Raiders 'Not Trying To Be New England', But Why Not?
The last time the Raiders had a decidedly better season than the New England Patriots was 2002, back when they played in Oakland, Tom Brady could count his Super Bowl rings on one finger and Josh McDaniels was an entry-level assistant in the personnel department in Foxboro.
Since then - over almost 20 years - the Patriots have consistently racked up double-digit wins in the regular season and collected five more championships under the steady hand of Bill Belichick. Meanwhile, since losing Super Bowl XXXVII to the Buccaneers, the Raiders have only produced two seasons of 10+ wins and failed to win a single playoff game while rifling through an almost unfathomable 10 head coaches.
So now that McDaniels, who worked his up through the front office and onto Belichick's coaching staff as a trusted offensive coordinator, has taken over the Raiders it seems a no-brainer that Las Vegas will attempt to emulate the "Patriot Way", right?
"This is something totally different," former Patriots-turned-Raiders running back Brandon Bolden said this week during Raiders minicamp. "Josh is going to put his own spin on things. Are there a few things we learned along the way because I was there with him a lot of that time? Sure. But we're not trying to be New England. We're the Las Vegas Raiders, and that's what we're going to play as."
While the Patriots cut the minicamp and OTAs short in advance of a season that even their legendary former players predict will not be as successful as the Raiders, McDaniels inherits a team in desperate need of some postseason success. After losing the Super Bowl in 2002, the Raiders have made the playoffs just two times.
This is the second time in McDaniels’ career that he serves as a head coach in the NFL and the second time in the last five years that he has been hired for a head coaching position. In 2018, the Indianapolis Colts hired McDaniels as their new head coach but then he withdrew from the position shortly after landing it. McDaniels chose to return to his position with the Patriots instead.
Bolden, who won two Super Bowls during his nine years in New England, says there obviously be similarities with what the Patriots accomplished and what the Raiders are attempting to achieve. But don't expect Las Vegas to simply be Foxboro West.
“It's like if you're used to your older brother babysitting, but now the parents are nowhere around and you're stuck with your big brother for the weekend," Bolden said of McDaniels. "It's been cool these past years to see him going to Denver and coming back to New England, and now I've had him since I was a rookie, and now he's where he is now."
