Josh McDaniels was recently fired as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, perhaps proving that he’s not a great coach when he’s not around quarterback Tom Brady. Brady’s greatness truly cannot be measured. Not only did he promote a ton of below-average offensive players, he also made some of his coaches look better, including Bill Belichick.
Belichick has a record of failure as a head coach in the NFL when he is not with Tom Brady, and in the fourth season after Brady left the team in 2019, the Patriots have gradually become One of the worst teams in football. The direction is unclear. Belichick has served as the team’s HC and general manager for several years.
His sometimes poor drafting and poor free agency decisions have become more apparent since Brady left, and if Robert Kraft forces Belichick to relinquish his general manager duties and hire someone else to fill the role, I don’t think so. will be surprised. Regardless, after two stints as HC in the NFL, McDaniels is once again out.
With a 20-33 record as HC for the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders, he was not productive in New England’s offense. Offensively, he had little success outside of New England. While with the Denver Broncos in 2009 and 2010, McDaniels ranked 20th and 19th in scoring offense, respectively.
He spent one year as head coach with the St. Louis Rams in 2011, a team that finished last in points. In every year that McDaniels and Tom Brady have been in New England, the team has never averaged fewer than seventh in the NFL in points per game. In the 2020 season, his Cam Newton-led offense ranked 27th in scoring.
When playing for the Raiders in 2022 and 2023, McDaniels ranked 12th and 30th respectively in points per game. He won less than 40% of his NFL games as a HC and had virtually no success with Tom Brady. I think there’s reason to think McDaniels and Belichick have vastly improved under Tom Brady, but maybe they’re not as good as we thought.