NFL
By: Brock Vierra
Josh McDaniels wrote a new chapter on how to be the most incompetent person in the NFL while simultaneously sharing a field with Brandon Staley. Now I may be biased towards Staley but when you’re the head coach of a team with a 200+ million dollar quarterback in Justin Herbert and you fail to score a single point in the second half, I have some major questions for you. However, those questions can wait for another week as yet another Josh McDaniels masterclass on how not to coach was put on display for the world to see as the Las Vegas Raiders suffered their third straight loss and the newest victim of McDaniels incompetence is Purdue’s Aiden O’Connell.
Now O’Connell got the start over Brian Hoyer due to his impressive preseason and with incumbent starter Jimmy Garoppolo out with a concussion, this was AOC’s opportunity to solidify himself as a starter. Now he wasn’t bad but he made rookie mistakes. This was expected as he is a rookie who was a fourth-round draft pick. Yet I think Josh McDaniels might need glasses because he called the game like Jimmy G was playing.
Having a rookie QB throw 39 times in his debut is Urban Meyer level of incompetence and in his press conference, instead of taking responsibility for his awful game plan, McDaniels like the coward he is threw O’Connell under the bus. Sure he took some blame at the beginning but was quick to deflect as the questions rolled in. At his post-game press conference, instead of uplifting the man who will be behind center for the time being, he instead took the opportunity to take a potshot after O’Connell suffered seven sacks, six from Khalil Mack alone. O’Connell became the latest victim of McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler’s disaster of an offensive line, resulting in two lost fumbles from the young QB. Instead of echoing a sentiment that goes along the lines of “I put my young QB in a hopeless situation with my gameplan, McDaniels said “He’ll be the first one to understand that there are things that he could do better. Playing quarterback in our league starts with taking care of the football. … I thought he adapted to the game a little bit as it went on, and we’ll take every opportunity to learn from the mistakes that we made as a team, I’m sure he will also as a quarterback and try to get better from it.” No Josh, it was your mistakes and your lack of adjustments while Khalil Mack destroyed your team. McDaniels would constantly double Tuli Tuipulotu as the rookie is off to a great start but to not switch up the protection when we all witnessed not only what Mack did on Sunday but the fact that he plays with an extra fire against the Raiders because he genuinely hates the way the franchise got rid of him is legitimate malpractice. I’ve seen doctors lose their careers for doing less damage than what you did to O’Connell and the Raiders nation in general.
Well maybe if McDaniels didn’t continuously put AOC in situations where he’d get sacked like consistently calling downfield developing plays, we wouldn’t have that issue would we or maybe if you actually relied on Josh Jacobs, it would be a different story. See McDaniels loves to throw around blame but where’s the accountability for running a rollout pass play inside the 5 that resulted in a game-losing interception? Sure maybe O’Connell shouldn’t have thrown the ball but it was more of Asante Samuel Jr jumping the route than O’Connell making the bad decision. However you had a QB that is bruised up and had turned over the ball multiple times, yet you called on him again while Josh Jacobs remains a blocker in this ill-fated offense.
Hey, at least we saw a little bit of Hunter Renfrow. Rusty as we expected but at least he was targeted. For me, I have to ask why McDaniels still has a job? He’s a perennial loser who couldn’t get the job done against a team that was willingly giving him the game. Yes Jimmy G was out but the Chargers were missing both starting safeties Derwin James and Alohi Gilman while their backup JT Woods was out as well. Their 80 million dollar corner JC Jackson hasn’t played a single snap in the last two games and their then-sack leader Joey Bosa was also out. They had two separate UDFAs at safety yet the Raiders couldn’t pass the ball on them. Now this is not a knock against UDFAs but Dean Marlowe is a journeyman safety who is 5th on the depth chart with Raheem Layne being 4th, this being his second year as a Charger. When you have Davonte Adams, Jacobi Meyers, and Austin Hooper at your disposal, their offensive production is unacceptable and Josh Jacobs being your top receiver is telling that McDaniels is over his head.
Now the Raiders welcome back their hero from 2021 in Rich Bisaccia as his Green Bay Packers face off in Las Vegas on Monday Night. It will be a tough scene for Mark Davis as he will once again face scrutiny for letting Bisaccia go. Bisaccia, the Packers assistant head coach and special teams coordinator led the Raiders to only their second-ever playoff appearance in the past 20 years, taking over for Jon Gruden after his e-mail scandal. Bisaccia applied for the permanent job, he interviewed and now he has to stand on the sidelines watching his former team operate as a shell of what they were under him.
Mark Davis gets to sit there in his luxury suite and ponder what could’ve been while Josh McDaniels continues to torpedo his beloved franchise into the ground. Maybe the Raiders can right the ship but it’s looking even more likely that McDaniels’ by-days in Vegas are numbered and rightfully so.
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