Graney: In making his hires, Davis followed the Patriots’ way

Mark Davis ran into Josh McDaniels in a hallway at the Raiders’ practice facility. They hadn’t yet begun an interview process that would eventually see McDaniels named the team’s new head coach.

“I introduced myself and everything,” Davis said. “And he looked me in the eye and said, ‘There’s one thing — it was a fumble.’

“So Raider Nation, if you’re worried, he’s already come over to the dark side.”

It was a nice touch by McDaniels, referencing the famed “Tuck Rule” game between the Patriots and Raiders in 2002 as an icebreaker.

(No pun intended from that January day’s snowy conditions).

Davis sure didn’t need to be sold much else on New England.

Patriots ties

McDaniels and new general manager Dave Ziegler were introduced Monday, each coming from the Bill Belichick tree out in Foxborough, Massachusetts. As much as Raiders fans might abhor the idea, Davis’ decision to hire such a package deal from the Patriots had everything to do with just that.

In the following sense, it was the correct path to travel.

If you can’t match such a winning formula, hire those who understand and have lived it. Who also arrive with a bunch of shiny rings.

“I’ve just always seen the Patriots as a team that not only adapts from week to week or half to half, but maybe even series to series,” Davis said. “I really, just again, in watching it and being around this sport for a long time and watching, I’ve seen the excellence that was brought to the field by the Patriot organization.”

He called the hiring process long and exhaustive but also rewarding, not holding any formal interviews until after the Raiders were eliminated in the AFC wild-card round by Cincinnati.

When talks did begin with prospective coach and general manager candidates, a four-person committee sat with six for each position.

Ken Herock took the lead, a former Raiders player from the 1960s who spends his time now preparing college prospects for the interview process with NFL teams. After he was through asking questions, Davis and the others offered theirs.

Ziegler was among the first to interview and obviously hit a home run with Davis, who asked each general manager candidate about their ideal head coach.

It’s obvious where Ziegler pointed.

The committee then asked all coaching candidates about their ideal general manager.

It’s obvious where McDaniels pointed.

“It was such an expanding, learning process hearing about all those things, but we felt that it was really important for them to have synergy,” Davis said. “I couldn’t have found a better pair of people working together than these two gentlemen.”

That’s what begins now. The work. There is a coaching staff to assemble, major decisions on the roster to make, preparations for the draft and free agency to continue. All the while, a new head coach has some first impressions about his new boss.

Alerting Brady

“How clear his vision for the team was,” McDaniels said of Davis. “There was no gray area. When they say, ‘Commitment to excellence.’ that’s what it is. I have felt it in every area of the building and in every person I have met. I saw it in (Allegiant Stadium) and in every room I have been in.

“(Davis) has been super impressive. I’m thankful that I have this opportunity to be his head coach.”

He even quickly got on the owner’s good side by suggesting that quarterback Tom Brady indeed fumbled that ball way back in 2002.

“I was there and lived through it and it was a positive for me back then,” McDaniels said. “I told Tom, ‘I’m going to have to say this.’”

There’s also no better way to be accepted by the Raiders’ faithful.

Even for a few Patriots.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.