Josh McDaniels bluntly assesses Raiders' 0-3 start
BOSTON -- For years, Josh McDaniels patiently waited to take his next head coaching opportunity, as he knew what would be at stake once he left New England for a second time. Suffice it to say, three weeks into his career as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, the new gig is not playing out exactly like he envisioned.
With a 24-22 loss in Tennessee on Sunday, the Raiders dropped to 0-3 on the year. After going 10-7 last year and making the playoffs, mostly under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, expectations were quite high for the Raiders under McDaniels. Yet it's been a massive disappointment for all involved thus far.
McDaniels, for his part, didn't mince words after Sunday's loss.
"Nobody likes losing," McDaniels said at the podium Sunday. "I know, it should hurt when we lose. We all feel sh---y. So, we want to try to do better and put our best foot forward."
A day later, McDaniels again addressed the media, and provided some perspective on how the Raiders might climb out of the hole they've built for themselves.
"You believe in your approach, and you believe in your players. Those are two things that I would say I do wholeheartedly believe in," McDaniels said Monday. "So, you know, we just, we know we can make better progress here as we go forward. And we know we need to do it. You know, we don't want to lose sight of the guys that are in front of us in our division. So you know, got two great opportunities coming up here against two division opponents."
McDaniels and the Raiders do have time to turn around their season, but this year is obviously off to a rather ominous start. It's the opposite of McDaniels' first head coaching stint, when he started the 2009 season by leading the Broncos to a 6-0 record, accentuated by an overtime win against Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
But McDaniels' Broncos went 2-8 the rest of the way that year, and he was fired in 2010 with the Broncos sitting at 3-9. After this year's 0-3 start, McDaniels is now 11-20 overall as a head coach.
For his part, the 46-year-old seems to be blocking out the weight of his past while focusing on changing the present for the Raiders.
"There's a long season to play, a lot of football left, and a lot of improvements to be made, and a lot of growth, hopefully," McDaniels said. "So that's what we're going to focus on."
