The Raiders fired their coach on Tuesday night and are plugging in a rookie picked in the fourth round at quarterback. And they’re still favored. That’s how bad the Giants are this year. But to me, I like the look of the line.
Aidan O’Connell was very impressive in the preseason. He was in command of the offense, outperforming the three quarterbacks picked at the top of the draft. It occurred to me at the time that O’Connell might be better than Jimmy Garoppolo.
It’s surprising to see Josh McDaniels’ tenure end this quickly. He put together a credible offense last year, with the team finishing 12th in scoring and 12th in yards. But it clearly wasn’t working, and I don’t think things can be any worse without him.
If history is any indication, the Raiders might get a modest spark from the shakeup.
This is the 40th in-season coaching change in the last 20 years. The previous 39 teams went 16-23 in their first games with a new head coach. They averaged 20.4 points in those games, which was almost 4 more than in their final games under the fired guys.
I think for those holding the likes of Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs, this coaching switch should be seen as a positive.
Only slight pause is that McDaniels tended to put together the most concentrated offenses in the league. That is, Jacobs got almost all of the touches at running back, and Adams and Jakobi Meyers sucked in almost all of the receiving production. With a new group taking over, we could see more of an effort to get others involved. (I will be interested to see if Zamir White now starts getting a half dozen carries per game.)
But sign me up for the Raiders on Sunday. I’ve got Adams in a couple of leagues, and I’ll be using him. And I think they’ll probably win the game.
| TEAMS IN FIRST GAME WITH INTERIM COACH, 2000- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Opponents | Result | Prev Game |
| 2003 | Atlanta | at Indianapolis | L 7-38 | W 20-14 |
| 2004 | Cleveland | New England | L 15-42 | L 48-58 |
| 2004 | Miami | at Seattle | L 17-24 | L 23-24 |
| 2005 | Detroit | Minnesota | L 16-21 | L 7-27 |
| 2005 | St. Louis | at Indianapolis | L 28-45 | L 31-37 |
| 2007 | Atlanta | at Tampa Bay | L 3-37 | L 14-34 |
| 2008 | • St. Louis | at Washington | W 19-17 | L 14-31 |
| 2008 | Oakland | at New Orleans | L 3-34 | L 18-28 |
| 2008 | San Francisco | Seattle | L 13-34 | L 17-29 |
| 2009 | Buffalo | at Jacksonville | L 15-18 | L 17-41 |
| 2010 | • Dallas | at NY Giants | W 33-20 | L 7-45 |
| 2010 | • Minnesota | at Washington | W 17-13 | L 3-31 |
| 2010 | • San Francisco | Arizona | W 38-7 | L 17-25 |
| 2010 | Denver | at Arizona | L 13-43 | L 6-10 |
| 2011 | • Kansas City | Green Bay | W 19-14 | L 10-37 |
| 2011 | • Miami | at Buffalo | W 30-23 | L 10-26 |
| 2011 | Jacksonville | San Diego | L 14-38 | L 13-20 |
| 2012 | New Orleans | at Denver | L 14-34 | W 35-28 |
| 2013 | Houston | at Indianapolis | L 3-25 | L 20-27 |
| 2014 | Oakland | San Diego | L 28-31 | L 14-38 |
| 2015 | • Miami | at Tennessee | W 38-10 | L 14-27 |
| 2015 | • Philadelphia | at NY Giants | W 35-30 | L 24-38 |
| 2015 | • Tennessee | at New Orleans | W 34-28 | L 6-20 |
| 2016 | • Jacksonville | Tennessee | W 38-17 | L 20-21 |
| 2016 | Buffalo | at NY Jets | L 10-30 | L 31-34 |
| 2016 | LA Rams | at Seattle | L 3-24 | L 14-42 |
| 2017 | NY Giants | Dallas | L 10-30 | L 17-24 |
| 2018 | • Green Bay | Atlanta | W 34-20 | L 17-20 |
| 2018 | Cleveland | Kansas City | L 21-37 | L 18-33 |
| 2019 | • Washington | at Miami | W 17-16 | L 7-33 |
| 2019 | Carolina | at Atlanta | L 20-40 | L 21-29 |
| 2020 | • Atlanta | at Minnesota | W 40-23 | L 16-23 |
| 2020 | • Detroit | at Chicago | W 34-30 | L 25-41 |
| 2020 | • Houston | Jacksonville | W 30-14 | L 23-31 |
| 2021 | • Las Vegas | at Denver | W 34-24 | L 9-20 |
| 2021 | Jacksonville | Houston | L 16-30 | L 0-20 |
| 2022 | Denver | at Kansas City | L 24-27 | L 14-51 |
| 2022 | Indianapolis | at New England | L 3-26 | L 16-17 |
| 2022 | Carolina | at LA Rams | L 10-24 | L 15-37 |
| 2023 | Las Vegas | NY Giants | ? | L 14-26 |
—Ian Allan