Raiders RB Josh Jacobs throws water on the Josh McDaniels hot seat

Raiders running back Josh Jacobs isn’t buying the idea that head coach Josh McDaniels has lost the team, arguing they’re on the right track.

The Raiders went 10-7 against the odds last year. They were a playoff team despite their head coach being fired a month into the season. Josh McDaniels was supposed to step right in on and build on that performance.

Instead, it’s been pretty much a disaster for the new head coach.

Las Vegas has already hit their loss total from last season, sitting 4-7 with hopes of making a playoff appearance slim.

However, according to star running back Josh Jacobs, the team still has faith in their head coach and belief that they can turn things around.

Raiders RB Josh Jacobs rejects Josh McDaniels hot seat talk

“Nah, it takes losing your captains to lose the locker room,” Jacobs told ESPN. “Obviously, a couple guys say things here and there but it’s like, ‘You don’t play that much,’ so it’s like, do it matter? But when you lose the guys, that’s when you lose the locker room. And he definitely hasn’t lost the guys yet.”

Jacobs backed up McDaniels by pointing out that his messages to the team have been on point. It’s a player issue, as the running back sees it.

“A lot of people on the outside are saying this, that and the third about Coach McDaniels,” Jacobs said. “If you’re on the inside, honestly, everything that he tells us, the key points to win the game, and if we do the things that he says to win the game, we literally are in the best chance of winning the game. And if he says we’ve got to do this, this and the third right and we don’t do that, we lose the game. What he’s saying is literally on point. It’s more so on the players right now just buying into everything. I feel like a lot of the guys are bought in … the effort is there, but it’s more about the details. The little minute things.”

It’s obviously not as simple as “coach right, players wrong” but there is an argument the Raiders aren’t as bad off as they seem.

Their losses this season have come by tight margins for the most part. Outside of a 24-0 drubbing at the hands of Saints, Las Vegas has not lost any game by more than one score. They lost road games to the Titans and Chiefs by a combined three points.

Maybe they aren’t so far away from having things click. Beating the Seahawks in overtime on an epic Jacobs run for a second-consecutive victory certainly helps that argument.