Trouble In Paradise: Reports Out Of Las Vegas Are That The Locker Room Hates Josh McDaniels.
@_MLFOOTBALL - Multiple anonymous #Raiders players spoke out regarding HC Josh McDaniels, it is not going well😳
“We have to go in and watch film and listen to the coaches blame us again for the loss so after that, I’ll be good”
“Our offense is old school, and not up to date if you watch the best offenses in the #NFL like the #49ers and the #Eagles and the #Dolphins they all use the entire field and use every player they have and are creative af not like us. They have fun playing ball for us, it's a job.”
“They’ve been running the same shit for 20 years now and they’re too hard-headed to change that’s why we lose.”
“Been saying it since last season. It’s hard to win when you’re too damn predictable.” “It’s the worst feeling on offense when the defense calls out your plays and knows what you’re running. Chicago did that constantly”
Anybody who knows me knows I've been out on Josh McDaniels since basically day 2. His offensive schematics never impressed me, I was always a firm believer in the fact that TB12 and company won in spite of him and his awful play calling (yet another thing Brady covered up for the Pats), and that he is a smug prick.
The first part was more than evident from watching his offense work week in and week out for 13 seasons. The most bland, basic bitch offensive you've ever seen. Which he of course took with him to Denver, and now Las Vegas. He's been running the same shit for the last two decades. Is it any wonder that defenses across the league, including one of the worst, and most poorly coached (the Bears) know your plays before you snap the ball?
The last part, the part about him being a smug prick was confirmed when I read the piece that Denver's old GM, Ted Sunquist, the man who drafted Jay Cutler, tore McDaniels to shreds for coming into Denver, carrying himself like he was Bill Belichick, making enemies with his players, ostracizing the team's stars, and running himself out of town. It's a great read if you're interested.
A couple of gems from it -
Shortly after Josh McDaniels moved into his office at Dove Valley, he called in Cutler and his agent, Bus Cook, for a closed-door meeting. The story goes that McDaniels began with a 20-minute dissertation of his resume, how he'd worked his way up the ranks in New England to become Bill Belichick's right-hand man with the offense and how the team would have been nowhere the year before without his tutelage of backup Matt Cassel.
After the perplexing recitation of accomplishments, McDaniels suddenly shifted gears.
He began to bash and berate Cutler and his game to the tune of a verbal flogging neither had ever witnessed. The expletive-laden diatribe went on for a few minutes, after which Cook stood up and told Cutler they were leaving. As they walked down the long hallway past Bowlen's office, Cutler turned to Bus and said, "Get me out of here. I don't care how you do it."
I bumped into a friend who plays on the Raiders currently this summer during the offseason and without even asking how things were going, he told me how miserable the team was dealing with McDaniels and what a "cock sucker" he is because of how treats and speaks to everybody. I said I was the last person surprised by that, because that's been his m.o. for years, thinking and carrying himself like he's Bill Belichick.
Speaking of Bill Belichick, there was a great piece last week from Henry McKenna about how nice of a guy McDaniels was in repaying Bill Belichick for his years and years of employment and tutelage, (and rehiring him after he left and was fired by Denver). How did he repay him you ask? By gutting the entire New England scouting department, and stealing away key assistants to take to Las Vegas with him of course.
Fox Sports - New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick opened his press conference on Wednesday by noting how many Las Vegas Raiders' staffers once worked for him.
It wasn't a humblebrag. (Or maybe it was, but if so, it wasn't a very good one.)
But his comments also brought attention to the Patriots' steady outflow of coaches, executives and scouts over the past few years. There's a legitimate question whether, for the first time, the Patriots are genuinely struggling with brain drain — a gradual procession of executives and coaches leaving New England to the point where its ranks look depleted.
Getting back to McDaniels, the now-Raiders head coach poached former Patriots receivers coach Mick Lombardi. He’ll now be McDaniels’ OC. Additionally, McDaniels hired former Pats offensive assistant Bo Hardegree as his quarterbacks coach and offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo will take the same position.
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who was poached from the Giants, is another former Pats assistant, as he served as the defensive line coach and linebackers coach before joining Brian Flores’ staff in Miami.
According to Albert Breer of MMQB, the Patriots prevented tight ends coach Nick Caley from conversing with McDaniels’ Raiders.
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Belichick's one cardinal rule. The man's coaching tree stretches far and wide across the sport now, resembling an entire rain forest, and the one thing he asks of his coaches who move on to other jobs is not to take other assistants with them.
The crazy part is even with all of that help, it's still bordering on a dumpster fire in Vegas. (Except for two notable home wins vs Belichick and the Pats.) Woof.