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Josh McDaniels begins his latest stop with the New England Patriots by facing the last team he coached.
McDaniels returns for his third stint as New England’s offensive coordinator. He’ll lead Drake Maye and Co. into a Week 1 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, where he spent 25 games as a head coach in 2022 and 2023.
During Thursday’s press conference, via MassLive’s Karen Guregian, McDaniels downplayed any animosity toward his old team when looking forward to Sunday’s game at Gillette Stadium.
“Certainly there’s some people there I still know well and have relationships with and will hopefully know forever,” McDaniels said. “But, I’m just excited about our opportunity to get going. I’m excited to be home on opening day.”
McDaniels went 6-11 in his lone full season in Vegas, and the Raiders fired him amid a 3-5 start to the 2023 campaign. He’s overseen eight top-10 Patriots offenses as an OC but holds a 20-33 career record as a head coach.
“You learn more, honestly, when you fail than when you have success,” McDaniels said. “I’ve always tried to take each opportunity as an experience that I can learn from. Some you learn more from than others.”
McDaniels has learned to find the positives in every situation and used those experiences to grow. He has no resentment toward the Raiders ahead of their encounter.
“I don’t harbor any ill will towards any of the things that happened like that in my career, and there’s been many of them,” he added. “You do the best you can with what you have, and you give everything you have to the job that you’re in, and you hope it works out the best that it can.”
The Patriots will host the Raiders, now coached by Pete Carroll, this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
