One last time to appreciate Rich Bisaccia

As we all focus on what Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler will mean and who they will bring to the Las Vegas Raiders, let’s take a last chance to salute former interim coach Rich Bisaccia.

I thought it was nice of Raiders’ owner Mark Davis to mention his appreciation of Bisaccia’s work with the team during the introduction press conference for McDaniels and Ziegler on Monday.

“Despite the fact we didn’t get where we wanted to get to this year, and that’s the Super Bowl this week, I’m so proud and they should be so proud of the job (Bisaccia and his staff) did,” Davis said. “With all the chaos, and I will call it chaos going around the team, not only with the things that were going on off the field but on the field, as well, COVID and everything else, they truly went the Raider way. I’m really so grateful to Rich Bisaccia and the rest of the coaching staff ... I believe there’s a great culture in this organization right now, which is what they will find. They haven’t seen that as much yet because they haven’t seen all the players together, but that’s something that Rich had built over the last six months is a fantastic culture in this building.”

Of course, Bisaccia went 7-5 and led the Raiders to the playoffs after taking over for Jon Gruden after he left the franchise in October. Davis said Gruden’s departure shook the team to its core and the wild season was “chaos.”

It’s now obvious Bisaccia wasn’t a real contender for this job, but it’s good to see Davis give him his flowers on the way out just as his players did. They loved Bisaccia.

As Bisaccia (who is interviewing for the head coaching job in Jacksonville) moves on, it’s important to recognize his positive impact on this franchise. He will be long remembered in these parts. So, as we all move on, let’s have one last salute to a guy who did some really heavy lifting before leaving this franchise.