Neither the Raiders nor the Broncos have something to play for in terms of the playoff standing. Both teams are officially out of the playoffs. All that’s left is whether to tank for draft position or play for pride. Antonio Pierce is choosing the latter.
“We’re the Raiders. We’re playing,” said Pierce. “We’re going to play at a high level. Everybody that can play. . . We’re all in.”
“We’re all playing. We’re playing to win the game. It’ll be our best 11 out there.”
There are a lot of teams who have something play for in their final game. Whether it’s fighting for a playoff spot or playing spoiler for a rival. Then there are those who do not.
Some because they clinched a playoff position that won’t change based on the game results, so they rest their starters so not to risk injuries for a playoff run.
That’s clearly not the position the Raiders are in. There are no games after this one for this team. Now it’s just about whether they want to finish strong and sweep the rival Broncos.
Whichever of these two teams wins will be drafting after the team that loses. That’s the downside. But asking players to tank or not playing them at all for a draft position that they may or may not even care about or even be on the team to see it come to fruition.
That goes for Antonio Pierce as well. He is fighting for his job. And even if the result of this game won’t top the scale, he can’t risk his last game as head coaching being a tank job. You can bet, win or lose, these guys will be playing out the string Sunday.