If you want to anger a Las Vegas Raiders fan on social media, just mention the “Patriot Way” and see what happens. Well, it turns out owner Mark Davis isn’t too crazy about it as well.
It was just a few years ago that the Raiders found themselves in a peculiar position. After the Jon Gruden fiasco, Davis took a fresh approach and chose to emulate the strategies that had previously proven successful in New England. Bringing in Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler would have led one to believe that the strategy would succeed. Josh McDaniels, the offensive maestro responsible for the Patriots’ triumph, and Dave Ziegler, a talented personnel specialist, joined the Raiders to rejuvenate their roster. Sounds lovely, right?
The Raiders said no thanks to the Patriot Way…
As most recall, Davis saw enough of that and ended the experiment after just a season and a half. Naturally, when fans began to hear rumors about Davis exerting significant effort to integrate Tom Brady into the organization, they anticipated the arrival of “Patriot Way 2.0.” As it turns out, maybe we judged Davis too quickly.
Mike Vrabel was a name that the Raiders naturally associated with filling the void left after Antonio Pierce’s dismissal. A Patriots legend in his own right, much like Brady and McDaniels, Vrabel was seen as a coach that would bring “stability” to the Silver and Black. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be. Vrabel is returning to New England to assume the role of head coach.
Things didn’t go that way.
Over the weekend, The Athletic reported on some of the names being linked to the Raiders. Among the candidates, Vrabel was listed—so what went wrong?
“As far as Vrabel, everyone with WiFi service assumed and reported that he was Brady’s guy and would be in the mix for the Raiders job. But Vrabel wasn’t on the Raiders’ interview list last week. One reason may surprise you. Mark Davis apparently is not interested in another go-round with ‘The Patriots Way’ after the failure of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler two years ago, according to league sources.”
No more Patriots…
The issue with all these former Patriots is that it’s difficult to evaluate them uniformly. Although McDaniels is considered one of the best offensive coordinators of this past generation, his performance as a head coach was disappointing. Terrible. The Titans were in playoff contention under Vrabel for most of his tenure. In Davis’ defense, the Raiders locker room had apparently had enough of McDaniels. So, he did what he had to do. While we can argue about his lack of a head coaching search after those events, can we blame him for wanting to avoid a second go with the Patriots philosophy?
Perhaps Brady, better than anyone, understands that you need your own identity. Besides, hasn’t it been proven that No. 12 was indeed “the” Patriot Way? No one outside of Vrabel and Brady has experienced success beyond the confines of the Patriots organization. It’s time the Raiders built something original, and by all accounts, Brady is spearheading it.
