Why Antonio Pierce might be a good fit for the Raiders
The Raiders have won two big games in a row, and ownership may “regret” a coaching choice made in the past. This could help Antonio Pierce’s case to become the permanent manager in Las Vegas.
Pierce, 45, has gone 4-3 since owner Mark Davis fired head coach Josh McDaniels or general manager Dave Ziegler because the team had a terrible start to the season.
The former Giants linebacker led the team to an unexpected win versus the Chiefs on Christmas.
He was given the job temporarily, but his performance seems to have made Davis think about giving the former NFL defender the job full-time.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated says that some of it might be because Davis is having second thoughts about a coaching move he made in the past.
Breer said Davis still feels “some lingering regret” about not giving former Raiders special teams teacher Rich Bisaccia an additional year as head coach after he was put on short-term leave in 2021.
When Jon Gruden was fired, Bisaccia helped lead the Raiders to a 7-5 record and the playoffs for the first time since 2016. However, Vegas hired McDaniels as the full-time coach after the season.
“I put my resume out on the grass.” What do you need? Something fancy like that has been seen before, so I know how to do it.
Pierce told reporters at his press conference on Tuesday, “I can put up stats and my resume, yet the best item that happened to me was an opportunity.” They were asking him how he’d make his case for the full-time job.
As a head coach, the worst day I had planned to have was my first day. I think I said that last week. Now every day is my job, and I’m really proud of how much I improve every day.
It’s the same as when I played to get better. And I hope Mark Davis sees that our team is getting better and growing.
He can see that the Raiders play the way he wants them to. He sees a group of people who support us. He sees an establishment that is happy to be here and loves coming to work.
Josh McDaniels was fired earlier this fall, and the Raiders’ interim head coach took over. Mark Davis, the owner of the team, decides everything else.
He knows he’s led the team in the right way, especially after their big wins over the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday.
Davis told everyone on Halloween that he had dismissed both McDaniels and David Ziegler, who was the general manager.
After a 3-5 start to the season, the move was made. This was only McDaniels’ second time leading the Raiders. The Raiders have had some great times since Pierce took over, but it didn’t fix everything.
In Pierce’s first two games as temporary head coach, they won back-to-back games. Then, earlier this month, they blew out the Chargers in a crazy 63-21 win.
The Raiders then shocked Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs by beating them 20–14 in Kansas City on Monday.
It was only the Raiders’ second victory at Arrowhead in the past ten years. Pierce has led the Raiders to a 4-3 record, and with a 7-8 record, they still have a chance to make the playoffs.
It’s still not clear if Davis will hire Pierce full-time when the season is over. NFL rules say that he has to meet at least two “external” minority candidates to the job. This means that Pierce can’t become heads coach right away.