McDaniels says Patriots sideline knew Raiders’ plays in practice drill originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Is Josh McDaniels running the same offense in Las Vegas that he ran for nearly a decade in New England?
It might be too early to answer that question, but his former team certainly recognized some familiar plays this week.
The Raiders hosted the Patriots for joint practices this week, as McDaniels faced off against the team he left in January to take the Las Vegas head coaching job. Considering McDaniels spent 18 of his last 21 NFL seasons with New England, he was bound to recognize some familiar concepts on the Patriots’ defense.
But the same can be said for the Patriots and McDaniels’ offense, which ran into a bit of trouble during a two-minute drill on Tuesday.
Perry: Mac Jones and the Patriots offense party in Vegas
“I thought it was funny, we didn’t have noise (Tuesday), so we were calling out things in the two-minute offense, and their whole (Patriots) sideline is yelling what it is,” McDaniels told reporters Wednesday. “Thought that was funny. Didn’t have much success with it.”
The Patriots have seasoned veterans at all levels of their defense, from safety Devin McCourty to linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley to defensive linemen Deatrich Wise and Lawrence Guy. So, it’s no surprise that New England was able to recognize some of McDaniels’ old tricks.
The Patriots’ detective work also suggests McDaniels is running many of the offensive concepts he used for years with Tom Brady. Our Phil Perry reported the same on Tom E. Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast after Tuesday’s session.
“It looks very much like the Patriots’ offense,” Perry said of the Raiders’ offense under McDaniels. “You’ve got the fullback out there … you’ve got the ‘toss crack’ (play), you’ve got all the screens and all the variations on the screens that McDaniels loved for so long, and you have a quarterback (Derek Carr) who already understands how to operate it pretty well.”
The Raiders also have a host of talented offensive weapons, including wide receivers Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller. So, it will be fascinating to see how much success McDaniels can have taking a familiar offense to a new location.
Las Vegas will also face New England in the regular season (Week 15), so McDaniels may have to come up with a few wrinkles to outsmart his former team.