Trains are a great option if you need to haul a massive payload to a single destination. When you have to worry about sudden turns or changes in direction, however, they’re a lot less useful. Even stopping a train requires a tremendous amount of time and effort to slow its momentum.
And in an NFL landscape filled with teams that maneuver like fighter jets, Kliff Kingsbury and Josh McDaniels are stuck playing engineer.
Both are capable of handling their business as long as no contingencies arise. If the Cardinals or Raiders simply need to get to a preordained destination with limited resistance from their opponent, they’ll get there. But ask them to change direction and both Arizona and Las Vegas wind up scrambling.
Both have been able to build potent offensive machines and imposing leads on opponents. Neither has been able to adapt once the tide turns against their team. That can mean collapsing after building a 17-0 lead to start a game or an 8-1 record to start the season.
Turning is not an option for Kingsbury or McDaniels. If their target is right in front of them, hell yeah, they’ll get there in record time. If not, well, they’re just gonna hope their opponent is willing to meet them wherever their tracks end.
Even though McDaniels is just halfway through his first regular season with the Raiders, we’ve got years of data from both coaches to illustrate how incapable either coach is of turning things around. McDaniels couldn’t make the Broncos more than the sum of their parts, lost the locker room and lost seven of his last eight games before being fired in 2010. Kingsbury, on the other hand, has lost the magic touch that brought Arizona success early in the year before inevitable fades into oblivion.
Let’s look at how inability to change could leave both unemployed after the 2022 season.
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