The Raiders abruptly dismissed head coach Josh McDaniels on Halloween night, ending his tenure after just one and a half losing seasons. But a contentious team meeting that occurred days earlier all but sealed his exit, according to Fox Sports.
“There was such a big disconnect with the players there and Josh McDaniels,” Jay Glazer reported Sunday. “The players had recently gone upstairs to the owner, Mark Davis, to tell (him) what their problems were.”
Eventually an “airing of the grievances” occurred at a weekday meeting between coaches and players, per Glazer, where “players just unloaded on Josh McDaniels, from captain to captain to player to player.” McDaniels apparently had linebackers coach Antonio Pierce “get up and speak on behalf of him” at the conclusion. But Pierce, a former Giants standout, reportedly referenced New York’s old Super Bowl upsets of the Patriots as a motivational tool, which offended McDaniels, New England’s longtime offensive coordinator.
Word of the discord soon spread to owner Mark Davis, who preferred Pierce’s messaging, per Glazer, and soon fired McDaniels, only to name Pierce the Raiders’ interim coach for the remainder of 2023.
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NFL Media has echoed as much, reporting this week that McDaniels was “distant” and “not himself” in the days following the allegedly “vicious” meeting, which preceded a prime-time loss to the Lions in Week 8.
“Players, coaches had ripped into him. It was ugly,” Ian Rapoport reported. “Players felt that he was there (at practice afterward) in body and not in spirit. Essentially … (the meeting) broke him.”