The Las Vegas Raiders’ late-night decision on Tuesday to fire head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler came as a bit of a shock, despite the Raiders’ lackluster performance this season.
Las Vegas went just 9-16 in the games McDaniels coached, but a mid-season firing always feels strange.
On FOX NFL Sunday before Week 9 got underway, NFL insider Jay Glazer added some additional context to the situation.
“There was such a big disconnect between the [Raiders] players and Josh McDaniels that they were recently going upstairs to [owner] Mark Davis to tell him what their problems were. The big thing was last Thursday there was an airing of the grievances meeting and players unloaded on Josh McDaniels, from captain to captain, to player to player,” Glazer reported. But, there’s even more. “Finally, Josh McDaniels had Antonio Pierce speak on behalf of him and on behalf of the coaches, and he brought up the old Giants team that beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl in the 2007 season.” Glazer continued.
McDaniels was a coordinator on that Patriots team which was undefeated heading into the Super Bowl and lost to the Giants, who Pierce played for at the time. Pierce brought that point up saying, per Glazer, “No matter who we played, we thought we could beat them. We believed that. And that’s not here at the Raiders and we need that.”
Both Pierce and the players felt good after the meeting, but McDaniels reportedly went up to Pierce after and was outraged he would talk about the Patriots like that, showing just how deep the divide between the players and McDaniels had gotten. He was fired and replaced by Pierce.
Naturally, social media had plenty to say about this news.
I don’t understand the “don’t talk about the Patriots like that” … he was angry Pierce mentioned beating them as an example of what culture can do for a team?
Guy is charmin soft.
— GiantsBlueBlooded (@RealTlkFB) November 5, 2023
That Bellichick dark magic is powerful. Makes his underlings literally zombies to the All Powerful Hoodie. It needs to be studied.
— Father Nanner (@TiniestBanana) November 5, 2023
If this is true then whatever team hires Josh McDaniels again (and you know some team will get desperate enough to hop on the coaching carousel again) deserves their fate. Dude is cooked https://t.co/dyHTJPWjNR
— local bIogger (@fergoe) November 5, 2023
… I am speechless https://t.co/6c4AeoJXDG
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) November 5, 2023
