New York Giants tight end Darren Waller couldn't help but feel bad for Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler after his former team, the Las Vegas Raiders, fired the head coach-general manager duo midway through the 2023 season.
The Raiders are off to an abysmal start to the campaign, tallying a 3-5 record despite high expectations on the roster headlined by Jimmy Garoppolo and Davante Adams. Las Vegas' latest loss came at the hands of the Detroit Lions in Week 8, with Adams unable to hold back his frustration on the team following the 26-14 beating that they got.
On Tuesday, the Raiders decided that they have had enough of all the ugly losses and gave the sack to McDaniels and Ziegler. Offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi was soon removed from his position as well, with Las Vegas seemingly looking to overhaul its coaching staff.
Waller, who played for the franchise when it was still in Oakland in 2018 and when it moved to Las Vegas in 2020, admitted that it was “tough” to see the current situation with the Raiders. After all, no one wanted to lose and everyone had grand visions for the team. McDaniels and Ziegler were no different, and it's just unfortunate that they weren't able to execute.
“It's tough, man. I feel like everybody that signs up and comes in is trying to do a good job. Nobody's coming in trying to mess things up and leave players frustrated and have people not believe in them. So it's tough to see that vision not pan out. Just trying to put myself in their shoes,” Waller, who was traded to the Giants in the past offseason, said (via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News).
Waller added, “I know that’s not a good feeling. And it leaves a lot of guys that were there when we were there with [Jon] Gruden, where things change and, ‘OK, what does this look like?' There's a lot of guys that have been through a lot of turmoil there as far as that's concerned. So it's just tough on all fronts.”
Darren Waller certainly makes a good point. While it's easy to blame the coaches and the front office for a team's struggles, it's not like they wanted for it to happen in the first place.
At the end of the day, though, every team in the NFL is in the business of winning. And when a team doesn't perform to expectations, changes need to be made. As for the Raiders, they simply ran out of patience considering that the team didn't really show much to raise hopes that things will change moving forward.
It remains to be seen how the Raiders will perform in the post-Josh McDaniels era, but sure enough, plenty of eyes will be on them.
Raiders name Antonio Pierce as interim head coach
After the Raiders fired McDaniels, they swiftly named his interim replacement. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce will serve as the main man on the sidelines while the Las Vegas top brass figure out their next step when it comes to the head coaching position.
Pierce will coach the Raiders when they take on the Giants, his former team with whom he won a Super Bowl ring.
As for the next official Las Vegas head coach, some names that have been floated as potential McDaniels replacement include Michigan football tactician Jim Harbaugh, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera.
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