It turns out “Sin City” is not the place for “The Patriot Way.”
Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels was fired alongside general manager Dave Ziegler with players feeling “overworked in some cases,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported.
“The tone was set by the regime that if the lights were on in the building, people should be there working,” Fowler wrote.
“After asking around, I get the sense that people skills and culture were primary issues — and ones that essentially plagued McDaniels in two coaching stops.”
McDaniels spent 14 years with the Patriots under Bill Belichick, leaving in 2009 to be head coach of the Broncos for a disastrous season-and-a-half.
The report continues that players aired their leadership grievances behind the scenes in meetings and other conversations.
During this time, McDaniels reportedly implored players and leadership to trust him and that it would eventually turn around once everyone bought in.
“Players know. And if all you’re ever telling them is, ‘I know better,’ you’re going to lose them pretty quick,” a source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
With the buy-in not there, and fans clamoring for a leadership change, Raiders owner Mark Davis fired McDaniels last week.
Previous reports indicated the final straw was an “intense” meeting between McDaniels and the team in which the players aired their grievances, leaving the coach stung and a shell of himself.
It gives McDaniels the dubious distinction of being the first coach in NFL history to be fired by two different franchises before the end of his second season.
The Raiders, with Antonio Pierce as interim coach, responded with a 30-6 thrashing of the Giants on Sunday to improve to 4-5.
The Belichick coaching disciples have been a resounding failure across the league, although former player Mike Vrabel has enjoyed success in Tennessee as the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year.
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