Mark Davis says Josh McDaniels will be Raiders coach ‘for years to come’

SARASOTA, Fla. — Raiders owner Mark Davis offered a strong vote of confidence for first-year coach Josh McDaniels, whose club fell to 2-5 on Sunday after a 24-0 loss to the Saints.

The Raiders’ struggles — which included their worst performance of the season in New Orleans — have led some to speculate that McDaniels’ job could be in danger. But Davis emphatically shot that down in response to a question from the Review-Journal.

“Josh Is Our Head Coach And Wil Be For Years To Come,” Davis wrote in a text.

McDaniels was hired in January as the full-time replacement for Jon Gruden, who resigned in October 2021 after a slew of divisive emails he wrote before returning to the Raiders in 2018 were made public. While Gruden’s interim replacement, Rich Bisaccia, helped lead the Raiders to the playoffs after a late-season five-game winning streak, the club wanted to go in a new direction and find a leadership group that could shape their long-range future.

The Raiders hired Dave Ziegler as their general manager, replacing Mike Mayock, and Ziegler’s working relationship with McDaniels during their time in New England led the former Patriots offensive coordinator to Las Vegas.

Despite the early struggles, Davis said he will give the Ziegler-McDaniels’ partnership the time to get the Raiders on a path to prolonged success. He called speculation that he was unhappy with McDaniels and having second thoughts about hiring him “All False.”

The speculation coincided with the Raider’s lackluster performance in New Orleans, when the starting offense failed to cross into Saints territory, the defense was ineffective and the team seemed unprepared.

McDaniels took ownership of the loss.

“Obviously, that wasn’t good enough in any way, shape or form, and that’s my responsibility,” he said. “I have to do a much better job of getting ourselves ready to go here. We’re better than that. I apologize to Raider Nation for that performance.”

Quarterback Derek Carr, a team captain, said the lack of urgency the Raiders played with will be addressed with McDaniels and the other captains.

“He and I, we’ll sit down, we’ll talk, as the leaders, and figure that out,” Carr said. “This was embarrassing. We can’t have that. It should never happen, especially with the group of guys in that locker room.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.