Since losing to the Raiders in week 1 of the season, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has been one of the most successful coordinators in the league, and Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer commented recently on whether McDaniels would be interested in being a head coach again.
Breer said that McDaniels still has interest in a head coaching job, but in his conversation, it was pretty clear who McDaniels probably holds most responsible for his short tenure in Las Vegas.
“Josh McDaniels is a football coach and I would tell you that if a third opportunity came along, he would listen,” Breer told NBC Sports Boston.
“I think it has to be the right place. I think this is an important piece here: It would have to be the right owner. And, of course, on the other side of this, a team would have to be interested,” Breer continued. “There’s less of a chance of that happening now after the way he flamed out in Denver and Vegas than there was the last two times he was in this sort of situation in New England.”
Safe to say, McDaniels wouldn’t want to work for an owner like Mark Davis again and, coincidentally, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter talked this week about how Davis changed his mind on McDaniels and former GM Dave Ziegler in 2023 just two weeks after telling them their job was safe.
“Mark Davis told [McDaniels] and Dave Ziegler, if you beat the Patriots, you’re going to get another year, and then just a short time later, they’re in Detroit for Monday Night Football, and Mark decided to go a different direction,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
After firing McDaniels, the Raiders gave Antonio Pierce a season to turn around the team and now the organization is seven games into the Pete Carroll era.
Carroll hasn’t won over the fan base in the first half of the season, but every indication is that the decision makers in the Raiders’ building are going to be patient with him.
“[Mark Davis has] faith in them to get this thing on the right path,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore said last week on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“Has it happened yet? No. Two in five screams loudly of that, but that doesn’t mean you just tear it up and start all over again. That’s not going to get them to where they want to get to any quicker. [Davis] has faith in the decision makers. He’s going to stick with it. He wants to see progress, obviously,” Bonsignore continued.
“But in his mind, now is definitely not the time to start all over again. They’ve tried that. They’ve done that many times, multiple times. Just count how many different head coaches that have been here with the Raiders and general managers that have been here with the Raiders. Just in our time covering them since they got here in 2020, it’s way too many and so that’s not the course of action.”
From the outside, the biggest difference between Carroll and McDaniels is that the locker room still seems to have confidence in Carroll.
The locker room wasn’t against McDaniels in 2023, but it was clear at the time they weren’t buying into him.
What it isn’t clear, as of now, is why the team is performing so poorly under Carroll.
x: @raidersbeat
Anyone that even reports this should be following cornhole.
The locker room was against McDonalds. It’s more than obvious. There’s no way McDonalds is gonna get another head coaching opportunity. Him and Pete do have a lot in common. Neither one likes any other players than the ones they hand select. Then again Reggie McKenzie was the same way.
But if you think about it, Mark & McDonalds were perfect for each other. Both aren’t liked, both have egos the size of Antarctica, and both have never done jack squat in their life yet think they’re the best at thwir profession.
McDaniels getting a third/fourth opportunity is a hilarious thing to think about. He ruined Denver in the short time he was there then stands up Indy after agreeing to ruin them and then for still unclear reasons Mark hired him instead of Rich who had just got the team into the playoffs and very close to a playoff win. Within 3 months he blows a 1 & 2 & HUGE $$ on DA. The roster wasn’t great but that trade was a bad roster decision. Not that DA wasn’t a premier WR but the picks were worth more. Then again he chose Tyree instead of J.Carter the next year. A 3rd/4th attempt, amazing that any owner would even think about it. This was obviously a McDaniels attempt at trying to place blame at Mark instead of himself.
Somethings are so obvious. It’s obvious that Josh McDaniels should remain the OC with the Patriots, it’s the only position and team he’s proven that he can be involved with that won’t be a complete disaster. Facts.
It’s obvious now that Mark threw away that playoff team cuz his man crush was getting Tom Brady as his quarterback.
Now Mayock/Bisciaa who actually had some chemistry with the team were gonna tell Mark no, so Mark got denied by Brady again, he decided to double down on stupidity & make Brady the defacto owner since he couldn’t get him as quarterback.
This is why I despise Mark