HENDERSON, Nev. -- Josh McDaniels was running down the home sideline in the chilly Rocky Mountain air, first pointing up to the crowd and then unleashing four full fist-pump punches with his right hand, each one more vicious than the previous, before screaming, "That's right!"
It was Oct. 11, 2009, and McDaniels, then the Denver Broncos' fresh-faced, 33-year-old rookie head coach, had just beaten his old mentor, Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots in overtime to improve to 5-0. McDaniels' pseudo-victory lap included leaping into the waiting arms of Broncos defensive lineman Kenny Peterson and sharing bro-hugs with several Patriots players and assistants.
"Boy, is there some energy in this stadium and in this city now," announcer Jim Nantz said on the CBS broadcast that day.
"Not afraid to show his emotions," added broadcast partner Phil Simms.
It was a 180-degree turn from the face shown by his usually grumpy-looking former boss. And after student and teacher couldn't find each other for the customary handshake in the postgame chaos, they retreated to their respective locker rooms.
It was the highlight of McDaniels' first go-round as an NFL head coach, as he would win the next week to improve to 6-0 before a 2-8 finish was followed by a 3-9 start in 2010, resulting in his firing. A one-season stopover with the Rams as their offensive coordinator ensued before Belichick welcomed McDaniels back to the Patriots in 2012 as their O.C., a position he held until the Las Vegas Raiders came calling this past January.
And with McDaniels set to face Belichick again Sunday at Allegiant Stadium (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox), the former student credits his second stint with his old teacher for getting him better prepared for a second shot as a head coach. The devil, it turns out, was in the details.
"Getting to go back there after I had my experience with Denver, that was a really important period of time for me because I knew what I had done and what I had experienced, and I got to kind of take some time and really try to soak in, 'All right, I know I didn't do that very well,'" McDaniels said this week. "And now I'm watching him the second time around ... and now I'm looking for different things -- how he handles adversity, what he's doing here in the offseason, how he's handling the bye week? What's he doing in April, May, June ...
"It gave me a great opportunity to look at it through a different lens and really try to take some time to process those things while I was watching somebody that's, obviously, the best that's ever done it, do it again ... he's always given to me time, attention and information. He's been very open and honest with me about everything, and I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him."
At just 5-8, with 10 one-score games and already some of the most bizarre losses in Raiders franchise history, McDaniels' first season of his second head-coaching gig has been anything but smooth. Especially in taking over a playoff team.
Belichick wasn't in a very talkative mood this week, either, when asked if replacing McDaniels as his offensive playcaller was tougher than he would have imagined, as the Patriots rank 25th in the NFL in offensive DVOA.
"There's transition every year," Belichick said, matter of factly. "Every year is a different year, so they're not hard, they're not easy. You take it as it comes."
Still, that Belichick and the 7-6 Patriots have a chance to all but dim the neon lights on Las Vegas' playoff aspirations is all the more dramatic.
Not that McDaniels or Raiders players who were once Patriots are buying into that storyline ... at least not publicly. Nor do they think McDaniels is a clone of Belichick. Far from it.
"Josh is totally his own guy," said running back Brandon Bolden, who spent eight of his first nine seasons in New England before signing with Las Vegas this offseason.
Safety Duron Harmon agreed.
"Josh spent what, 20 years, there?" said Harmon, who was with the Patriots from 2013 through 2019. "That's one of his greatest mentors and learned a lot from him, so you're always going to [have] some type of carry-over, some similarities. But Josh is just doing a good job of just doing it his own way as well."
The way backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham put it, people take things from those they learn from, as he did in New England with Tom Brady and Cam Newton and now, Raiders QB Derek Carr.
"And, obviously, make things your own, too," said Stidham, a fourth-round draft pick of the Patriots in 2019 who was acquired by the Raiders in a May trade. "So, it's just kind of that sweet balance between the two.
"Josh is Josh. I wouldn't say he's drastically changed, or anything like that. He's still the Josh that I've known the last three years and it's obviously been fun to see him in that head-coach role."
In all, McDaniels was with the Patriots for 18 seasons, a run that began with the "Tuck Rule" season in 2001, included 13 years as O.C. and six Super Bowl rings, three with him as the offensive playcaller. Three times the Patriots boasted the NFL's No. 1-ranked offense with McDaniels calling plays.
So, even as McDaniels' first words to Raiders owner Mark Davis in his interview were, "It was a fumble," in reference to the Tuck Rule game, the natural assumption was that McDaniels would establish a "Patriots Way West" outpost on the Las Vegas Strip.
Fullback Jakob Johnson shook his head at the notion.
"We're the Raiders," insisted Johnson, who spent his first three seasons in New England before coming to Vegas this offseason, "and we're doing things our way in Vegas and that's what we're all working towards."
Fair enough. Even as the manner in which the Raiders hosted the Patriots at the end of training camp for a two-day joint practice -- essentially giving the New Englanders free reign in the team's compound, which Belichick called the "Taj Mahal of football facilities" -- raised more than hackles among current and former Raiders players and longtime team employees.
Still, beating the Patriots would do more than get that terrible taste out of the Raiders' mouths from last week's stunning loss to the Baker Mayfield-led Los Angeles Rams -- it would be a marked improvement against Belichick.
The Raiders are just 1-7 against him and haven't beaten the Patriots since 2002.
Cue the emotional heartstrings, then. Just don't pluck them for McDaniels. Or Belichick.
"I don't think he's going to care a whole lot about how much he mentored me or what he did, and vice versa," McDaniels said with a smile. "And that's not a bad thing. I don't think he would expect anything less from me than to just compete and do everything we can to help our team win, and I know that's what he's going to do.
"So, I look forward to the competition. I know they do it the right way. Eager to have our team get ready for a hell of a football game on Sunday."