Getty Image / Jeff Bottari
This season has been a massive disappointment for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Last year, they finished the season with a winning record in a tough AFC West and made just their second playoff appearance since Derek Carr took over as their starting quarterback.
With hopes high for the team’s potential, the Raiders went out and made some big moves during the offseason.
They signed Chandler Jones and gave up quite a bit of draft capital to reunite Davante Adams with Derek Carr. They also went out and got themselves a new head coach despite Rich Bisaccia’s success after taking over the team in the middle of last season.
Despite those moves, the Raiders got worse.
They finished with a 6-11 record this season after a disappointing performance in their last game of the year against the Kansas City Chiefs.
That performance once again has fans and pundits calling for Josh McDaniels to be fired, including Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd.
Sorry if I’m a little cynical when I hear announcers say “Jarrett Stidham will be given every chance to start next year.” In a division w Mahomes and Herbert? Really? If that’s true — Just fire Josh McDaniels tonight and end the suspense.
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) January 7, 2023
It seems unlikely that the Raiders will actually fire McDaniels this offseason. Instead, it seems like they have laid the blame for this teams issues at the feet of Derek.
That was probably the wrong decision.
Carr played one of the best seasons of his career last year and the Raiders rewarded him by bringing in the best receiver he’s ever played with, who he also already had a strong connection with. He somehow got worse this year.
I have a hard time believing the coaching staff had nothing to with that.
This team has also struggled on the defensive side of the ball and blown numerous 2nd half leads that should have been safe. Derek Carr can’t take all of the blame for that.
At the end of the day, we have conclusive evidence that Derek Carr can be a good NFL quarterback. We just saw it last season.
We can’t really say the same about Josh McDaniels. McDaniels has been a great offensive coordinator in this league for years, but his best season as a head coach was an 8-8 year with the Denver Broncos. He was fired during his next season after a 3-9 start to the year.
His 2nd stint as an NFL head coach doesn’t seem to be going much better.
The Las Vegas Raiders should at least be considering that they made a mistake by buying into the McDaniels hype and that he might not actually be the answer for them as their head coach.