Raiders former HC Josh McDaniels tried to kill it, but the fun is back in Las Vegas

Raiders former HC tried to mimic his former boss

We can’t completely fault McDaniels for taking this approach as he has seen it work with tremendous success in New England. It’s natural for him to assume that the Bill Belichick approach, or the Patriot Way would work elsewhere considering its success in the past.

However, he forgot a couple of key ingredients, most notably Belichick himself and Tom Brady. So without those two key pieces, the Patriot Way ended up just being a sub-par coach exercising far too much authority and control on his players.

One of the reasons that the Patriot Way was successful was because the Patriots themselves were successful. It sounds convoluted but Bill Belichick had a track record of success as an assistant coach and thanks to his defensive wizardry, the Patriots were able to become Super Bowl contenders almost as soon as he got the job.

Belichick's rigid approach and success on the field allowed him to exercise a level of control in the locker room that few other coaches in NFL history could emulate. His success allowed him to give players an ultimatum and tell them to get on board with the Patriot Way and win or be shipped off to another team.

There was a level of credibility associated with Belichick that McDaniels could never emulate, and it helped that Belichick had the greatest quarterback of all time on his side as well.