Now that he’s been fired as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, could Josh McDaniels return to New England for the third time? Phil Perry and Albert Breer weigh in on Arbella Early Edition
Just before he was relieved of his duties as Las Vegas Raiders head coach, Josh McDaniels reportedly went down defending the New England Patriots.
The Raiders held a tense team meeting in the week leading up to their Monday night game against the Detroit Lions. During the meeting, players and assistant coaches reportedly aired their grievances and ripped into McDaniels for his leadership style.
McDaniels had linebackers coach Antonio Pierce speak on his behalf. Pierce, a Super Bowl champion with the 2007 New York Giants, preached the need for a culture shift. When part of his spiel included a mention of the '07 Patriots, whose undefeated season was spoiled in Super Bowl 42, McDaniels took exception.
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Jay Glazer had the scoop on Fox NFL Sunday.
"He (Pierce) said, ‘No matter who we played, we thought we could beat them. We had a game plan that we could beat them. We had to believe that, and that’s not here with the Raiders. We can beat anybody.’
“Josh McDaniels then goes over to him and says, ‘Don’t ever talk about the Patriots like that.' And then you really saw how divided the building got. That got up to (Raiders owner) Mark Davis, and I think Davis looked at it and [went], ‘OK, I’m gonna choose the guy who believes we can win every single week.’”
The Raiders lost to the Lions to fall to 3-5 on the season. Just hours later, the Raiders announced the firings of McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. Pierce was named interim head coach.
McDaniels was hired as Raiders head coach in Jan. 2022. He had signed a six-year contract worth roughly $10 million per season.
Naturally, the Raiders moving on from McDaniels has prompted speculation about another reunion with New England. McDaniels had a role in all six of the Patriots' Super Bowl titles and was Mac Jones' offensive coordinator/QB coach during his encouraging rookie season. As our Phil Perry pointed out, adding McDaniels as an offensive assistant could help the Patriots see what they have in Jones going forward.
