Patriots ex Josh McDaniels Experiencing ‘Small World’ Struggles With Raiders
FOXBORO — Former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ coaching tenure with the Las Vegas Raiders has not exactly gotten off to a smooth start.
In fact, in the immortal words of late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, it may be ‘off to a great stop!”
With their 25-20 loss to the seemingly hapless Indianapolis Colts and inexperienced, first-time coach Jeff Saturday at Allegiant Stadium Sunday, McDaniels’ Raiders fell to 2-7 and out of the postseason picture. The Raiders have blown three leads of 17+ points through their first nine games and are 0-6 in one-possession games.
Dating back to his two-season stint with the Denver Broncos (2009-2010), McDaniels has lost 24 of his last 31 games as an NFL head coach.
Needless to say it has been bitter serum to swallow for the passionate fan base of the silver and black. Their expectations for a team featuring quarterback Derek Carr, receiver Davante Adams, defensive end Chandler Jones (et.al) have certainly not been met … and it has many within Raider Nation calling for the head of their new head coach.
Meanwhile, in Foxboro …
Patriots coach Bill Belichick once again has his team in contention for a spot in the postseason, as well as being competitive in what has become the best division in the AFC. In fact, if the playoffs began this week, the AFC East would provide four of the conference’s seven qualifying teams.
Ultimately, the messiness between McDaniels and the Raiders is not New England’s focus. At 5-4, it is business as usual for the Patriots. Though a Dec. 18 meeting with the Raiders lays ahead on the schedule, Belichick is rightly and squarely focused on New England’s next opponent, the New York Jets.
“I'm not really at a ‘big picture’ at this point,” Belichick told reporters on Monday. “Our focus is on our team and our immediate opponent. That's what it's been for the first nine weeks, and that's what it'll be for the next eight weeks is to try to maximize our performance and efficiency against whoever it is we're playing.”
To be fair, the Patriots have also experienced their share of struggles in 2022. From inconsistency at the quarterback position to a lack of continuity along the offensive line, the Pats limped out of the gate to a 1-3 start. However, New England has largely relied on their stifling defense and a much-improved special teams’ unit to win four of their last five games.
Yet, the team’s offensive troubles remain. Quarterback Mac Jones has looked uncomfortable and indecisive in the Pats new-look offense under de-facto play caller Matt Patricia. It has been a sharp contrast to the 24-year-old’s rookie season, in which he was lauded for his quick decision-making and game management skills in running New England’s timing-based offense, based on quick accurate throws in the short-to-intermediate areas of the field.
The architect of said offense, you may ask? None other than Josh McDaniels.
Therefore, with the Pats starting signal-caller continuing to struggle under the team’s new offensive management, and McDaniels’ having poorer luck out west than Clark Griswold during his ‘Vegas Vacation,’ the stars appear to be seemingly aligned for a mutual ‘mea-culpa’ reunion between the two sides in New England, right?
Simply put, it’s not going to happen.
According to a Monday afternoon report from The Athletic, McDaniels has been given assurances by ownership that he will return to coach the Raiders in 2023.
Therefore, the question remains, ‘Why?’
Despite all of McDaniels’ troubles, Raiders owner Mark Davis is understandably disinclined to relieve the 46-year-old from his duties. For starters, McDaniels is less than one year into the four-year deal which he signed with the team in February. While the pressure is admittedly a bit different for the franchise defined by the “Just Win, Baby’ mantra, nine games is just too small of a sample size to warrant such a move.
Following their Week 10 defeat, both Adams and Carr (who was visibly emotional) expressed disappointment at the Raiders lack of buy-in to their team in 2022. Though the head coach should shoulder the blame for some of that, the players’ sentiments indicate that it is unfair to place it all on McDaniels.
Still, the most probable of reasons for Davis’ reluctance to make the move most Raiders fans want to see is … wait for it … money!
In the event of his firing, Las Vegas would be forced to pony up a rather robust buy-out to McDaniels. Though the terms of his contract remain mostly secretive, it has been speculated that the payment may extend into the tens-of-millions range. Having recently negotiated a settlement for the dismissal of former coach Jon Gruden, Davis is justifiably hesitant to rid the Raiders of McDaniels, while taking on additional dead money.
No matter the financial circumstances, Davis and the Raiders will have no choice but to act, if the relationship deteriorates beyond repair, either during or beyond the 2023 season. If, in fact, Sunday’s loss precipitates the beginning of the end for McDaniels in Las Vegas, it would be ironic that the Colts were the team to loosen the thread which caused his career unraveling. In 2018, McDaniels famously reneged on a deal which was to have made him Indy’s head coach. His ‘indecision’ (to put it mildly) placed him on thin ice when it came to consideration for future coaching opportunities.
That is, until Las Vegas hired him earlier this year.
Instead, McDaniels remained New England’s offensive coordinator. Though ‘cold feet’ may tell the media narrative, the reason was reportedly due to Belichick’s desire to ‘open his world’ to his longtime assistant by tutoring him roster building, finances, the salary cap and coaching staff management.
So far, McDaniels has looked anything but “Belichickian.”
To only thicken the irony, Colts owner Jim Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard would go on to hire ex-Eagles assistant Frank Reich in the wake of McDaniels’ controversial choice. Reich held the job through Week 9 of the 2022 season, at which point Irsay fired him after a 26-3 loss to the Patriots. Long-time Colts legend Jeff Saturday was hired as Reich’s successor, despite having no previous collegiate or pro-level coaching experience. Sunday’s win was the ex-center’s first as Indianapolis’ head coach. The fact that it came at McDaniels’ expense is sure to elicit more than a few smiles from the Colts’ brass.
Perhaps, it really is a small ‘world’ after all?
In any case, the Patriots will not be welcoming McDaniels back to their ‘world’ any time soon.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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