The Details Behind Aidan Hutchison’s Resignation
The Raiders’ top receiver, Davante Adams, lost his cool on Monday night, slamming his helmet after Jimmy Garoppolo missed a second-long, walk-in touchdown. Adams was afraid of what he would say, so he refrained from speaking much after the game.
However, Josh McDaniels’ termination by Las Vegas after 25 games will be viewed as a result of Adams’s actions.
The real deal? GM Dave Ziegler and McDaniels had most likely already given up long before Adams’s helmet touched Ford Field turf.
It felt inevitable in recent weeks, according to a number of staff members and others involved, that owner Mark Davis would tear up his football organization just 25 games after hiring McDaniels and Ziegler. Davis was erratic and irrational. Even the players weren’t content. Lastly, Davis pressed the button following a noncompetitive attempt on national television in Detroit on Monday.Many people in the building noticed that the owner was so upset after a victory, even though Davis has often met with coaches over the years; during Jon Gruden’s tenure in Vegas, they were closely watched. Additionally, the coaching and scouting staff felt apprehensive about Davis’s response.
• Following a 3-3 victory over the Patriots in Week 6, which tied the team’s record, McDaniels had to decide who would start as quarterback because Jimmy Garoppolo was out for Week 7. Selecting youngster Aidan O’Connell was deemed a wise decision by certain coaches. Because the Bears were starting a rookie quarterback, McDaniels decided not to start O’Connell. It was hoped that Brian Hoyer would play a clean game for Vegas because it seemed likely that Tyson Bagent would give the ball over. Additionally, in his lone prior start against the Chargers in Week 4, O’Connell fumbled three times and threw an interception.
However, McDaniels’ expectation that Hoyer would provide the Raiders with an advantage was dashed when the veteran was selected twice against the Bears and benched following the second selection. It was then too late for Vegas.
• After a lackluster performance and with the club at 3-4, McDaniels held a meeting four days later and gave his players free reign to say whatever they wanted. It was hoped that the meeting would result in more accountability on all fronts. The conference instead devolved into a venting of complaints.
• Davis had recently met with players, so the owner was well-informed about their complaints and the players’ opinions over the team’s direction.
And as a result, late on Tuesday afternoon, Davis fired both McDaniels and Zielger. Tom Jones, McDaniels’s chief of staff, texted the staff at approximately 7 p.m. PT, and McDaniels informed his coaches shortly after.
After three hours, the coaches were left in the dark about the identity of their temporary coach, and they spent the remainder of the day at work without learning who would take over.
How did they solve it? Around 10 p.m. local time, some people discovered via Twitter that the victim was linebackers coach Antonio Pierce. Not long later, Pierce texted the coaches to let them know that his first staff meeting would take place on Wednesday at 6:45 a.m. PT. Wednesday was designated as a day without a full practice following the Monday night game, and players were expected to assemble at 8 a.m.
There are others who anticipate Pierce starting O’Connell at quarterback.
Just 21 months after he fully committed to McDaniels’s plan for the organization, Davis will next have to make a number of important decisions regarding the future of his squad.
