Last year at this time, Antonio Pierce was scrapping and clawing to keep his job as head coach of the Raiders.
This year, under different circumstances, Pierce finds himself in a similar position, albeit with a little better financial security.
Vinny Bonsignore covers the Raiders for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and he was asked this week if Pierce might be the team’s next ‘one and done’ head coach.
“It does feel like Pierce has some ground to make up over the Raiders’ last nine games to secure his future in Las Vegas,” Bonsignore answered.
No doubt, it was a carefully-worded response from Bonsignore, but with Tom Brady now a part of the organization, there’s a good chance Pierce’s job security has taken a hit. The losses won’t help his cause, but there is also some reason to believe Pierce wasn’t Brady’s first choice to get the job last year.
Maybe the team will rally around Pierce like they did a year ago, but with mounting injuries and questionable coaching on the offensive side of the ball, salvaging the season is going to be a tall task.
Unlike the Josh McDaniels situation a year ago, Pierce seems to have the support of the locker room, but that might only be enough to compete for another 2-3 wins this season.
For years, the Raiders haven’t been quite bad enough to take one of the top quarterbacks in the draft, but their ‘bad’ luck might finally be coming to an end.
If the Raiders do end up with a top pick, it’s imperative that they make the right decision on their next quarterback. And that brings up another question we’ll be debating for the next six months…
Are there any quarterbacks in the upcoming draft worth getting excited about?
x: @raidersbeat
I’m just fan, WTF do know? Nothing has been right from the start, how you gonna fix it now?
Lol,the QB position is the least of their issues..No guarantee the QB they pick turns out good..Sign Sam darnold for seasons and develop a drafted QB.
They have WR issues now and all of their coaches are garbage 🗑️🗑️🗑️🗑️
It’s not Antonio Pierce. It’s the front office. It’s that general manager. You got from the Chargers for the LA Chargers. He sucks. He makes all the fucking decisions. That’s why the Chargers let him go cause he was no good. It’s not Antonio Pierce give this year out and if he does then look around, put them on the hot seat, but that general manager the Raiders got I think it’s his problem. He fucking sucks, yeah Cincinnati keep the job and keep everybody happy but then after that it’s gonna go back to losing. It’s also get a look at the office of line coach that guy for the Bears he’s the Getty his name is he sucks.
O question that AP’s offensive game management is below par and overly cautious because he simply doesn’t trust his entire offensive unit including OC Luke Getsy. , a leftover Hite for OC. Before AP GETSY HAS GOT TO GO!!
I’m wondering how much input with Telesco did AP have on the hand he was delt? Specifically Telesco letting JJ walk, Telesco giving AP two backup qb’s and most importantly Telesco hiring Getsy. Not much if any is my thought. I have definitely seen some very questionable (rookie) decisions made during some of the games but I’m not ready to toss AP yet. I like his no nonsense demeanor in this “candy a$$ entitled” world of pro athletes. I think Pierce has to many voices in his head, namely Marvin Lewis. He sucked in Cincinnati for about 15 years….maybe Coughlin and that’s about it. Let’s dump Getsy and he can take Graham with him. I’m tired of them being consistently on the low end of blitzing defenses every year…their ranked 18th, they’d be 12 th if they blitzed more!
Might not even be a conversation had Davis gave papa Rich a chance instead of thinking he made a brilliant decision to “upgrade” in McDaniels. Carr may have not been a top 10 QB but be was pretty good (several receivers out there have had their best seasons with DC under center) providing stability at the position but got run out of town. Missed out on Kingsbury because AP only got a two year deal and now the offense has is worse off with the current OC. Is ownership change the best option?
Blame Goodell/NFL (Gruden firing) & Josh McDaniels (destroying our team).
He needs help, I believe he can be a great coach because he has team loyalty. But sometimes you need to get imput from your assistant coaches as well. And let the quarterback make some adjustments or play calling decisions.
Insider…B S! Antonio Pierce wanted a qb
The owner should not have taken Maxx Crosbys theat to move on if he didn’t hire Pierce .
The owner should not kowtow to his players.
It’s getting harder to make the case he should be back. Sure, he’s more respected than McDaniels, but that’s a low bar to clear. Can anyone honestly say the Raiders are better off now than when they fired McDaniels? Getsy’s offense sucked, but it sure seems like AP was providing input to Getsy in terms of what he wanted. Plus, Getsy was AP’s hire after the Kingsbury deal feel through, and I don’t think we can ignore that Kingsbury may have threatened AP as a potential replacement in a way Getsy wouldn’t.
Game management has been pretty awful. Player motivation? Hard to say that’s been great when they’re getting outscored by 11 points a game.
The Raiders are bad. But it was pretty clear the organization believed they were capable of contending for a wild card spot. That wasn’t wishful fan thinking or the media. That’s what the team believed.
You can make a case for stability and continuity, but towards what end? What’s being built? What signs of progress are there?