The Las Vegas Raiders were going nowhere during the 2023 season, so fans rejoiced when owner Mark Davis decided to finally fire Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels.
Ziegler and McDaniels were confident they could turn the Raiders franchise around by implementing what they learned with the New England Patriots, but that failed spectacularly. Ziegler made several questionable roster moves, while McDaniels clearly struggled to prepare his team on a weekly basis.
McDaniels drew plenty of ire during his time in Las Vegas, as the players never quite seemed to buy into what he was trying to do. Even after the former head coach got the players he wanted in place, he was still unable to deliver many wins.
Prior to McDaniels’ firing, it was reported that he took exception to a comment Antonio Pierce made regarding the New York Giants beating the Patriots in 2007. In an appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Maxx Crosby denied that moment happened, as transcribed by Jaclyn Hendricks of the New York Post:
“I don’t where that came from or where he heard that,” Crosby said.
“I’m not going to speak on details about what went down in the meeting but he didn’t stand up and like, ‘AP, you can’t talk about the Patriots,’ that’s false.”
Jay Glazer of FOX is the one who originally reported that detail and the news cycle ran with it as a way to further paint McDaniels as a New England homer. Perhaps Crosby is telling the truth, and that exchange never happened, but either way, it was no secret that the organization had much more energy and life in it once McDaniels was ousted.
Pierce is filling in as the interim head coach and clearly has the support of Crosby and the locker room, as they seemed much more prepared to play the New York Giants in Week 9. It was a spirited effort from the group that dominated New York throughout the afternoon, an encouraging sign going forward.
With McDaniels finally gone, the silver and black are hoping to get their 2023 season back on track and potentially even crack the playoff race.
