It’s been a calamitous start to Josh McDaniels’ tenure as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, highlighted by a blowout loss Sunday on the road to the New Orleans Saints.
The abysmal showing led to Raiders fans already questioning if it is time to move on from McDaniels just seven games into their season. McDaniels apologized for his team’s pathetic performance and also had a “lengthy meeting” with Raiders owner Mark Davis.
And while the Las Vegas fanbase grows restless, Davis is still putting his support behind McDaniels.
“Josh McDaniels is our head coach and will be for years to come,” Davis told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday.
Following the defeat to the Saints, McDaniels’ head-coaching record now stands at 13-22. The Raiders currently sit in the basement of the AFC West at 2-5, and it’s certainly a bad look for an offensive guru like McDaniels to have the Raiders’ first shutout loss since 2014 now on his résumé.
But despite the turbulent beginning to this chapter of his coaching career, McDaniels believes there’s still plenty of time for the Raiders to turn things around this season.
“It’s a long year. I believe we haven’t reached our best football yet,” McDaniels told reporters Monday, per FOX Sports. “It’s going to take work and progress and improvement in order to do that. But, again, at this point in time, nobody’s really qualified for anything, and nobody’s been eliminated. And that’s common.
“Consistency is going to be what we’re going to try to push for. If we can do that and start playing our best football and start stringing together some wins, and you look up at the end of the year and a lot of things can happen. Certainly, that’s our goal. Our goals are still out there. We’re going to need to play better, coach better to earn them.”
The Raiders will travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars in their Week 9 matchup on Sunday.
