Ex-Patriots Drama: Familiar Faces Tangled In Volatile Raiders Situation

Concerned about the direction of the New England Patriots' season despite Sunday's 15-10 win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium?

Well, it could be worse.

Consider the volatile situation brewing in Las Vegas, where the Raiders lost both their home opener and potentially their starting quarterback. Las Vegas is 1-2 to begin the 2023 campaign after going 6-11 in 2022.

Normally, back-to-back defeats -- to quality opponents in the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers -- wouldn't be cause for panic. It's a long season, right? Yet the optics in Las Vegas are impossible to ignore, especially for outsiders located in New England.

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, who took the job in Las Vegas last season after a lengthy stint as Patriots offensive coordinator, already appears to be on thin ice. He sure didn't do himself any favors Sunday, when a questionable fourth-quarter decision sealed the Raiders' Week 3 fate, and his press conference Monday raised more questions about his leadership.

According to McDaniels, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (another face familiar to Patriots fans) was in the concussion protocol after being on the receiving end of multiple big hits in Sunday's 23-18 loss to the Steelers, including a heavy blow to the helmet in the fourth quarter.

Still, McDaniels couldn't pinpoint when exactly Garoppolo suffered the concussion. That's because the former Patriots QB never left the game and McDaniels hadn't spoken to him yet as of Monday morning.

"I'm not even sure what hit or if it was just an accumulation of (hits), I have no idea," McDaniels told reporters, per ESPN.com. "There was never a conversation about that, so I'm not sure, exactly, and I haven't seen him yet this morning, so I'm not exactly sure when it took place, or if it was just a culmination of things."

OK then.

Maybe you're willing to give McDaniels the benefit of the doubt for not being more proactive in protecting his quarterback. Concussions can be difficult to detect in real-time, even though Garoppolo largely had the crap kicked out of him Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium.

McDaniels' wishy-washy outlook on who would start for the Raiders in Week 4 -- veteran Brian Hoyer (another former Patriot) or rookie Aidan O'Connell -- only compounded the problem, though. The coach wasn't just noncommittal; he sounded downright befuddled.

"We'll try to do the right thing for the team this week, for sure, no matter what it is, whatever that ultimately ends up being," McDaniels told reporters, when asked about weighing the long-term value of starting a first-year signal-caller or a veteran given the current circumstances. "We're not going to use this like it would be a preseason game, you know what I mean? So, if the best thing for the team would be to do something down that road, then we would discuss that and consider it. But we haven't begun those conversations yet. We will, obviously, today."

If Jimmy Garoppolo is unavailable in week 4 vs. the Chargers would the #Raiders start Brian Hoyer or Aiden O’Connell?

Here’s Josh McDaniels’ thoughts on that: pic.twitter.com/mtNN0riYFS

— Jesse Merrick (@JesseNews3LV) September 25, 2023

Even if Garoppolo clears the concussion protocol and starts Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers, it's hard to feel good about the Raiders right now. Garoppolo didn't exactly light the world on fire, throwing six interceptions in Las Vegas' first three games, and Sunday night's showing was a terrible response to being throttled by Buffalo 38-10 in Week 2.

Meanwhile, continued uncertainty surrounds defensive end Chandler Jones (yet another former Patriot), whom the Raiders placed on the non-football illness list last week after a series of bizarre social media posts. Jones was inactive for Las Vegas' first three games and hasn't practiced this month.

The Raiders host the Green Bay Packers on "Monday Night Football" in Week 5 before welcoming Bill Belichick -- McDaniels' former boss -- and the Patriots to Las Vegas for a Week 6 showdown. Who knows what the powder keg will look like by then, but the social media calls to fire McDaniels only intensify with each loss and each confounding development.

Oh, by the way: Tom Brady is part-owner of the Raiders.