Josh McDaniels’ behavior at practice changed after team talks, but not before he was fired as Raiders head coach.

Josh McDaniels’ behavior at practice changed after team talks, but not before he was fired as Raiders head coach.

The Las Vegas Raiders wouldn’t play the Detroit Lions for four more days. After their loss on Monday night, owner Mark Davis fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler in Halloween night.

It had been hours since a tough but calming meeting, which the players called a “kumbaya meeting,” where they begged McDaniels to alter his ways.

He tried in his own way. What people saw him do during that Thursday practice, though, made them think the end was near.

A few hours later, at practice, McDaniels allegedly tried to use some of his players’ feedback by playing music and not saying anything during practice. But Rapoport said that McDaniels proved “a shell of himself” following the meeting.

It was said that the difference in how he behaved was so “stark” so it seemed like McDaniels was not really there.

Because of that, it’s not a surprise that his fate was sealed when the Raiders lost 26–14 against the Detroit Lions in Monday night. It was said that everyone in the company agreed that he should be fired.

One more thing about the meeting came to light Sunday morning from Jay Glazer of Fox Sports. He said that Antonio Pierce, that was hired as temporary head coach following McDaniels was fired, spoke for McDaniels at the meeting.

Pierce is said to have talked about the 2007 New York Giants team which beat the McDaniels’ unbeaten New England Patriots within the Super Bowl. He said that the Giants enjoyed a plan and really thought they could win regardless of who they played.

He said that wasn’t how the Raiders were, and that they needed to make their own style.

Later, when the meeting proved over, McDaniels is said to have told Pierce not to talk about the Patriots in that way ever again.

Even though a player from the 2007 Giants team was proud to talk about what his team had done, McDaniels was still worried about how the Patriots had been talked about, even after all that was said and felt in that meeting. His job was in serious danger.

Jay Glazer wrote on Sunday, “There was an enormous disconnect between the players who were there and Josh McDaniels.”

“The players had just returned upstairs to speak with the owner, Mark Davis, to tell them what their issues were.”

Glazer says that eventually, coaches and players got together during the week for a “airing of their grievances” where “players solely unloaded upon Josh McDaniels, via captain to team leader to player with player.”

At the end, McDaniels reportedly told Antonio Pierce, the linebackers coach, to “get out there and speak for him.”

But Pierce, a former star player for the Giants, is said to have used New York’s past Super Bowl wins over the Patriots as inspiration, which made McDaniels, who has been offensive coordinator for New England for a long time, angry.

Josh McDaniels was not the same coach when he showed up to Las Vegas Raiders practice on October 26 as he had been the day before.

After five days, he lost his job because Raiders proprietor Mark Davis cleaned out the home of Dave Ziegler, who was the head coach and general manager.

An NFL Network story said McDaniels was “akin to a bystander” that day. His change in behavior was caused by a “intense” meeting he had organized hours before, where players and coaches criticized him and urged him to change.

The report says that problems developed because of his long team conferences, his tendency to correct every mistake too many times, and his tendency to blame the players for problems with the way he called plays.

The statements had a clear effect on McDaniels. According to NFL Network, at the next practice, he didn’t fix plays himself; instead, he let the players fix themselves and stopped taking responsibility for every mistake.