The trash in Vegas is stanky! We have a pure dumpster fire across the Raiders organization.
Last night, owner Mark Davis made the announcement that the 'chise has canned head coach Josh McDaniels; OC Mike Lombardi; and general manager Dave Ziegler after just under two years since the pairing of McDaniels and Ziegler were hired together in January of 2022. The firing puts an end to a brutal year and half tenure under McDaniels, finishing with a 9-16 record. Mark Davis has tortured the Raiders organization since his father, Al's death in 2011.
Josh McDaniels should have never been hired, now they fire him in the middle of his second season. McDaniels is the first coach in the Super Bowl era to have his tail canned by two different teams before reaching the end of his second season. I was the first one to tell you how stupid of a hire it was:
McDaniels was horrible in Vegas, the 9-16 record doesn't speak the justice. Raiders had some of the worst performances in franchise history, with a slew of notable ones. Raiders blew a 20-0 halftime lead to the Cardinals- the worst collapse in franchise history. McDaniels lost a game to interim coach Jeff Saturday and the Colts a week after Saturday was coaching high-school football. Two weeks ago, the Raiders even got blown out 30-12 by a weak Bears squad and an undrafted D-II quarterback. Down bad.
For such a "high level" offensive mind (not my words), McDaniels' led Raiders have the 31st ranked total offense in the NFL this season, the worst ranked rushing yards per game, and third worst points per game ranking. This being an offense that includes Davante Adams; Josh Jacobs; Hunter Renfrow; and Jakobi Meyers. Raiders rank 30th in third-down conversions and rank 27th in yards per play. It has been a literal disaster- a pure dumpster fire. So bad poor Davante Adams is losin' his wits in the silver and gold:
video via ESPN//X
Back to Davis, this dude continues to do all the wrong things- "Just Win Baby" died with his father. It's been nothing but a losing culture with Mark Davis gettin' involved in things. Davis has hired the wrong people at the wrong time & has fired the right people at the wrong time. The team has been abysmal under his ownership. Any organization who has an owner making front office decisions is usually a failing organization: Raiders (Davis); Cowboys (Jones); and Mavericks (Cuban) are examples of that fact. This now is the third instance since 2011 that Davis has named an interim coach in the middle of a season. Davis fired Dennis Allen after week 4 in 2014, replacing him with interim coach Tony Sparano and then had to name Rich Bisaccia interim coach after the resigning of Jon Gruden in 2021. Now, Antonio Pierce will take the reigns as interim head coach, with assistant general manager Champ Kelly being appointed the interim general manager for the remainder of the season. The Raiders have had the most coaches of any franchise in the past 20 years.
Being force to deal with Mark Davis has been straight hell for Raiders' fans. Raiders have just two winning seasons since 2011 and have seen some abysmal years. The hire and tenure of Josh McDaniels takes the cake in my opinion. You add this debacle to the Gruden debacle and you see some of the worst money management across any of the Big-4 leagues... ok disregard Baseball they are a walking meme of poor money management.
The McDaniels contract was horrendous and is going to bite Davis' in the ass for awhile. Not only was the value sickening, estimating around $10 million a year which had him in the top 8 among NFL coaches, but the fact that McDaniels still had 4 years remaining (6 year contract) is what will haunt the Raiders. They are to owe McDaniels the remainder of his contract. Las Vegas can try and buyout the contract or reach a settlement like with Gruden- but there is no chance they are successful. Why would McDaniels agree to a settlement deal after being canned? Raiders now will be paying two guys to not coach the team in Gruden and McDaniels: somewhere between $40M and $80M depending on the Gruden settlement.
Everything has a domino effect- especially in business, and especially after bad decisions like hiring Josh McDaniels. They are experiencing dominoes drop in the financials like I mentioned; personnel; and roster. Ziegler signed long tenured quarterback Derek Carr to a massive-ish contract extension, just to trade him less than a year later. A big domino roster related, as they traded for superstar wide receiver Davante Adams to play with Carr in 2022, as the duo were former college teammates at Fresno State. The duo hooked up for 100 receptions, 1,516 yards and 14 tuddys in their only full season together prior to Carr being shipped over the past off-season. That was a big morale blow to Adams and the offense in whole. The next move was even worse as Ziegler executed McDaniels' request in signing Josh's former quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. They signed Jimmy G to a three-year, $72.8 million free agent contract after Garoppolo proved to have a tier C ceiling in the NFL.
Now look at the dominoes fall. Garappolo is coming off one of the worse statistical games of his career against the Lions on Monday Night Football. He has missed pass after pass. Garappolo missed Davante Adams again on a wide-open target that caused Tae's frustration on the sideline:
video via NFL UK//X
The morale of the franchise's best weapons in Jacobs and Adams, is shot. The Raiders fans are fed up. It's pure ugly right now- all aftershock feels due to the domino effect of hiring McDaniels and then signing Jimmy Garappolo to be the starting quarterback. All the Raiders' faithful can do now is hope that a good chunk of the nastiness will be left behind in October.
Raiders woke up today to a flip in the calendar; a new head coach; a new OC; a new GM; and now a new starter at QB with the immediate benching of Garappolo after the personnel firings. Sounds a lot better until you realize that new starter is rookie Aidan O'Connell and that Antonio Pierce and the promoted (QB coach) OC Bo Hardegree now are set to make change to one of the worst offenses in the league. Still, this is better than dealin' with Josh McDaniels for another week.
There is a dark and dense cloud over the Las Vegas franchise right now. Nothing but bad vibes and a losing culture. The players played well the last time they were appointed a interim head coach, maybe they do that again. Long term the light is dim in Vegas, though. Mark Davis will take the remainder of the season and the offseason to find "suitable" replacements for the head coach and general manager positions. Raiders fans:
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