Raiders players and even assistant coaches ripped into now former head coach Josh McDaniels in a team meeting held just days before his last game against the Lions.
According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, the meeting appeared to take a toll on McDaniels, leaving him a “shell of himself.”
The practice session that followed the intense meeting was different from any other in the McDaniels’ tenure. Sources revealed to Rapoport that he seemed far less involved than usual, almost like a bystander.
McDaniels allowed plays to unfold without interference, hoping players would self-correct and avoided from stepping in to address mistakes, which wasn’t his usual approach to practices.
During the meeting, players and coaches didn’t hold back in their critique of McDaniels and “ripped into him.”
The purpose of the gathering was to be brutally honest and address issues plaguing the then-3-4 Raiders, including overcorrection, lengthy meetings, McDaniels’ methods of holding players accountable, and his tendency to blame them for play-calling issues.
The impact of the meeting on McDaniels was clearly negative as he seemed distant from the team afterwards.
It seemed that during Thursday’s practice, he made an effort to listen to the players, avoided overcoaching, played some music, and allowed things to unfold as they would.
McDaniels appeared to be attempting to heed the players’ requests, but the contrast in his behavior was “so stark” that one observer felt he wasn’t fully present.
Five days after all that, and the 26-14 loss to the Lions, Josh McDaniels was fired as head coach, with owner Mark Davis having to pay nearly $85 million to move on from him and members of the staff.
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