The Raiders turned in a forgettable performance against the Chargers on Sunday, and the sequence that’s getting the most attention on Monday is Antonio Pierce’s decision to punt on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter.
As it turns out, the late punt by the Raiders was something that had not happened in the NFL in 8 years. Barrack Obama was president of the United States the last time it happened.
According to ESPN analytics, the 2016 Bills (let by Tyrod Taylor) were last team to punt on fourth-and-1 in opposing territory when trailing by one score in the fourth quarter.
The decision by Pierce to punt showed an obvious lack of trust in the offense and The Athletic‘s Vic Tafur probably described it best after the game.
“It was not playing to win, which kind of goes against what they preach, like the ill intent and all that stuff,” Tafur said on the Just Win podcast. “There was no ill intent on that play. It was it was kind of backing down a little bit, so I get it. It definitely is a reason why it hasn’t been done before [because] it doesn’t make sense in terms of stats and analytics and just in terms of wanting your team to know you have confidence in them. At that point, he didn’t have confidence in the offense, and I can see why he didn’t.”
On Monday, Pierce was asked again about his decision to punt, and he said he has no regrets.
“I get [the] analytics,” he told members of the media. “But the ball is at the 8 yard-line. Our defense had only given up 200 yards. That’s the strength of our team.”
Pierce is correct that his defense is the strength of the team, but if the offense isn’t able to advance the ball three feet in a key situation, it’s going to be a long season for everyone involved. There is no winning in the modern NFL without some semblance of an offense.
x: @raidersbeat
Yeah thanks for saving me once again to see how the season is going to play out, that was a weak a** call.
You have zero excuses, you had a QB who made plays and know how to throw long, but naaaa you go with all these conservative plays, why???
Very disappointed 😞 Thought we were going to have FIRE 🔥 when the boys hot the field, only thing on fire was the 100 degree weather and a hungry CHARGER team that came to play.
There will be growing pains with Pierce as HC. Hopefully we start winning some of these close games. The offense definitely needs improvement and the defense cannot continue getting gashed for these long runs. They can’t use the excuse of being tired because we won the time of possession 31 to 28 min.
It is going to be a very long season. With that being said, it’s either playoffs or they will have to fire HC (Antonio Pierce). Talk is cheap, show me how good of a coach you are. I saw NO halftime adjustments. It’s still early, but he better no have any more debacles.