Las Vegas Raiders Fire McDaniels and Ziegler
The Las Vegas Raiders lost to the Detroit Lions 26-14 on Monday Night Football to conclude week 8 of the NFL season. Lions quarterback Jared Goff outclassed Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, tallying over twice as many passing yards over the game. Goff completed 26 out of 37 passing attempts for 272 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while Garoppolo completed 10 out of 21 passing attempts for 126 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
But the major headline for the Raiders came a night later when owner Mark Davis announced the team would part ways with both Head Coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler. One could argue that McDaniels was unable to deliver on expectations. He had been hired in early 2022 after stints with the Broncos, Rams and years of success with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. McDaniels served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Patriots from 2006-2008 and 2012-2021, with three Super Bowl wins in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Ziegler, his counterpart at Las Vegas, worked in personnel for New England around the same time frame. Ziegler and McDaniels were both hired by the Raiders in 2022 and went 9-16 in their season and a half together as general manager and head coach.
Last season, the Raiders struggled and finished with a 6-11 record, with their quarterback that season, Derek Carr, signing with the Saints after the season ended. This season, the Raiders have had a relatively poor first eight games, having a record of 3-5. They had a promising start to the season, winning their week one matchup against the Denver Broncos.
They then lost three games in a row but appeared to turn things around after that, winning back-to-back games to improve to 3-3. Since then, however, they have lost two straight games, losing 30-12 to the Chicago Bears in Week 7 and then losing to the Lions in Week 8, prompting Davis to fire McDaniels and Ziegler. At the moment, Davis has placed Antonio Pierce as interim head coach while Champ Kelly will take over as GM. Davis looks to hire full-time positions at the conclusion of the season. It remains to be seen if Davis made the right move by removing two key leaders from the organization.
At the moment, the Raiders are 3rd in the AFC West, three games back from the division-leading Kansas City Chiefs, who are 6-2. They are only one and a half games from the last wild card, meaning even with their 3-5 record, the Raiders are still in contention to make the playoffs if they can turn things around. It remains to be seen if Davis’s decision will improve the team by providing some addition by subtraction by removing two problems for a solution or if it will negatively impact the team.