NFL
By: Brock Vierra
The biggest façade in the NFL is that the “Patriot Way” is an actual thing. There’s no such thing and if there is, it clearly doesn’t work. If you ask the fans of any franchise how they feel about the time their team hired a coach directly from the Patriots, the hate in their hearts could power New York City for the next 100 years. It doesn’t even work for the Patriots. Their idea of selling players before their decline, acquiring players in the draft based on certain analytical perimeters, and picking up veteran defensive talent only works when you have the greatest quarterback of all time as your starter. The Patriot Way failed for the Jets, the Patriot Way led to the exits of Quandre Diggs, Darius Slay, and Matthew Stafford from the Lions and now its retched claws are dismantling the once-promising Las Vegas Raiders.
The Patriots are in such bad shape. Their first-round QB Mac Jones might already be on the trade block while their current squad has minimal pieces remaining from the team that won a Super Bowl just five years ago. If you ask my dear friend and Team NBS Media contributor Steve Atkinson about his beloved Patriots, you will hear the anger that could fuel all the motor vehicles in North America. He’s over it and is ready for a change in the head coaching position. Now we transfer to Las Vegas where a squad that went 10-7 with a playoff appearance just under two years ago has been stripped of major contributors Derek Carr, Darren Waller, Yannick Ngakoue, and much more in exchange for the “Patriot Way.”
An abysmal 6-11 season for the Las Vegas Raiders in Josh McDaniels’ first year consisted of last-minute losses, being outcoached by Jeff Saturday and Baker Mayfield (who signed with the Rams that week), and a major roster turnover that included the additions of Patriot veterans Chandler Jones, Duron Harmon, Brandon Bolden, and Jared Stidham. Doubling down on the Patriot method in 2023, the Raiders acquired ex-Patriots Jimmy Garoppolo and Jakobi Meyers. However, McDaniels who is known for his two tight-end system has replaced Darren Waller and Foster Moreau with Austin Hooper and O.J. Howard. McDaniels and the Raiders have also failed to properly address the holes in the interior defensive line and offensive line, the Achilles Heel of the Raiders in 2022.
Are The Las Vegas Raiders Treading Water?
But this is more than us talking about what is happening right now. This is about failures continuing the get the opportunity to fail. The “Patriot Way” fails coaches, it fails players, it fails fans and it fails to properly function as an intelligent football philosophy. There’s a point to be made that the Patriots haven’t had a top-10 offense in terms of roster construction in over 10 years and the divine intervention of Tom Brady has masked the issues associated with the Patriots’ philosophy of roster building.
However, there’s a clear falloff when other teams try to emulate this method so why do owners want to continue this method? I watched coaches like Steve Wilks, Eric Bieniemy, Brian Callahan, and Lou Anarumo get passed over for opportunities. I watched Brian Daboll be hired a year after he should’ve been. I watched the Las Vegas Raiders themselves pick McDaniels over Rich Bisaccia, the coach that can actually make the playoffs. It begs the question of why?
The answer is simple. People are scared. Sean McVay holds the record of the youngest-ever head coach but realistically he should’ve been hired earlier. What has he done? Took a downtrodden franchise to four playoff appearances, three AFC West titles, two NFC championships, and one Super Bowl. The Rams went against the grain and it paid dividends. However, their move was not made without controversy and question. It’s hard to make the tough decisions so people resort to what they know which can spell death for those who know nothing.
The Las Vegas Raiders are the newest victims of decision-makers making uninformed decisions. A tragedy really but in time, people will move on and this failed trial will be a thing of the past. It’s just a haunting thought of what could’ve been. Best of luck 2023 Raider Nation, if McDaniel’s head coaching history combined with the proven results of the “Patriot Way” isn’t enough to scare you, you just gave $72 million to a QB who has only played 16 games in a season once in his entire 10-year career.
