It’s not lost on me that in just 25 games as Raiders head coach, I was able to pretty easily put together a list of ten utterly terrible moments that led to Josh McDaniels being fired.
The man who talked openly about all the mistakes he made when he first got a head coaching job ten years earlier ended up getting fired even quicker than he had in his doomed Denver stint. He lasted 28 games as Broncos head coach. He fell short of that by three games (25) with the Raiders.
This is a clear case of how it started, how it’s going. It started poorly. And it got worse. As hard as that might have been to believe possible just a year and a half ago.
For this, I put together a top ten list. But with Mark Davis saying McDaniels was fired because he saw regression rather than progress, I thought it captured that best to list them chronologically.
So, enjoy the ride. Mainly because it’s over now and you can look back thankful it’s over.
Blew biggest lead in franchise history
It didn’t take long before we started to see that Josh McDaniels may not be very good at his job. In his second game at the helm, the Raiders were up 20-0 over the Cardinals…and they lost.
In a second half in which the Raiders’ offense was stagnant and the entire team was watching their commanding lead slip away, the ball was not being thrown to their best receiver. How in the world does that happen?
Adams saw exactly one pass in the second half. Carr attempted to throw to Adams twice on their drive in overtime. The first one was short and incomplete. The second was off-target deep and nearly intercepted. Every completion after the half was dinks and dunks without a single catch made more than nine yards downfield. That’s how you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They lost 29-23 in overtime.
Went for two down one late to lose to bitter rival Chiefs
His fifth game as coach, he faced off against the bitter rival Chiefs for the first time. And it was at Arrowhead. With 4:27 left in the game, the Raiders had scored a touchdown to pull to within one point. Just a point after to tie it. But McDaniels went for two instead. The attempt failed and the Raiders remained down 30-29.
The Raiders defense managed to get the ball back for the Raiders offense, but with less than two minutes remaining and no timeouts – and being down one instead of being tied – the Raiders were in desperation mode. They found themselves in fourth-and-one nearing field goal range. Josh Jacobs had been gashing the Chiefs all day, so, of course, you look to him to pick up that yard…unless you’re an offensive genius like McDaniels. No, that’s tired. Wired would be to throw it there instead. The pass fell incomplete and the game was over.
Losing by one point to a bitter rival when that one point was there for the taking had to have begun testing Mark Davis’s patience already, just five games in.
Shut out with starting offense failing to cross midfield
Eight games in and sitting at 2-4 on the season, facing the 2-5 Saints. On consecutive plays in the first half of this game, McDaniels tried to get cute and instead paid the price. They were down just 7-0 at the time, lined up in third-and-one. But instead of going to Josh Jacobs, he ran Davante Adams on a sweep and it was stuffed for a loss. Then he ran a fake punt direct snap to safety Matthias Farley that was also stopped for a loss and the Saints took over already in scoring range.
It was 17-0 at the half and that was more than enough because the Raiders offense was going nowhere. They were down 24-0 in the fourth quarter and with three minutes left in the game, Davante Adams had one catch for three yards and the Raiders offense had not even crossed midfield. That’s when they pulled Derek Carr and called it a night.
Blew 17-0 lead to Jaguars
Things looked much better the following week in Jacksonville. At least at first. They jumped out to a 17-0 lead. Then watched it wash away. Making for the third time in eight games the Raiders salted away a 17-point lead.
For those who don’t watch the game or know what they’re watching, the common response is that the defense blew it. But you couldn’t blame one side of the ball here. One side stopped scoring and the other side couldn’t stop the other team from scoring. Once is a fluke. Twice is a coincidence. Thrice is a trend. And a disturbing one at that.
Lost to HS coach in 1st NFL game
This one pitted McDaniels vs Jeff Saturday who was making his debut as an NFL head coach and whose only coaching experience was in high school. And it was in Vegas. Seems like a mismatch, right? Well…
The offense had three possessions in the first quarter and didn’t manage a single first down out of it. They had a net ONE YARD of offense combined on those three possessions. It seems a team could accidentally do better than that over three drives. And the Raiders were down 10-0 in the second quarter.
The game featured a 66-yard run by Jonathan Taylor and a career-long 37-yard run by 37-year-old Matt Ryan. Both led to touchdowns and the Colts came away with a 25-20 victory. Then proceeded to lose EVERY OTHER GAME THAT SEASON.
It was also the Raiders third straight loss to drop to 2-7 on the season. The locker room was in utter disarray and Derek Carr was crying at the podium. I mean, how do you lose a team this badly in just nine games on the job?
Blew 13-point lead to QB who never practiced with the team
For the fourth time that season, the Raiders held at least a 13-point lead only to blow it. This time they blew it to Baker Mayfield who had literally signed with the team two days prior and hadn’t even had a full practice with the team.
The Raiders were up 13-3 at the half and then scored just three points in the second half to lose 17-16.
It was clear from the early going that after the Raiders scored an opening drive touchdown, McDaniels thought he could play it safe the rest of the way and ride out a victory.
The second Raiders’ drive of the game, they moved into scoring range. And on third-and-five, McDaniels called a draw play. It was stopped for one yard and Carlson came out to kick a 52-yard field goal. That drive featured one pass that went more than one yard past the line of scrimmage.
At one point they were in fourth-and-one from the LA 49-yard-line which is exactly when you want to go for it. At least if you had any sense of urgency or valued being aggressive. McDaniels sent out the punt team.
