Everyone in the NFL has heard of Black Monday. This was Silver and Black Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Raiders owner Mark Davis fired head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler on Halloween night just 25 games into their tenures in Sin City. The team announced the firings at 1 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday while most of the NFL world slept.
Former Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce was named interim head coach just four days before the Raiders (3-5) host Pierce’s former Giants (2-6) team Sunday at Allegiant Stadium. Champ Kelly has been tabbed as interim GM. And fourth-round rookie QB Aidan O’Connell has been named the starter over Jimmy Garoppolo.
“We’re tired of losing,” Pierce, 45, who had been the Raiders’ linebackers coach, said in a press conference. “It’s not a good feeling.”
McDaniels, 47, didn’t even make it a full two seasons into his six-year contract with the team. He is the first NFL head coach to be fired this season.
McDaniels also is the first NFL head coach ever to be fired before the end of his second season by two different teams. The Denver Broncos fired him after Week 13 in 2010 with an 11-17 record in 28 games. The Raiders didn’t even let him get to Week 9 at 9-16 through 25 games.
“It’s tough, man,” Giants tight end Darren Waller, an ex-Raiders, said of the firings. “I feel like everybody that signs up and comes in is trying to do a good job. Nobody’s coming in trying to mess things up and leave players frustrated and have people not believe in them. So it’s tough to see that vision not pan out. Just trying to put myself in their shoes.”
“I know that’s not a good feeling,” he added. “And it leaves a lot of guys that were there when we were there with [Jon] Gruden, where things change and, ‘OK, what does this look like?’ There’s a lot of guys that have been through a lot of turmoil there as far as that’s concerned. So it’s just tough on all fronts.”
Pierce, a Super Bowl XLII Giants champion under Tom Coughlin, was a Giants coaching intern on Ben McAdoo’s staff in 2017 before leaving for Arizona State.
He worked for the Sun Devils from 2018-2021 as recruiting coordinator, linebackers coach and defensive coordinator and associated head coach. And he was in his second season as Raiders linebackers coach when he got the interim nod Wednesday.
Former Giants teammate Osi Umenyiora told the Daily News via text that Pierce is a born leader, and it will show in the Raiders’ play.
“I said he would be a head coach several years ago,” Umenyiora said. “He is a leader of men. It’s natural to him. Smart, instinctive. A guy you would follow anywhere. I don’t know what the scores will be, but they will play their hearts out for him, I can guarantee that.”
Daboll said he knows Pierce from his college recruitment of quarterback Matt Corral when Pierce was the head coach at Long Beach Poly (Calif.) High School (2014-17).
“Got a lot of respect for AP,” Daboll said. “I remember meeting with him down in his office, talking about Matt out in Cali. And obviously [we] know what he did here. I’ve built a friendship with him along the way the last few years.”
Daboll and the Giants now will turn their attention to preparing for O’Connell and an offense that may look a bit different, with offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi also fired in the shakeup.
This comes on the heels of Garoppolo looking completely lost and inept in Monday night’s lifeless offensive performance against the Detroit Lions, which saw frustrated wide receiver Davante Adams slam his helmet down on the sideline in disgust.
O’Connell, 25, has appeared in two games so far with one start: a 24-17 Week 4 road loss to the L.A. Chargers. He completed 24 of 39 passes for 238 yards and added a 3-yard rushing touchdown but turned the ball over three times.
The Giants’ defense has forced eight turnovers in their last four games, and Daniel Jones is returning from a three-game absence due to a neck injury to hopefully jumpstart an anemic offense.
The Raiders’ defense is led by former Giants defensive coordinator Pat Graham, who Daboll tried to retain in 2022 before Graham bolted for the Vegas strip.
The personal part of seeing a friend and fellow Bill Belichick disciple in McDaniels lose his job, though, hit Daboll on Wednesday more than anything.
“You have good friends, whether it’s coaching business, players when they get released, your business, I mean when you have a good friend you think first and foremost of your friend,” he said. “Josh is a very good friend. We go way back to 1998 at Michigan State as graduate assistants. I know him, his wife Laura, kids. [Ziegler], I know Zig well. So you never want to see that happen to anybody. It’s an unfortunate part of the business.”
