The New England Patriots are once again asking you the trust in The Patriot Way™.
After firing Bill Belichick, the Patriots rolled out his hand-selected replacement last season. Jerod Mayo did not perform, so New England will instead let another former Patriots star guide them forward in Mike Vrabel. New England's not-so-new head coach hired a familiar face to call plays on offense: Josh McDaniels.
McDaniels has 13 seasons as Patriots offensive coordinator under his belt across two different tenures. In Week 1, he bumps up against a familiar foe: the Las Vegas Raiders, led by former protege Tom Brady.
McDaniels left the Patriots in 2022 to take over the head coaching job in Las Vegas. It went poorly. He was fired less than two years later in favor of Antonio Pierce. McDaniels' breakup with the Raiders was... messy. He made several enemies in the locker room, notoriously struggling to connect with his players.
After a difficult breakup with Brady in New England and an even more violent flame-out in Las Vegas, McDaniels is back to his roots with a fresh-faced Pro Bowl quarterback in Drake Maye. This is a prime revenge game on all sides.
New Patriots OC Josh McDaniels gets shot at revenge against Tom Brady, Raiders in Week 1
The NFL scheduling gods (A.K.A., the folks in the league office in charge of scheduling) really cooked with this one.
There is so much sitting just below the surface in this matchup. On top of featuring two marquee franchises at complex junctures in their competitive timelines, there is plenty of bad blood to go around. If not so much on the field, then on the sideline.
McDaniels has obvious motivation to knock off his former team. The Raiders were absolutely in the right to fire McDaniels — he was a bad coach and a negative presence in the locker room — but that does not take away from how brutal his departure was. A lot of negative press followed McDaniels in the days and weeks after his departure. Las Vegas tore him to bits in the press.
There is equal motivation for Raiders players (and fans) who plainly dislike McDaniels. He was a cloud of bad vibes shrouding the organization. Just look at the fan reactions to this schedule announcement.
McDaniels and Brady didn't exactly end on the best terms either. The main conflict in Foxboro all those years ago obviously stemmed from Brady and Belichick, but McDaniels was Belichick's right-hand man and the coach who worked most closely with Brady. New England's new and former offensive coordinator was very much a part of that breakup, too. Now Brady is managing McDaniels' former team as a minority owner and brand ambassador. Spicy!
This is also a fascinating matchup on the field. This will be Pete Carroll's first game as Raiders head coach. Both him and Vrabel as hard-nosed, old-school, defensive-minded coaches who like to win in the trenches. Geno Smith will be looking to stabilize the QB position in Las Vegas. Maye will be looking to make a statement in his first Week 1 start. McDaniels, for all his warts and personality faults, can definitely draw up plays for a rocket-armed young quarterback.
We are in for a proper cinematic experience in Week 1 of the NFL season, chock full of drama and intrigue. What a treat.
