McDaniels ready to step out of Belichick’s shadow with Raiders
The playbook, the concepts remain the same. Perhaps a bit more refined now than they were in 2001 when he began his NFL coaching career as a personnel assistant with the New England Patriots.
But Josh McDaniels has evolved, from prodigy to protégé to coordinator.
To Raiders head coach.
“I’m at peace with the way we’re trying to do it. I know this — I can only do what I can do and what I know how to do well,” said the 46-year-old native of Canton, Ohio.
“I think that being able to just defer to someone else who knows better than I do in certain situations, be a resource for other people, is really my No. 1 job, and try to lead our team each day and provide them with a plan for the day so we can be successful. That’s really what I’m trying to be good at.”
Like his playbook, McDaniels is more refined in 2022 than he was in 2009, when he was tabbed for two seasons to coach the rival Broncos, who were 11-17 under his watch.
He knew football then, was well-versed in the specific schematics that could spring this wide receiver free on one play and that running back free on another.
He knows people now.
In January, he was hired by Raiders owner Mark Davis to fortify the foundation laid by the previous regime. On Sunday, he’ll attempt to secure his first regular-season coaching victory since Nov. 14, 2010.
This season, he’ll aim to guide the Raiders to their second consecutive playoff berth and validate the second chance he was so grateful to receive.
“I don’t know how to do it any other way other than be myself each day, come in, have good relationships with everybody in the building, try to build the culture the way that I feel comfortable doing it,” McDaniels said. “How to win, how to run practice, some of those philosophies, I mean those are tried and true, so I try to stick with those as much as I can and be myself along the way.”
Making adjustments
Those tried and true philosophies McDaniels referenced are, of course, the ones he learned from Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the famed six-time Super Bowl champion under whom he worked 18 years — primarily as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
McDaniels flashed enough potential during his first stint in New England to warrant hiring by the Broncos, only to be ousted 22 months later after trying too hard to emulate his mentor.
The hard-nosed approach wasn’t effective without the coaching cachet that Belichick had developed. So, McDaniels returned to New England in 2012 — capturing three more Super Bowl titles while calling plays for quarterback Tom Brady.
His play-calling pedigree remains his strength, and he’s adaptable enough to adjust according to his personnel.
McDaniels guided some of the NFL’s most balanced and explosive offenses while coaching Brady, pivoting more toward a run-heavy look in 2020 with Cam Newton and a shorter passing game last season with then-rookie Mac Jones and a roster devoid of playmaking on the perimeter.
Said former Raiders-turned-Patriots wide receiver Nelson Agholor: “He’s a professional. A great play-caller. A great OC. He paints out the whole picture. And I think he now has a great quarterback in Derek Carr and some good guys around Derek Carr to execute it.”
To that point, Carr is a Pro Bowl quarterback surrounded now by a corps of pass catchers that include Davante Adams, Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow, who rate among the best wideouts, tight ends and slot receivers, respectively.
The entire playbook should be available to McDaniels this season in ways it wasn’t last year in New England.
The starting offense didn’t play in the preseason, but it clicked in training camp — especially during two joint practices against the Patriots that preceded the Aug. 26 preseason finale at Allegiant Stadium.
Adams, Renfrow and others didn’t have any issue creating separation and Carr was decisive and accurate in the pocket, completing passes at all three levels.
“We’re just growing. We’re working on that. I’m just asking questions, learning as much as I can,” Carr said of his interactions with McDaniels. “He’s very, very smart and that’s always been my favorite part of the football game was the mental side. Being able to know what to do before it even happens. … He thinks that way, too. We think on the same wavelength. … I’m learning a lot from him. He’s very detail-oriented.”
Early returns
That approach extends beyond the playbook and applies to the program McDaniels wants to build.
The Raiders are perennially one of the most penalized teams in the NFL, ranking second in penalty yards in two of the last three seasons. But disciplined fundamentals have been a point of emphasis for McDaniels and his coaching staff during practices thus far, and players often embark on self-imposed laps around the practice fields at their Henderson headquarters when they make egregious errors.
The preseason offers a small sample size, but the Raiders committed just 13 penalties for 95 yards over their four games — the fewest by them in a preseason in 22 years. They also didn’t turn the ball over, becoming the first NFL team since 2011 to conclude the preseason without a giveaway.
Ball security and discipline are among the staples of Belichick’s operation in New England, and it would seem so far that McDaniels has brought those to Las Vegas.
He’s not Belichick, though, and he’s not trying to be.
He’s so much more comfortable now, with himself and with the situation he’s in in Las Vegas. With the Raiders.
“Josh is the type of person that grows every year,” Belichick said. “He wasn’t the head coach in New England, but here he is. He’ll take advantage of that. He’s a really smart guy. Works hard. Good football guy. Solid person. I’m sure he’ll do well.”
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.