What Ex-Patriots Josh McDaniels, Dave Ziegler Learned From Bill Belichick
'Oh, boy. It's a long list'
Bill Belichick’s teachings will help shape how Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler run their new team, the Las Vegas Raiders.
During their introductory Raiders news conference Monday, the former Patriots offensive coordinator and director of player personnel explained what they learned while working under Belichick during their lengthy stays in New England.
McDaniels, who was hired as Raiders head coach after spending 18 of the last 21 seasons with the Patriots, said he’s thankful to Belichick for making him a more “well-rounded” coach and preaching the importance of situational football.
“Oh, boy,” he told reporters in Las Vegas. “It’s a long list. Look, I’m blessed and fortunate to have had the experiences that I have. I started in personnel (with the Patriots) back in 2001 when (my wife) Laura made quite a bit more money than I was making, and (Belichick) made you develop in every area as a professional in this environment.
“He gave us the opportunity to see the scouting side. I had the opportunity to work on defense, then he flipped me over to the offensive side and had me coach the quarterback. I saw the game in a lot of different perspectives, and what I felt like was that was a really well-rounded approach, as you’re growing up in this game, to have some kind of understanding of what is the grading system? What does it mean? How do they attack us on offense when you’re on defense? And then flipping it over to the offensive side and understanding that, and then tying it all together with situational football and game management, which is obviously a critical component to winning every game in the NFL.
“You lose a lot more games than you win in this league, and if you can do some of those things really well, obviously that’s going to impact your opportunity to win. There’s so many that I couldn’t name them all, but he gave me an opportunity to be well-rounded coming out of the organization, and I’m very grateful for that.”
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Ziegler was with the Patriots for the last eight seasons, spending the 2021 campaign as New England’s top personnel man behind Belichick. Belichick’s insistence on planning for the future and reevaluating every decision — successful or otherwise — resonated with Las Vegas’ new general manager.
“I could have a laundry list of things, but I would say the one thing that sticks out to me that Bill taught me is Bill is a forward-thinker,” Ziegler told reporters. “It’s not just about a decision in the moment. It’s about how one decision can impact four different things. One decision can impact what we’re going to do in 2022, in 2023, and just to really have an understanding of how decisions can impact different parts of the organization and can impact your team.
“And I think the other thing about Bill that doesn’t get talked about much, and it goes along with the forward-thinking piece, is that Bill is really dedicated to evaluating every single thing that we do at every point of the year and looking at it critically and then evolving and trying to figure out how we’re going to get these things better. Even if the end result was a Super Bowl, or even if the end result was a great trade or a great player acquisition or whatever it may be, every decision that we do here and all of our processes, just to evaluate those things critically — what went well, what didn’t go well and how we can improve it.
“And I think that’s critical to not staying stagnant and to always making sure you’re moving forward with the best ideas and the best processes.”
Belichick’s influence also was evident when McDaniels and Ziegler outlined the core philosophies they’ll bring to Las Vegas’ roster.
“It’s to have a tough, smart football team that’s explosive, that plays well under pressure, unless you’re committed in every avenue of, those are the type of people we’re going to bring in and put on the team,” McDaniels said. “It requires discipline to do that, and that’s our vision for how we feel best about trying to win. There’s a lot of commitment across the board in our organization to being able to field a team that represents those qualities and those characteristics.”
Added Ziegler: “When you’re building a team, it’s not just about acquiring talent. It’s about acquiring talent and putting talent in the right spots, but it’s also about building a roster from top to bottom that is competitive, that competes every day, that has depth. Those are also key elements that we’ve learned through our time in the league that really allow you to sustain and win during a long NFL season.”
McDaniels also stressed the importance of building a strong “culture,” which he admitted he failed to do during his short-lived stint as Denver Broncos head coach in 2009 and 2010.
It’s unclear how Belichick plans to rebuild his coaching staff and personnel department following these two high-profile departures.
