Opinion: Raiders Must Avoid Cliches, Start Winning

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The Las Vegas Raiders, so far, continue to show an astonishing lack of killer instinct. They must rapidly develop it.

Although the actual game played between the Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans was frustrating enough for Raiders fans, the most aggravating part of Sunday may have come after the clock hit zeroes. In a postgame press conference, head coach Josh McDaniels stated that the team needed to “learn how to win games”. Very few coaches can get away with this, and McDaniels should not be one of them.

Deflect, Deflect, Deflect

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell may be allowed to have this deflective answer in his back pocket as he not only coaches the second-youngest team in the NFL but is in the process of pulling his team from a dreadful tradition of not being particularly good. But the Raiders have the eighteen-youngest roster in the league, and on it comes a significant amount of players that learned how to win nail-biting games en route to a playoff appearance in 2021, as well as Davante Adams, a player who has reached the postseason six times in his career.

Remedial Course

Very little has changed from the roster of the Raiders 2021 playoff team, so why do the players need to re-learn how to win? The “learn to win” excuse is so intentionally vague, it comes off as a cop-out when placed under any sort of analysis. Every single player on the Las Vegas Raiders roster has won a game at some point in their football careers. There is a good chance they have all won multiple games in a season in their lives. Additionally, every player on the roster wants to win, so what is the hold up?

False Narrative

If McDaniels had any sort of coaching success with this organization, dropping the “learn to win” excuse could come into play. The response is incredibly Belichickian when the team he has coached for the past two decades gets off to a slow start, but McDaniels has no right to declare that the Raiders do not know how to win games. It is fitting that after the press conference, McDaniels met with Raiders owner Mark Davis for a lengthy closed-doors meeting, which McDaniels reportedly exited from with both his head and his job.

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All The Comforts Of Home

Moving forward, the Raiders return to Nevada to welcome in the highly questionable Denver Broncos, who impressively sit at 2-1, despite quarterback play not meeting expectations. To some, serious job security questions in Week Four may be a bit early, and it would be if the Raiders had to be pulled up from a losing record in the previous year, but the Raiders have already squandered any wiggle room for the 2022 season and now must go 10-4 to merely repeat last year’s record (in what was supposed to be an improvement year.

Time Waits For No Team

Going winless through four games is completely unacceptable for a playoff team that has retained (or improved) most of their position groups; this team knows how to win, and has only gotten better, yet their record reflects the opposite. Winning against Denver would not completely save McDaniels, but it may shift the tone to give him some sort of breathing room. Unfortunately, with the Raiders traveling to Arrowhead to play the Chiefs in Week Five, the writing may already be on the wall.