Getty Las Vegas Raiders WR Davante Adams.
When the Las Vegas Raiders hired Josh McDaniels in the offseason, there were plenty of questions about the decision considering his failed stint with the Denver Broncos. However, he made it clear that he learned from his mistakes and fans started to get excited after the team traded for star wide receiver Davante Adams from the Green Bay Packers. Many have already soured on the coach following the team’s 2-7 to the season.
There have been plenty of calls for the Raiders to fire McDaniels before he even gets to a second season. Owner Mark Davis came out and made it clear that he won’t be doing that yet. He believes in what the coach is building and is remaining patient. His comments weren’t received well by fans but players appear to be happy. Adams shared his thoughts on Davis’ endorsement and believes it was the right call.
“You look at the history of this place, I mean, I don’t think a playoff game has been won in over 20 years here,” Adams said Wednesday. “There’s no magic coach that’s going to come in and change that. And I think that Josh is doing a great job and he does deserve that, in my mind. We can all be better in certain instances but some of the greatest coaches that this league has seen had some tough times and I’m sure they didn’t all come out the block sprinting like Usain Bolt, starting their career off, or starting with a new organization. So, I think it’s good move by [Davis] doing that. It’s good for Josh, good for the rest of the guys, too.”
Is Adams Correct About McDaniels?
Adams and Davis are working with McDaniels on a day-to-day basis so they’d have a much better idea of the job that he’s doing than people outside the building. The results have been terrible this season but the Raiders haven’t won a playoff game in 20 years, as Adams pointed out.
McDaniels deserves more than nine games before he gets fired. The Raiders could feasibly be 8-1 if a few more things went their way. The 2022 season isn’t going to turn around but if the team fires McDaniels, who are they going to hire? Why would Sean Payton want anything to do with this team? Also, a coach like Payton is going to cost a ton of money that Davis might not have. Hiring another coordinator to be the head coach to replace McDaniels seems like a mistake. The coach deserves at least one more season.
McDaniels Needs to Turn Things Around Next Year
McDaniels is getting the benefit of the doubt from Davis right now but that won’t last forever. This year, he can use the excuse that the team has wasted top draft picks in recent years and the defensive roster is a disaster. Those things are true but this team made the playoffs just a season ago.
The Raiders clearly need to fine-tune a lot of things. The offensive line and entire defense need to be reworked. The offense has enough good players to make a playoff run if they just have an average defense. It’s possible to take a terrible defense and get them to average in an offseason if they nail the draft. There’s a lot of pressure on general manager Dave Ziegler to prove that he can outperform Mike Mayock in the draft.