tackle and then they had to look at him, but he's fine.”

On CB Elijah Jones making big plays and what it means:

“He made some plays. I thought it was good. He contested the one slant on third down. It was contested. That's bang bang, that happens. But, I thought he was in the right spots. He did a good job today.”

On LB Xavier Thomas and LB Jordan Burch complementing each other on the field:

“They try to do what they're coached to do and they can win when they get to their technique quicker. I thought they both rushed well. I thought the inside of the pocket was pretty good most of the day. It was good by the D line to have pocket integrity as those guys are rushing around the edge. So, as a whole, I thought we affected the quarterback like we needed to.”

On guys making a push for roster spot today:

“Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, we'll go watch the tape tonight. And I just told them I'm proud of them, how they battled and competed. I was proud of them tonight.”

On LB Jordan Burch’s preseason performance:

“I think he's done some good things and I think he's got a long way to go. But honestly, that's probably all of our guys.”

On early impressions the offense and defense faced against Las Vegas’ starters:

“Well, we went three and out. We had a chance to get off on third down on the first drive there, and I think we fouled, but I think they converted it anyhow. And then I can't remember exactly, they scored on that drive. I don't have my card on me, so you like not to be down seven nothing quick.”

On what he said to CB Denzel Burke about being targeted against the Las Vegas’ starters:

“No, play football.”

On playing CB Will Johnson:

“I wanted to give him a couple (of) more reps.”

On WR Simi Fehoko’s performance tonight:

“He's done a great job in camp and he missed about a week there. He didn't play in the first preseason game. He's been awesome. He can play all three spots. He makes plays and (in) practice (he) catches the ball and he can plan fourth down. He ha d a hell of a of camp and a preseason.”

On the players experience on anticipating roster cuts next week:

“They're off tomorrow and then they'll be in on Monday. They understand the business side of the NFL here, which is the next 48 (to) 72 hours.”

On the bittersweetness of the preseason roster coming to an end:

“It's a tough part of the job because if you go way back to OTAs. But really if you look at the global view of training camp just starting on July 22nd, now it's August 23rd, they've been going at it for a month, (and they) make a lot of sacrifices. They battle, they play nicked, bruised, hurt, and I'm proud of them because they're all team guys. So, that’s cool”

On what RB Michael Carter showed him tonight:

“He can tote the rock.”

On cutting players at positions with a lot of depth:

“It's going to be some tough decisions ahead, there's no doubt. (The) roster's in good shape, our health is in pretty good shape. What really makes it hard is, and it's a credit to the players and the coaches, is (that) a lot of guys (have) developed. You asked me the other day, what are you most pleased about camp, right? Player development. That's what you have to set out to do for a month when you're at it. You have to get better every day as a football player. I think a lot of guys did that. It's good for those guys.”

On preseason plan for Johnson:

“With some wiggle room, I looked at how many game reps he could get. Just honestly (with) all (of) our rookies (it’s) kind of a change that I felt like we needed to make going into this year. That was one of the things in camp, (in) talking with the coordinators and (General Manager) Monti (Ossenfort), (to) get these rookies a little more reps. I'm looking in the past now, so I'm going to get depressed, but probably a mistake by me truthfully (in the) first two years, so we wanted to correct that.”