Las Vegas Raiders: Josh McDaniels starts second chance at home
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in the HOF Game tonight, and for head coach Josh McDaniels, it is a return home.
The 2022 NFL season will kick off tonight, as the Las Vegas Raiders take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Hall of Fame Game. These two teams will battle it out due to the fact they have a connection to the 2022 Hall of Fame class, with the Jaguars seeing Tony Boselli enshrined, and the Raiders Cliff Branch finally getting in.
On the field, it is a return to action for a Raiders team that defied the odds last season, punching their ticket to the playoffs. They did so with an interim head coach at the helm, but in 2022, things have changed, with former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels being named the permanent head coach.
For McDaniels, this is his second go-around as a head coach in the NFL and the second time in the AFC West. He coached the Denver Broncos between 2009 and 2010, and despite a rough go there, he gets a clean slate in Las Vegas.
Raiders’ new HC starts his second chance at home
McDaniels is the kind of guy who looks like he was born to be around the game of football, as he was born in Barberton, Ohio, and actually played his high school ball in Canton, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It is there that he will attempt to right the wrongs from his first stint as a head coach in the NFL, and he has a playoff-ready roster to do so.
The Silver and Black made it to the Wild Card round last season, losing to the eventual AFC Champions in the Cincinnati Bengals. This offseason, they added some elite pieces, including All-Pro talents in Davante Adams and Chandler Jones, so another step forward should be in the cards.
McDaniels has long been a sought-after assistant coach, and after a strange mix-up with Indianapolis, he signed on the dotted line in Las Vegas. There are very high expectations for him going into the 2022 season, but he is back home at least for tonight, and hopefully can get his second stint at the helm of an NFL team started on the right foot.