Antonio Pierce might not have the coaching resume of Jim Harbaugh or Jon Gruden, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand football at their level.
Chris Canty was a former teammate of Antonio Pierce and he shared a story from their time together with the New York Giants.
Appearing on Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness with Q Myers, this was Canty’s account of a play in practice against Eli Manning…
“He knew the ‘why’ behind everything. It’s not enough for the defensive signal caller to know what everybody on the defense is doing, everybody on the offense is doing, but understanding the ‘why’ behind it. Understanding those little details is what allows him to constantly put players in position to have success.
I remember when I was with the New York Giants as a defensive tackle. We would be in a four-man rush and Antonio Pierce would tell me to just drop back straight behind the ball and all of a sudden Eli Manning would throw me a pick in practice. His football IQ and acumen was next level and you’re starting to see that in his head coaching abilities.“
Canty also credited Pierce with the improved play from the Raiders’ defense since Josh McDaniels was fired on October 31…
“Look at what this defense has been able to transform into since week nine. They have the most points off of takeaways of anyone in the National Football League and that’s how progressive they’ve been on the defensive side of the ball. They’re third in points allowed and they’re top-10 in defensive efficiency and defensive EPA… What that tells you is that Antonio Pierce has been able to form an identity for this football team and it starts on the defensive side of the ball.”
Additionally, the other coach in the Raiders’ building that deserves credit is defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
Graham gave an emotional speech on Tuesday about how much he has enjoyed coaching the players this year…
Looking ahead… why break up this coaching tandem if you don’t have to?
twitter: @raidersbeat
Sorry, haven’t seen the “next level football IQ”. I’ve seen bad decisions, conservative calls and not so great game management. His mentors are either dinosaurs (Tom Coughlin) or haven’t won much of anything in the NFL (Marvin Lewis, Adam Gase)
The Viking and Colt games were winnable if he went with JG when Aidan wasn’t getting it done.
Players liking a coach, or he was a Raider fan as a youth, is not a basis for a hire. Al Davis hired Joe Bugel because he said the players all came to him to say hire Joe, disaster.
Learning on the job AP is not the answer.
I understand your point but Bugel isn’t the best example. In Bugel’s first season as head coach Raiders were 7-1 until Hostetler went down then they finished 1-7 on the back half.
Michael, you are correct, my apologies. I mixed up Bugel with Mike White. You know your stuff.
JG was flipping horrible all year. Our best option was Farva the whole time and the fact that Patriots west went into the season with that quarterback room is completely insane. And it’s more insane to assume Pierce is supposed to rack up the wins.
We beat the division champs on their home field where our starting quarterback didn’t complete a pass for 3 quarters,
“KNUCKLEHEAD” Michael, u don’t know what the HELL your talking about!
Bottom line you can evaluate Pierce by how the team performed. He took a team that had McDaniels remained would most definitely have 1st pick in the draft and then another bad draft n free agency.
You say Pierce will not make a good coach n I say how many people could come into situation such as existed n have the team playing very tough, inspired n competitive football. They were a bad call away from possibly making playoffs.
Yes the offense struggled but it was better with Pierce n defense substantially improved. The defense is playing at level rankings we have not seen in decades.
Champ n Pierce made moves signing players to roster who came in n produced big for team. That shows you champ n Pierce are good judge of talent n are able to make changes during season when needed.
Remember the OC was also thrown into uncharted waters n had to learn on the fly. Just imagine them bringing in a good OC with the talent on offense n with support of Pierce n Champ allowing them to retain their positions n this team could n more than likely will be headed in right direction, at least a direction not taken since 2015 n prior to that early 2000’s.
If you assess the results with Champ n Pierce as anything other than awesome you people lack common sense n have no clue about sports.
There are many of teams in all sports that see the little guy (small market teams like Cincy Reds) or the team with less talent than most of the others (Giants v Pats). These teams do not lack HEART, PERSISTENT MOTORS (NEVER-QUIT-DESIRE), n most important play for their coach n one another.
Those are qualities that supersede the most talented teams n this Raiders Team (did not possess these traits early to mid season) possess all the characteristics just mentioned n many more. That sirs are immeasurable n clearly something you all fail to realize n these pro franchises care nothing about.
Pierce is the right man whether anyone else believes it n regardless of whether the worst owner in history of nfl sees n acts appropriately by signing them. If Pierce is made to depart I am saying here n now this team will have to be remade n we may see our horrible ways continue for long time.
That’s exactly what I have been trying to say Richard!!! Just needing a good OC and a few draft pics away from being a very capable team to making playoffs & possible more and I for one would am ready for this change!!! Why not try it Mark Davis, your swings for the fence with big names have not worked this far!!! Worst you could be is wizard for making the Raiders GREAT as your dad Big Al did!!!
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John madden. Look where he started from.. hired as a def coach with the raider 67 in 69 hire as a head coach. First head coaching job, Raiders. Mmm