Josh McDaniels Has Strong Words for Raiders Before Patriots Game

The Las Vegas Raiders will see a former head coach in Week 5 when they face the New England Patriots, as it marks the second straight year the Silver and Black face Josh McDaniels.

From 2022 to 2023, McDaniels was the Raiders’ head coach, and after his failed stint in Las Vegas, he returned to be the Patriots’ offensive coordinator in 2025, a position he previously held.

On Oct. 8, McDaniels spoke with the media and shared his thoughts on facing the Raiders defense, who will be looking to get back to their ways of generating takeaways after not recording any in the Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Leading the league in takeaways starts with their front and how disruptive they’ve been up front,” McDaniels told reporters. “They’ve got some really impactful players on the defensive line. We obviously know Maxx Crosby, but you have [Kwity] Paye and [Adam] Butler. There’s a bunch of them there. [Malcolm] Koonce is in there and does a lot of things for them. They’re very disruptive up front. The linebackers are really good [and] they’re veteran guys; they’re obviously new to their team, but they make a lot of plays.

“They disrupt a lot of things on third down with pressures. They’re both good blitzers. I think what you’ve seen from the secondary is a lot of eyes on the quarterback. When the front creates problems in the pocket, the secondary is very opportunistic, and they see all the mistakes because their eyes are back there in his own. It’s mostly a zone scheme.”

Josh McDaniels Gives Credit to Raiders DC Rob Leonard

Moreover, McDaniels credits defensive coordinator Rob Leonard for the playcalling that has allowed him to get the most out of the unit.

“Robbie’s doing a great job of calling timely pressures,” McDaniels added. “They’ve been aggressive when they need to be aggressive, and they’ve capitalized on some offensive football that’s not been, I’m sure, at the peak of what those teams wanted to do.

“We have to do a great job of being ready to go. They’ll challenge us in a lot of different areas. It’s been a good situational team, so it’s a big challenge.”

Maxx Crosby on Facing Patriots QB Drake Maye

Ahead of the game on Oct. 11, Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby shared his thoughts on facing Drake Maye as the Silver and Black get to see the Patriots’ star for a second straight year after defeating New England last season.

“He’s a great player,” Crosby told reporters on Oct. 7. “We got to play him last year in Week 1. We’ve seen the improvement from then. He’s just gotten better and better, and he’s a really young, really good player in this league who offers a lot of different challenges. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Against Kansas City, Crosby recorded three tackles and 0.5 a sack, so he will be looking to improve on that production and wreck the Patriots’ offensive game plan and get the Raiders back in the win column after their loss to the Chiefs.

This article was originally published on HEAVY

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