Raiders owner sends message about job security of coach Josh McDaniels after ugly 2-5 start to 2022 season

When the Raiders hired Josh McDaniels back in January, they had high hopes for their new coach, but the 2022 season has slowly turned into a disaster. Not only have the Raiders started 2-5, but they arguably reached rock bottom in Week 8 during a 24-0 loss to the Saints that marked the first time since 2014 that the team had been shut out. 

Following that loss, Raiders owner Mark Davis held a lengthy postgame meeting with McDaniels, according to ESPN.com. That meeting marked the second time in six weeks that McDaniels had been called into Davis’ office, which led to some speculation that the Raiders owner might be thinking about firing his first-year coach. 

However, that’s not the case. In a short statement released to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday, Davis made it clear that McDaniels isn’t going anywhere.  

“Josh McDaniels Is our head coach and will be for years to come,” Davis said. 

Davis’ vote of confidence for McDaniels probably won’t sit well with many Raiders fans, who were calling for the coach to be fired after the team’s loss to the Saints. 

McDaniels thrived during his time as the Patriots‘ offensive coordinator, but so far, he’s struggled during his time as an NFL coach. McDaniels got his first coaching job with the Broncos in 2009, but was fired in 2010 after going 11-17. 

Although he received plenty of interest over the past 12 years, McDaniels refused to take another coaching job until the Raiders’ offer came along. With the Raiders coming off a playoff appearance last season, the expectations were high in Las Vegas and McDaniels simply hasn’t met them. The fact that he’s struggling has been a bad look for the Raiders since so many other first-year coaches — like Kevin O’Connell (6-1 with the Vikings) and Brian Daboll (6-2 with the Giants) — have found success so far this year. 

Following the loss to the Saints, McDaniels admitted that he needs to be doing a better job. 

“Obviously that wasn’t good enough in any way, shape or form,” McDaniels said of the shutout loss, via PFT. “And that’s my responsibility, so I have to do a much better job of getting ourselves ready to go here. We’re better than that, and I apologize to Raider Nation for that performance and, again, I own that. That’s my responsibility, so we have to do much better, obviously, in every phase of the game to be able to compete with a team like that who’s well coached, has…