Player Shares the Moment He Knew Things Were Going to be Different with Antonio Pierce

The hiring of Antonio Pierce was the turning point of the Raiders season, but when was the moment the players realized that things were going to be different under Pierce?

Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said he asked a player that question toward the end of the season, and this was the response that he got…

“I was talking to a player, it was probably the last week of the season, it may have been the second to last week of the season, and I asked him ‘What was your moment when you knew things were different with [Antonio Pierce]?’

He said ‘It’s when he told us we’re not going to practice a ton, but when we get on this field, you better be physical. Whether you have pads on or not, you can be physical. As soon as [Pierce] took over, the physicality took over. The change in the entire atmosphere. We competed in practice the way we competed in a game.'”

Even by the Raiders’ standards, the 2023 season was a strange one. And the story of the season can’t be told without mentioning Josh McDaniels.

It’s difficult to understand how McDaniels managed to be so ineffective in his second stint as a head coach in the NFL.

To their credit, the players haven’t publicly bashed McDaniels (as many of his former players did in Denver), but the football environment he created in 22 months with the team was one of the worst the organization has ever experienced.

Listening to Davante Adams speak last week, it sounded like McDaniels literally removed the fun from the game for his players.

Via the Two G’s in a Pod podcast, these were Adams’ comments on the first half of the Raiders’ season…

“It was the weirdest dynamic, or just feeling, at the end of a season that I think I’ve had in my career so far. Because, typically, when you have a season that’s not going well enough to make the playoffs, or any situation like that, you’re not in it mentally enough and you can’t wait to get to Hawaii. You can’t wait to start making your trips and stuff like that because of the scope of the season, which I think that’s kind of where I would have been had we not made the change and got something new going and kind of revitalized the team.

I think everybody was headed to a point where they were ready for the season to be over because nobody was coming into that building with a smile on their face and really happy to be at work. It just wasn’t the same feeling… the reason we all fell in love with this sport…

I think I’m better for it. It is what it is. I definitely didn’t enjoy some of the things, but I think the feeling now that we have as a team is kind of like upset that the season is over because I feel like we still have to play our best football and we really figured ourselves out as a team near the end of the year. With the change and getting A.P. in there, definitely he got the most out of all the players and just made it a much more enjoyable environment and fun space to be.”

Davante Adams Talks Antonio Pierce, Veteran QBs! | Two Gs in a Pod

Three-time All-Pro Raiders’ wide receiver Davante Adams joins the show as a special third G to discuss his season in Las Vegas, the effect of interim Head Coach Antonio Pierce, veteran quarterbacks he’d like to play with, Jets trade rumors, and more!

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