You had better be prepared to play on Sunday if, during a team meeting, you air grievances against your head coach, and that coach is fired soon after.
A few days after Josh McDaniels was fired, the Las Vegas Raiders appeared rejuvenated.
The Raiders did a housecleaning. They benched quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and fired general manager and head coach Dave Ziegler, one of the rare instances when a team makes midseason adjustments at the three most crucial positions in a franchise. At least for a week, it was effective.
The New York Giants were thrashed 30-6 by Las Vegas. It was never a competitive game. The Raiders appeared to be a team hoping its unpopular and recently fired coach was sitting at home.
In what will go down as an iconic team meeting, the Raiders players and coaches reportedly took a hard stance against McDaniels. They sent a clear message to their fired coach on Sunday with their performance.
McDaniels turned around players who were having awful seasons. Josh Jacobs scored two touchdowns in the first half. After McDaniels was hired, Hunter Renfrow vanished from sight and reappeared with a couple of catches. Sharp as ever was rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell, who McDaniels passed over a few weeks ago for a start in place of the aging veteran Brian Hoyer. The Raiders appeared to be a completely different squad.
Much of that is related to the Giants, who are suffering greatly in the season that follows head coach Brian Daboll’s debut. The fact Tommy DeVito had to replace Daniel Jones after he left the game due to a knee injury didn’t help either. It’s hard to believe the Giants, who entered the game midway through the second quarter and placed Tyrod Taylor on injured reserve, watched DeVito pass for minus-1 yards last week and still failed to add a better backup option.
The Giants’ defense was shredded for no apparent reason other than the Jones injury. In the first half, rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell completed 9 of 10 passes for 135 yards. First half, Jacobs gained 85 yards through rushes. Until Sunday, he had not scored more than 77 in a complete game this season.
Until Sunday, the Raiders had not scored more than 21 points in a game this entire season. At the half, they were up 24 points. That is not good for the Giants. I think it’s more of a criticism of McDaniels.
