While folks were asleep in the central and eastern time zones, the Las Vegas Raiders announced at 1:00 a.m. EST on social media that head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler had been relieved of their duties.
The news came one night after the Raiders fell 26-14 to the Detroit Lions on Monday. The defeat dropped the Raiders to 3-5 on the season, and owner Mark Davis ultimately decided that a change was needed.
Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce will take over as the interim head coach, with Champ Kelly taking on the interim GM duties.
Popular sports media personality Eric Sollenberger, known by his “PFT Commenter” persona, posted a fake story which claimed that Davis used a fortune cookie to inform McDaniels that he was fired.
Of course, The Athletic never posted a story about this. It’s merely a joke by one of football’s funniest X accounts. If only it were true, as many fans were hoping:
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The Raiders hired McDaniels and Ziegler in 2022 after Davis surprisingly decided not to retire interim HC Rich Bisaccia. The latter led Las Vegas to its first playoff appearance since 2016 after taking over for Jon Gruden, who resigned midseason following his email scandal.
McDaniels and Ziegler leave Vegas with a disappointing 9-16 record. The former went 11-17 in his tenure as the Denver Broncos’ head coach from 2009 to 2010.
