The Raiders may already have plenty of reason to come out swinging on Sunday, but Richie Incognito thinks one storyline in particular is still smoldering.
In his view, this trip carries extra weight because of Josh McDaniels, the coach who was fired by Las Vegas on October 31, 2023 after 21 months on the job. Incognito said on the Initial Contact podcast that the resentment is still alive inside the building.
“I tell you what’s going to be a motivating factor for these Raiders. It’s going back and getting payback on Josh McDaniels because what Josh McDaniels did to this team for two years.
He disrespected everybody on this team. He alienated everybody on this team.
He lorded over them,” Incognito said on the Initial Contact podcast.
He didn’t stop there, either.
“Yeah, Josh you’re a great offensive coordinator, but you will never work outside New England. You reneged on the Indianapolis Colts job.
You get the Raiders job, and you come in and you lord over everybody. ‘Listen, I have these Super Bowl rings.
You guys don’t know how to win.’ It rubbed all these people the wrong way and you know how you know how I know that Raiders players [and] Raider Nation hates Josh McDaniels?
They don’t even talk about him. No one’s even talked about him.”
Incognito added that the stories from that stretch would shock people if they ever came out, and he believes the silence around McDaniels says plenty on its own.
“Those boys have stories from McDaniels that would blow people’s minds how bad he treated this team and the ultimate sign of disrespect is we don’t even talk about it. So I know that there are guys on this team that played for Josh McDaniels that want to go hand him an L up there in Foxboro.
You guys can celebrate the tuck rule all you want. We’re going to be celebrating going up there and kicking this guy’s ***.”
There aren’t many players left in Las Vegas from McDaniels’ 2023 roster. Only seven remain: Maxx Crosby, Kolton Miller, Malcolm Koonce, Aidan O’Connell, Michael Mayer, Isaiah Pola-Mao and A.J. Cole.
Among that group, Koonce stands out as the player who made the biggest jump once McDaniels was gone. In the final nine games after the firing, he piled up 8 sacks.
The usage numbers tell the story too. Under McDaniels in 2023, Koonce averaged 23.5 snaps per game and never got higher than 30 in a game. Once Antonio Pierce took over, his workload rose to 34.7 snaps per game, and over the final five games he averaged 41 snaps per game.
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For Las Vegas, the possibility is hard to ignore because this is the sort of move that can alter the outlook for the rest of the season and beyond. The destination is still unsettled, and there has even been speculation about a mystery team, but the Cardinals are clearly looking for meaningful value back in any deal. For now, the Raiders are left waiting to see whether this becomes a real opportunity or just another deadline name that never quite lands. [Read more 🡒]