Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce is coaching to keep his job over the last four games of the season, and no one seems to have a feel for which way owner Mark Davis might be leaning on the decision.
After the way Pierce turned the team around a year ago, it was always going to take a colossal failure for the organization to give up on him after one year. That being the case, losing nine games in a row might be enough for Davis to second guess the direction of the team under Pierce.
Two of ESPN’s most respected NFL insiders talked about Pierce’s future in an insider piece this week and they are playing the guessing game on Pierce just like everyone else.
“It seems harsh to move on from Antonio Pierce after only one season without a real answer at quarterback,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano said on Wednesday. “But the addition of Tom Brady to the ownership group has potentially altered the dynamic, as team owner Mark Davis would like Brady to have a real role in the decision-making. It’s harder to get a read on this spot, but people around the league are watching this situation for potential change.”
Graziano’s counterpart Jeremy Fowler also weighed in on Pierce, and he brought up a detail that hasn’t been talked about a lot.
Will the shorter contract that Pierce signed affect the team’s decision on his future?
“Sources I’ve talked to are torn on the Raiders,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said. “There is a feeling in some league circles that the job could come open, in part because the team cut a shorter-term deal with Pierce, their once-interim coach. And the Raiders need updates to several parts of their football operation. But Pierce inherited one of the league’s worst quarterback situations and suffered a rash of injuries, so a one-and-done would be severe.”
The only reason Davis would have given Pierce a shorter contract is because he wasn’t completely sold on the decision to hire him in the first place. We know Davis thinks a lot of Pierce, but if he was convinced Pierce was going to be the next great head coach in the league, why would he push for a shorter deal?
There’s really no other explanation.
A third insider to discuss Pierce this week was The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. Like the others, Russini acknowledged that Pierce is firmly on the hot seat in Las Vegas.
“I believe that the Raiders are going to allow Antonio Pierce here to finish out the year and then they’re going to make a call on this,” Russini said on the Scoop City podcast. “Mark Davis really likes Antonio Pierce. He always has, but I can tell you, he does not like losing, not like this. And I’m curious to see what direction they’re going to go.”
“Tom Brady is involved in this stuff now. I think that’s a factor we have to keep remembering when we’re talking Raiders, as weird as it is,” Russini continued. “He’s going to have an influence, and this type of losing is not going to cut it if Tom Brady wants to be part of an organization. So I’m expecting to see improvements made in this offseason for them to be a much better team, because this is certainly not what they envisioned when they decided to fire Josh McDaniels and go with Antonio Pierce here as the full-time head coach.”
One detail still playing in Pierce’s favor is the fact that the team is still playing hard for him.
Pierce still has the attention of the locker room, and there is some value to that after losing nine games in the row.
The next four games on the schedule will go a long way toward determining Pierce’s future, and will also have a huge impact on the draft.
The Raiders are moving in the direction of “earning” the first-overall pick, but one more win could push them as far down at the 8th pick, according to Tankathon.
Not everyone is ready to talk about it, but is it finally time to ‘Just lose, baby!’ in Las Vegas?
x: @raidersbeat
AP isn’t ready to be a Defensive Coordinator much less a HC. Hopefully, they move on from him and bring a in more qualified candidate. Not too many teams are playing as bad as the Raiders are.