Week 1 is going to give the Las Vegas Raiders a chance to cleanse what was one of the most disappointing chapters in team history. It’s more than just facing Josh McDaniels in New England; it’s about exorcising some demons amid another regime change.
The Tom Brady Factor
Speaking of regime change, there’s no way that Tom Brady doesn’t have the game circled on his calendar. Brady’s the greatest player in the history of the Patriots organization (it’s not even close), and as the new minority owner of the Raiders, he’s surely looking forward to this. The intangible aspects of this matchup hold significant intrigue. You have the player who altered the course of the NFL in the early 2000s after the “Tuck Rule” game—a game that led to the rise of the Patriots and the unceremonious fall of the Raiders. Now, he owns the Silver and Black in both a figurative and literal sense.
Besides the Brady factor, you also have a handful of former Raiders that signed on to join this Mike Vrabel version of the Patriots—headlined by linebacker Robert Spillane. In contrast, many of the Raiders who were previously coached by McDaniels remain with the Silver and Black. Based on the previous events, it’s difficult to deny that those Raiders are eagerly anticipating this one. Both organizations are in a very different place than they were a year ago. Both teams have established their quarterback positions. The Raiders have a proven, underrated veteran in Geno Smith. The Patriots have their signal-caller of the future, Drake Maye, for whom an entire offense was revamped.
Both the Raiders and Patriots changed things up…
The leadership for these organizations is also different (and for the better) than it was in 2024. Both teams dismissed first-year head coaches and turned to their proven namesakes to steer their respective teams toward success. Is it fair that neither Antonio Pierce nor Jerod Mayo should’ve been hired in the first place?
It’s simple to reflect on the past and argue that the Raiders should have pursued other options instead of allowing the “interim coach” curse to haunt them. You see, this is why Week 1 is so important for Las Vegas. Everything that’s transpired from McDaniels’ hiring back in 2022 all the way to now will culminate in the regular season opener. Although Raiders majority owner Mark Davis is generally regarded as a nice guy, his football acumen has not been particularly impressive. If not for his team’s valuation after moving from the Bay Area, he might be the NFL’s worst owner. However, it didn’t end with McDaniels. Recognizing that the locker room had essentially tapped out on their coach, Davis launched McDaniels out of Sin City.
That was an excellent Raiders chant…
This is where Pierce came in, rallying the troops with thunderous lore, speeches, high fives, and a R-A-I-D-E-R-S chant for ages—I mean everything you need in a fiery coach. Indeed, his performance was so exceptional that he secured his position permanently. That’s where Davis committed yet another blunder, not even doing his due diligence in the coaching search and simply handing AP the gig. Regrettably, AP is great at speeches, but actually organizing and leading an entire team? The results speak for themselves, as the Raiders regressed in every way imaginable; even Daniel Carlson stunk it up. You know things have gone south when your kicker has regressed. All jokes aside, the damage done by McDaniels was so significant, Davis actually conducted a real coaching search this time around.
Not only were the on-field results from McDaniels terrible, but his hand-picked general manager, Dave Ziegler, didn’t fare better in terms of drafting. Furthermore, the trade for Davante Adams, which Raider Nation drooled over at that time, actually turned out to be a disastrous move—but hey, Adams is back with Jimmy G in Los Angeles; maybe they can pick up where they left off? Anyway, the point is that it’s possible this previous regime—McDaniels, Ziegler, and, by extension, AP—did so much damage to the team that you had no choice but to go with a Super Bowl-winning coach and general manager to rectify things.
He left behind a legacy…
McDaniels will forever be a name that’ll be vilified to no end by Raider Nation; he will be up there with the likes of JaMarcus Russell, Warren Sapp, and Randy Moss. Granted, those are players, not coaches, but it goes to show you how much of a snake in the grass McDaniels really was. At least now the Raiders have a coach/GM duo who aren’t complicating things—they’re building up a roster from within, resetting the culture to that of a champion, something the Raiders haven’t done much of the last few years. The Raiders can begin the second half of the 2020s with a victory over the former head coach who has turned into a clown meme.
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