Dating back to last year, Josh McDaniels was the head coach of the Raiders for 33 games, and in that period of time you could probably count on one hand how many times he showed emotion on the sideline.
Even in press conferences, it sometimes didn’t look like McDaniels had a connection or a feel for what was going on around him. One of the only times he showed emotion in a press conference was when he announced that Derek Carr was being benched, and that looked to be nervous energy more than anything else.
From the outside, it had been clear for a while that there was a disconnect between McDaniels and many of the people that worked around him.
This week a player talked to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter and seemed to confirm that McDaniels didn’t have a pulse on what was going on with his team…
“I don’t think he knew how unhappy [and] how miserable it was,” the player told Carpenter. “No one was having any fun. I personally think he had no clue what it was like because he lives in his own bubble, his process, and it wasn’t working.”
Another player made a similar remark, but emphasized that McDaniels wasn’t just tone deaf, he apparently lacked the ability to understand what was going on around him…
“’It didn’t bother Josh,’ Hondo said a players told him. “‘[Josh] never left the building. I don’t hate him, I like Josh, but I don’t think he was tone deaf, I think he was clueless,” Carpenter
McDaniels said he learned from his time in Denver – although the Raiders apparently never asked him about those – but there’s no question that he made many of the same mistakes with the Raiders that he made with the Broncos.
One mistake he didn’t make, though, was another blatant decision to cheat.
We can’t prove it, but if he was cheating in Las Vegas it would seem reasonable to expect more than 9 wins in 25 games.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Mark Davis apparently did not have a clue when he chose McDaniels. Who is going to guide him now? apparently he has proven he makes bad decisions in Rich Bissciaca and McDaniels. Hopefully Brady will guide him!
I like the Raiders beat website but does anyone really believe Hondo’s BS?
As if players are giving him these long winded answers. Oh and his “sources” throughout the league?
I could write what he says and say I have all these sources too.
Rich Bisaccia would have needed an offensive Guru to be his right hand man. He had the team behind him and he’s a well respected motivator, but he didn’t have the offensive schemes to lead into the future. The same is true of Pierce. I like him, I like his style. The players feel the same way. He’s a player’s coach, but he needs a young brilliant offensive coordinator to be his right hand and take us forward. We can only play street football for so long before we get exposed. I’m excited to see where this is going for the first time since the beginning of last year.
Hopefully Bo can be that young offensive genius..