Del Rio: We Want More

Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio is still considered a contender for coach of the year in the NFL but the disappointing end to the team’s season left a sour taste in his mouth, as well as most people within the organization.

Del Rio is hopeful that it will help fuel the team’s momentum in the off season and serve as a springboard to bigger and better things in the future. He talked about that, along with a variety of other topics, during his end-of-year press conference with reporters covering the team:

Q: Is it hard to evaluate what improvements the team needs to make to reach the Super Bowl because of the injury to Derek Carr?

A: I think you attack that the best you can. You evaluate who you are, what you are, look at the things you can do better and areas where you feel like you can strengthen. You don’t always get your wish list. You try to strengthen the best you can. You don’t always get your wish list, but to me it’s a never ending process about building yourself as strong as possible and preparing for the next opportunity.

Q: Do you feel like you’ve made a ton of progress from last season?

A: For sure we did. For sure. There’s been a great deal accomplished, there’s no question about that. Is it enough? No. I want more. We want more. As an organization, our goals are higher. So, that’s not going to change. We’re not going to pretend that it wasn’t really good. You win 12 games, that’s hard to do in this league. We won six in a row at one stretch and never really had back-to-back losses prior to (the end). A lot of really good things were going on and are going on. We want to build on those. Recognize where we need to be better, and there’s several areas where we must be better in. Just kind of own up to it and roll up our sleeves and get busy.

Q: You said you were going to demand more. What more can you demand out of these guys?