It’s been a rough start for some high-profile offensive coordinators with new teams.
Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was supposed to help elevate Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers, bringing his innovative ideas to the West Coast. Instead, the Chargers are 0-6 because the offense has been terrible and Herbert has regressed significantly.
Former Giants coach Brian Daboll was expected to develop Cam Ward the way he helped Josh Allen in Buffalo. But the Tennessee Titans have the worst offense in the league and Ward has been inconsistent.
The New York Jets are 25th in yards and 27th in scoring in former Colts coach Frank Reich’s offense.
Several more of the 21 new offensive coordinators this season are also having a difficult time over the first six weeks.
Davis Webb already lost playcalling duties in Denver as Broncos coach Sean Payton reclaimed that job less than a month into the season.
Jalen Hurts was off to a slow start in Sean Mannion’s offense before he was sidelined because of blood clots.
Sam Darnold has taken a step backward under Brian Fleury after leading the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl last season.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been dismal on offense in Zac Robinson’s system. Baker Mayfield was out of sync in three games before he injured his thumb and undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels didn’t fare much better.
McDaniel brought a fast-paced offense that features an outside-zone run scheme, rhythm-based passing structures and heavy pre-snap motion. Herbert, a two-time Pro Bowl QB with elite physical skills, hasn’t mastered it. He has thrown eight interceptions and his 68.8 passer rating is almost 25 points lower than his career-low. A depleted offensive line hasn’t helped.
Now the question is how long will coach Jim Harbaugh stick with McDaniel.
“We’re looking into everything at this point, and that process is ongoing-particularly offensively, scoring more points,” Harbaugh said before the team entered its bye this week.
McDaniel expressed confidence in getting the offense on track before the unit produced just two field goals and 259 total yards in a 22-6 loss to Kansas City last Sunday.
“I will be doing my very best because from an integrity standpoint I think it’s really insulting to do anything else,” he said. “That won’t change. I would be so embarrassed if I told you, ‘well now I’m going to try harder.’ Like what? What have you been doing? I’m confident in the players that we have. I think that the improvement that I see before the results generally lead to good things. But talk is cheap. We got to do.”
They’re not getting the job done in Los Angeles.
Daboll was instrumental in Allen’s growth during his time as offensive coordinator with the Bills. He was AP NFL Coach of the Year in his first season with the New York Giants in 2022 and won a playoff game with Daniel Jones. But Daboll was 11-33 over the next 2 1/2 seasons.
Titans coach Robert Saleh brought Daboll to Tennessee to work with Ward, hoping he could maximize the2025 No. 1 overall pick’s talent. Daboll’s passing scheme relies on concepts and focuses on quick, high-percentage throws, and includes heavy run-pass options.
Ward hasn’t figured it out yet. He has just four TDs, four picks and a 75.0 passer rating.
“I think the biggest thing is, particularly when you’re a young guy and you’re seeing so many things, you’re in a new system and there’s a lot of growing to do,” Daboll said Thursday. “Obviously, the results have not shown. We’re good with the direction we’re headed, but we’re not good with the results we’re getting.”
New offensive coordinators bring new systems, new schemes, new verbiage and terminology. It takes time for most quarterbacks and their coordinators to get in rhythm. For some, things click right away.
Drew Petzing’s offense in Detroit leads the NFL in scoring (32.8 points per game) and is fourth in total yards (393.8). He has plenty of talent led by Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Eric Bieniemy’s return to Kansas City has helped spark the Chiefs. Andy Reid calls plays but Bienemy’s presence is valuable for the offense.
“He’s not going to let you slack off at all in anything,” running back Kenneth Walker III said. “You feel like you could do the play 100% correct and he’ll still have something to say. Having that is good because you’ve got no room to be satisfied. Everybody knows what to expect and he’s going to make sure we play for the team and not for ourselves.”
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Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, left, is seen on the field with running back Omarion Hampton prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Strazzante)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Thousands of students across Indonesia have protested for days over the government’s response to toxic haze that has blanketed multiple cities and spread across Southeast Asia in recent weeks.
On Friday, more than 500 protesters gathered outside the Central Kalimantan Governor’s Office in the provincial capital of Palangkaraya, demanding solutions to the haze. Some held signs that read “haze emergency” and “If we burn, you burn with us!”
Protests spread to more than half a dozen Indonesian cities this week, including on the island of Borneo, where many of the fires are burning.
Indonesia’s haze is primarily caused by forest and peatland fires, often started to clear land for farming. While such fires are common during dry season, which usually begins in April, this year’s are the worst on record.
The haze has triggered health concerns and ignited public backlash from Singapore, Malaysia and others in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Student and civil society groups have demanded stronger action on the haze for months. Some called for Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to declare a national emergency and take more aggressive steps to prevent the agricultural practices blamed for fueling the blazes.
Some student-led protests have merged with ongoing demonstrations over Indonesia’s struggling economy.
“In Indonesia, we’re so angry,” said Vincent Thomas, a student at Indonesia's Universitas Padjadjaran, who joined protests in Bandung. “We want the officials responsible to be held accountable.”
Many demonstrators on Friday wore thick masks to protect themselves from the air pollution blanketing Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan, which was tinged orange by the haze.
Volunteer firefighters extinguishing blazes around Palangkaraya told The Associated Press that they hoped that rain would come soon.
More than 333,470 residents have suffered acute respiratory illnesses across the seven provinces affected by the haze since mid-August, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Health.
“We want the government to openly declare a national disaster emergency,” Thomas said. “Not just regarding Kalimantan, but regarding forest fires across the entire country, in every part of Indonesia.”
Jemilah Mahmood, executive director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, said this is what happens when changing climate meeting damaged environments.
“The lungs of a child in Pontianak or Johor Bahru depend on the health of a peat swamp hundreds of kilometers away,” she said.
Indonesia’s forests were a tinderbox because there was less rain during the wet season.
Experts blame this on extreme heat, climate change and an intensifying El Niño that may be the strongest in living memory.
“The current haze crisis is a real symptom, a real example of how climate change affects our day-to-day lives,” said Syahdiva Moezbar, with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Jakarta.
Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were ranked among the most polluted cities in the world this month by the global air quality monitoring platform IQAir, with many considering this the worst haze crisis to affect the region in over a decade.
Singaporean officials, who have warned the country’s air quality may deteriorate further, are taking legal action against seven companies in Indonesia that Singapore blames for causing the fires.
“For me, the part that does worry me is just the difficulty in getting N95 masks and air purifiers,” said Qiyun Woo, a Singaporean environmentalist. “You just can’t help but worry about your own health, especially when you might not have an air purifier.”
The haze has closed schools in East Timor and been detected in the Philippines.
Slash-and-burn agricultural practices are common across Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, with burning seasons typically running from January to April. Regional efforts to tackle the issue have lagged.
“Crises like this test relationships, and the rhetoric this season has been unhelpful on all sides,” said Mahmood at the Sunway Centre. “My worry is not a permanent rupture. It is that blame becomes a habit and gets in the way of the cooperation we need.”
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A boat cruises along the Musi River amid thick haze from forest fires in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Hatta)
People display a poster that reads "Declare the wildfires as national disaster," during a rally protesting the Indonesian government's response to toxic haze from forest fires that has blanketed multiple cities, in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dias Gustrian)
