The last time that Josh McDaniels went from being a Patriots assistant to a head coach in the AFC West, his run ended after less than two full seasons with the Broncos.
One of the contributing factors to the decision to pull the plug in Denver during the 2010 season was when the league penalized the Broncos for videotaping an opponents’ walkthrough practice, which was an unwelcome reminder of the Spygate incident. That took place when McDaniels was on New England’s staff and the Broncos’ penalty was seen as a sign that McDaniels was working to do things the same way they did things with the Patriots.
McDaniels is now the head coach of the Raiders and one player who played for him in New England believes that the coach is going to go his own direction this time. Running back Brandon Bolden said McDaniels “just says things a little more stern” than he did when he was the Patriots offensive coordinator, but that change isn’t indicative of McDaniels trying to run a carbon copy of his former team in Las Vegas.
“This is something totally different,” Bolden said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Josh is going to put his own spin on things. Are there a few things we learned along the way because I was there with him a lot of that time? Sure. But we’re not trying to be New England. We’re the Las Vegas Raiders, and that’s what we’re going to play as.”
McDaniels waited a long time and passed on other opportunities before stepping back into the head coaching ring this year. Getting it right this time will make memories of the end of his Broncos tenure even more distant.
