Josh McDaniels expects 1-4 Patriots to ‘show up’ Sunday against Raiders

Last season, the Las Vegas Raiders welcomed the New England Patriots to Allegiant Stadium for an end-of-season battle.

The storyline surrounding that game was Josh McDaniels going against his former boss Bill Belichick for the first time as the Raiders’ coach.

This year, there are more former Patriots that will suit up Sunday against New England. Over the offseason, the Raiders signed Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer, Jakobi Meyers, Phillip Dorsett and Adam Butler.

But this year, McDaniels isn’t putting too much stock into facing his former team.

“Every week, you got somebody used to play there or they know somebody on that staff, whatever it is,” McDaniels said. “It’s game six for us. We gotta do a good job of focusing on what we can do to improve from yesterday and get ready for a team that presents a lot of different challenges.”

One of those challenges could be the quarterback position. In last Sunday’s blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, Belichick benched Mac Jones. That was the second time Jones was benched this season. On Tuesday, Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said he expects Jones to be the starter Sunday in Las Vegas. Belichick on Wednesday said he doesn’t plan to make any changes to that position.

Regardless of who’s behind center for New England, McDaniels expects the 1-4 Patriots to be ready.

“They got a lot of things that they do to create issues for you,” McDaniels said. “So on a short week we’re going to have to get ready for a lot of different things. We have not seen a team that plays like this. So, there’s a lot of challenges inherently in getting ready for them. And like I said, I’m sure he’ll have them ready to go.”

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