It came as a shock to some in the football world in late January when the Raiders announced that Josh McDaniels would be the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Josh McDaniels brings a history of equal amounts of success and scandal. Fans were optimistic about the young offensive mind. However, we are two weeks in, and it’s already pretty hard to be optimistic about the product on the field.
After blowing a 20-0 lead at the half, Raiders fans are left scratching their heads, wondering how such a sure deal slipped through their hands. The Raiders have a stacked roster and just extended their QB Derek Carr to a whopping 3-year $121.5M deal, so there is no excuse for failure in the eyes of fans who view the 0-2 start as signs of what’s to come. Josh McDaniels cannot afford to have an abysmal career in Vegas, as that would surely be the end of any head coaching aspirations. With his history, he is lucky Las Vegas even took a shot on him.
Why is this Josh’s last shot?
When you first hear Josh Mcdaniels’s name, it may be easy to only remember the success that he had as the Offensive Coordinator during much of the Patriot’s reign as the premier team. Josh McDaniels served as Offensive Coordinator from 2006-2008 and then once again from 2012 to 2021, and to his credit had a great amount of success, winning 6 super bowls.
However, we also have to talk about the window in which he wasn’t the OC in New England. McDaniels served as head coach to the Denver Broncos from 2009 to midway through the 2010 season when he was fired with 4 games remaining in the season. Why was he fired? A couple of reasons that we could spend all day discussing, but ultimately it wasn’t the fact that he had an abysmal record of 11-17, nor was it the fact that he foolishly traded up to draft Tim Tebow. No, the decision to fire McDaniels came following a week 8 scandal in which it was later revealed Josh McDaniels was part of a cheating scandal that involved filming opponents’ practices.
After the cheating scandal, Josh McDaniels had a short stint with the St. Louis Rams before returning to New England. In 2018 the Indianapolis Colts announced that they had hired Josh McDaniels to be their Head Coach, a position that he would withdraw from the same day as the announcement. With all this being said and done, McDaniels found himself with the reigns to the Raiders with one last shot to turn his career around.
What can he do?
So what does McDaniels need to do to repolish his reputation? He needs to get more mileage out of his ridiculously stacked roster. Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs need to get going soon and become more active parts of the Raiders’ offensive attack. But ultimately, at the end of the day, all McDaniels needs to do is to quote the infamous Al Davis “Just win, baby!”
