The national media essentially buried Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels this week. You also had fans going at each other, blaming everyone from McDaniels to Mark Davis to beleaguered quarterback Derek Carr. Well, as the old adage goes, winning cures everything, and while the team sits at 3-7, the bleeding has stopped. Judging from McDaniels’ postgame speech, maybe Raiders players are buying in after all.
The problem with losing is that everyone piles on when it happens. The Raiders have not been excluded from this. You saw national columnists such as Bill Plaschke say that Davis is too broke to fire McDaniels. Then there were ESPN insiders claiming that the team could cut Carr at the end of the season. See the recurring pattern? Even The Athletic reminded folks that both Carr and Davante Adams felt that the team as a whole wasn’t “buying in” after last weekend’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts. In the middle of a rut (a three-game losing streak), things like that are going to happen. That’s especially true for a team that’s less than a season removed from a playoff appearance.
Winning cures all, so Josh McDaniels can rest easy for now.
McDaniels will continue to be under the microscope, but winning helps ease a lot of woes. Just look at the Raiders’ locker room celebration after the game. You can see a team that’s had a huge burden lifted. No one’s saying this team is Super Bowl-bound; rather, let’s keep it in perspective. With everyone from ownership to coaching to the players being questioned, a win certainly points to a shift, no matter how small.
“It started on Monday of last week. You had great resolve, and you had great effort in practice. You prepared hard and you strained; it took 64 minutes. This group, you should believe in yourself; I’m just telling you; you have to believe in one another. You’ve got to keep getting better, and we’ve got to keep working on it. It’s been a long season.”
Judging from the raucous and celebratory response from the Raiders, it looks like the players are doing fine under McDaniels.
*Top Photo: Official Raiders YouTube Channel