Josh McDaniels' bad decisions lead to Raiders firing: What's next?

[milestogo]

The last image of Josh McDaniels as an NFL head coach will be from Monday night. Las Vegas Raiders receiver Davante Adams had gotten himself open for two long touchdowns in the second half against the Lions, only for hand-picked McDaniels favorite Jimmy Garoppolo to misfire on both his throws. The first, under heavy pressure from Aidan Hutchinson, landed 2 yards out of bounds. The second landed 2 yards past Adams' fingertips. The star wideout went to the sideline, slammed his helmet on the bench and very visibly said he was tired of something I'll summate as the Raiders experience.

Fast-forward to 24 hours later, and it turned out that Mark Davis was tired of that experience, too. The Raiders owner stunningly fired McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler on Tuesday night, ending the former Patriots coordinator's head-coaching gig after 25 games, less than two seasons into a six-year contract. McDaniels went 9-16 as the Raiders' coach, a step down from his 11-17 mark in 28 games with the Broncos (2009-10), where he was also fired halfway through his second campaign.

On the merits of their record and the season they've had so far, McDaniels and Ziegler did not deserve to go. They've been middling, sure, but plenty of coaches have done worse before improving. Davis didn't fire Jon Gruden after he started 11-21 in his second gig with the Raiders. Kyle Shanahan was 10-22 across his first two seasons with the 49ers. Dan Campbell, who handed McDaniels his final loss, started his Lions career 4-19-1. He has gone 13-4 since then. Plenty of coaches have gotten off to slow starts and turned things around.

Instead, the case for firing McDaniels and Ziegler is more comprehensive. I'm not sure a coach and general manager have ever gotten as many of their big decisions wrong over the first two years of their tenure than the now-deposed Raiders pairing. Everyone makes mistakes, and it's easy to use hindsight to correct calls, but many of the decisions they made looked foolish even in the moment. Running through them in chronological order gives us a brief history of the regime and why the pair is out in Las Vegas.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38791663/josh-mcdaniels-fired-las-vegas-raiders-bad-decisions-legacy-rebuild

[Angleae]

1. The Raiders have also fired their offensive coordinator. Now we celebrate.

[Auggie]

2. Raiders in turmoil. Now I'll celebrate.

[Angleae]

3. When was the last time we weren't in turmoil?

2001? Maybe 2008?

[Auggie]

4. LOL

Yes, it's been a while. Once I cared. Not to dump on your post, mind you. But Davis moving the team out of Oakland irked me something real bad. I love to see him fail. I love to see him embarrassed.

[Best_man23]

5. Part of me wonders if what McDaniels said after this team meeting played a role in his dismissal

"He reported that Antonio Pierce, who was named interim head coach after McDaniels' firing, spoke on McDaniels' behalf during the meeting. Pierce reportedly brought up the 2007 New York Giants team (on which he was a linebacker) that beat the McDaniels' then-undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl that season, saying that the Giants had a plan and truly believed they could win no matter who they played. "

"Later, after the meeting was over, McDaniels reportedly told Pierce to never speak about the Patriots like that again. After everything that was reportedly said at that meeting, all the feelings that were shared, and with his job in serious jeopardy, McDaniels was still concerned with how the Patriots were being discussed, even when a player who was on the 2007 Giants spoke about his team's accomplishment with pride."

I think about this report, and it makes me think about the incident where McDaniels left the Colts at the altar in 2018 when it looked like he was going to take their head coaching job, then suddenly announced he was staying in New England. I guess you can take the Patriot coach or player out of New England, but its a lot harder to take the Patriot out of the person.

https://sports.yahoo.com/josh-mcdaniels-was-shell-of-himself-after-brutal-team-meeting-before-firing-that-reportedly-included-patriots-jab-201920988.html