Late in the game, with the Raiders now clinging to a six-point lead, they lined up in third and one. And, as McDaniels was want to do, he tried to get cute, apparently thinking he could catch the Rams sleeping or his genius would just make their heads spin or something. He lined Jacobs up in the fullback spot, put Jakob Johnson out wide, and Davante Adams in the backfield (??) behind Jacobs. Then Carr quick-snapped it to Jacobs, who had no blockers in front of him. The Rams weren’t fooled. Jacobs was stuffed for no gain and the Raiders punted. The Rams then drove for the game winning touchdown.
Failed to address need positions in offseason
Yeah, they finally moved on from Derek Carr. But it was a year too late, and after they had given him a no-trade clause, so they watched him walk away while getting nothing in return. Then they replaced him with Jimmy Garoppolo and we saw how that turned out. It was less talked about, but they also replaced Jarrett Stidham with Brian Hoyer. Just downgrades across the board.
The other big needs were guard, defensive tackle, and cornerback. And they did not prioritize a single one of them in free agency. They signed three corners early on, none of whom had started more than five games last season. Two have been cut and one is on IR.
Late in the offseason they picked up guard Greg Van Roten who can only be considered an upgrade because of how incredibly bad the guy was who he replaced. And they did precisely nothing at DT (including passing up on Jalen Carter in the draft to take Tyree Wilson instead).
Oh, and they traded away tight end Darren Waller and let Foster Moreau walk, thus creating a need where there wasn’t one before, so they had to trade up to get Michael Mayer in the top of the second round.
They’re spending nearly twice as much in cap space on their offense than their defense and, while the ‘you get what you pay for’ saying often applies to the defense, it absolutely does not apply to their 31st ranked offense.
Went for field goal down 8 to Steelers
Early in the season, the Raiders managed to just edge out a 17-16 win over the Broncos thanks to their kicker missing a field goal and an extra point and then get their doors blown off by the Bills the following week. Then they welcomed the Steelers for the Vegas home opener.
Even with as bad as the Raiders looked for much of this game, they still managed to give themselves a chance late, pulling to within eight points in the fourth quarter. Then Josh McDaniels ripped that chance away from them. With 2:25 left in the game on fourth and four from the eight-yard-line, he opted for a field goal instead of going for it. Which makes zero sense because they would still need a touchdown after that while giving the Steelers a chance to simply end it. And thus the Raiders’ hopes of a comeback were all but completely taken from them.
Blown out by an undrafted D-II rookie QB making his first career start
Many people thought starting Brian Hoyer over Aidan O’Connell was a mistake. While I’m more in the camp that it didn’t really matter. This team was ill prepared each week and playing uninspired football.
The week prior, Davante Adams made it clear he thought this offense should be functioning at a higher level and in order for that to happen, they need to get the ball to him. So, as if McDaniels was saying “There! You happy now?!” Adams saw every pass on the opening drive, the first seven passes, and all but one pass in the first quarter…then didn’t see another pass until the end of the third quarter.
Just as McDaniels had in previous games, he made nonsensical fourth down calls. But this time it was an entire sequence that made you wonder what the hell he was thinking.
They were down 21-3 late in the third quarter. Which means this was essentially their last chance to get in the end zone if they were to have any shot at winning the game. They got a huge break with a 46-yard pass interference penalty that put them in the red zone.
In second and four from the nine-yard-line they ran Zamir White for no gain and then attempted a fade in the end zone…to Josh Jacobs that fell incomplete. Only a true offensive genius would know to run with your backup RB and throw a WR fade to your reigning RUSHING champ.
McDaniels actually made the obvious right decision to go for it on fourth-and-four and went to Davante Adams to pick it up. But then first-and-goal at the five, the Raiders ran a toss play to Josh Jacobs that LB Jack Sanborn blew up for a five-yard loss and ultimately found themselves in fourth-and-goal at the six. AND MCDANIELS BROUGHT OUT THE FIELD GOAL UNIT. I mean WHAT? How do you go for it on fourth-and-four at the nine-yard-line and then kick the field goal on fourth-and-goal at the six?? And all to make it an 18-point game midway through the fourth quarter. It’s still a three score game. A true mastermind at work.
End of an error
The fateful trip to Detroit. Where new lows were reached that fell below already reached lows. First and foremost, it was the ninth consecutive game the Raiders offense failed to score 20 points in a game. This one they scored just seven points.
It made for the fourth game in franchise history in which the Raiders offense had 80 or fewer net yards rushing (80) and passing (77).
Early in this game, the Raiders went for it on fourth-and-two at their own 49. That’s something most teams wouldn’t do, but McDaniels had been criticized so many times for not going for it when he obviously should have, that he didn’t dare not go for it this time…even though he obviously shouldn’t have. They couldn’t pick it up and gave the Steelers the ball in Vegas territory.
By the end of the first half, Jimmy Garoppolo had more completions to Lions’ defensive backs (1) than Raiders wide receivers (0).
As if attempting to end that conversation, Garoppolo finally completed a pass to Davante Adams on the first play of the third quarter. Then three plays later, on third and nine, McDaniels and Garoppolo failed to recognize and compensate for the blitz and he was sacked for a four-and-out.
Down 12 in the fourth quarter, the Raiders had one last shot to get back in the game. That shot ended with three sacks on four plays. The first one was again due to the failure to properly recognize and pick up the blitz. The last one took way too long to develop with his receivers going too deep. By the time Adams got open and turned for the ball, it was too late.
And thus ended the Josh McDaniels era with the Raiders.
