NFLN: Josh McDaniels 'Broke' After Raiders Stars, Staff 'Ripped' HC in 'Ugly' Meeting

A contentious team meeting prior to a Week 8 loss to the Detroit Lions may have been when Josh McDaniels was effectively done as the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Rapoport reported Las Vegas had a "vicious" meeting on the Thursday before the Lions game which Raiders players and coaches both "ripped into [McDaniels]." McDaniels was reportedly checked out mentally at the subsequent practice, and "players felt he was there in body but not in spirit."

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports provided more context, echoing Rapoport's reporting and adding that McDaniels took exception to a comment made by linebackers coach Antonio Pierce.

According to Glazer, Pierce cited the 2007 New York Giants as an example he wanted the Raiders to follow. He explained how that squad, which upset the unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, never questioned their ability to take down New England. That's the kind of belief the former linebacker wanted to see from Las Vegas.

Glazer said that "everybody thinks they're great, except for Josh McDaniels." McDaniels, who was the Patriots' offensive coordinator for that Super Bowl, admonished Pierce and told him, "Don't ever talk about the Patriots like that."

Per Rapoport, team personnel broadly during the meeting "asked and begged McDaniels to change his ways" in an effort to turn around a 3-5 start. Among the issues were overly long team meetings and the coach's propensity to shift the blame to the players for what was viewed as bad play-calling.

That the Raiders fired McDaniels midway through the season and less than two full years after he got the job spoke volumes.

From the outside, it looked as though the coach had lost the locker room, leaving owner Mark Davis will little reason to think the Raiders' performance would improve in the second half.

Wide receiver Davante Adams told reporters Thursday "it was time for some sort of change just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team a little bit," and Rapoport's report provided added insight into how bad things got behind the scenes.

It seems fair to wonder whether McDaniels' stock will ever fully recover from this.

The 47-year-old is relatively young in coaching terms, so he could work his way back up the NFL ladder again. But this is the second time he has been fired, and he failed to complete two full seasons at his first stop.

McDaniels was only 33 when he was hired by the Denver Broncos in 2009, and he reflected years later he had learned a lot from his ill-fated tenure in the Mile High City. Taking the Raiders job was an opportunity to set the record straight.

"When I went to Denver, I knew a little bit of football," he said in January 2022. "I didn't really know people and how important that aspect of this process, and maintaining the culture and building the team was. And I failed, and I didn't succeed at it."

It sounds like McDaniels struggled to take those lessons and put them into practice, and that may not be lost on NFL teams if he's ever mentioned in another head-coaching role.