Tag: Antonio Pierce

The Athletic: Raiders coach Antonio Pierce ‘unlikely’ to return in 2025

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce has yet to finish his first full season on the job, but The Athletic says his tenure could end soon.

Needless to say, this season hasn’t gone as the Raiders planned. After a 2-2 start, superstar wide receiver Davante Adams requested a trade and the team hasn’t won a game since, losing its sixth straight on Sunday against the Dolphins.

Adams plays for the Jets now, and injuries are piling up on the Las Vegas defense. As a result, coach Antonio Pierce is struggling to field a competitive team on game day.

Or is Pierce simply the wrong man to lead the Raiders? Could team owner Mark Davis move on from Pierce after hiring him as full-time coach less than a year ago?

According to The Athletic’s Josh Kendall, it seems “unlikely” that Davis will bring Pierce back next season, citing the presence of minority owner and NFL great Tom Brady. Kendall listed the Raiders No. 29 in his latest NFL power rankings and said Pierce’s seat is already hot.

Antonio Pierce is 7-12 in two seasons after the Raiders got blown out by Miami on Sunday. They have bounced back and forth between quarterbacks all year long and never felt like a threat in the AFC West or anywhere else. Jakobi Meyers was Las Vegas’ leading rusher Sunday with one carry for 20 yards. At least there’s Brock Bowers, who had 13 catches for 126 yards against the Dolphins. With new minority owner Tom Brady in the building, it seems unlikely majority owner Mark Davis will stand pat with Pierce as head coach.

Pierce’s fate likely rests in his team’s performance over the final seven weeks of the season. As Kendall notes, poor quarterback play has held the team back all year, so it will be tough for Pierce and the Raiders to finish strong.

If the Raiders continue to lose by large margins, Pierce could definitely be gone at the end of the season. But as long as the team shows improvement, even minor improvement, Pierce will likely return. The offense looked improved under new offensive coordinator Scott Turner, and that bodes well for Pierce.

Davis knew Pierce was light on experience when he hired him, and I don’t think he’ll be quick to hand Pierce his walking papers, even if Brady disagrees. Davis stated he wants Brady to find him a quarterback, not make decisions normally left to the majority owner. So I think it’s likely Pierce, who was hand-picked by Davis, will remain the Raiders coach.

Pierce’s fate is anyone’s guess, however, so Kendall could be correct. We’ll see how it plays out after this frustrating campaign in Las Vegas comes to a close.

Antonio Pierce: ‘I don’t see anybody quitting’ after Raiders’ 6th straight loss

The Raiders lost their sixth straight game on Sunday but coach Antonio Pierce says he ‘doesn’t see anybody quitting’ on the season.

Owning a 2-8 record after their sixth-straight loss, the Raiders’ season is cooked. There will be no playoffs, and there’s little reason to believe they’ll win more than one or two more games before the campaign officially ends.

But first-year coach Antonio Pierce still has a job to do. Primarily, he has to make sure his players display professionalism and fight hard to win on game day. After Las Vegas’ latest loss to the Dolphins on Sunday, he said he hasn’t seen any quitters on his roster or anywhere else for that matter.

“What I’m seeing from our players, I don’t see anybody quitting,” Pierce told reporters on Monday. “I don’t see anybody quitting in this building; I don’t see no quit from our staff; I see everybody just trying to figure out ways and answers in a very fluid situation with injuries and everything else that’s going on with our team this year.”

As Pierce alluded to, the Raiders defense has been devastated by injuries, including on Sunday in Miami when depth in the secondary was tested and ultimately failed. When Pierce mentioned “everything else” he was likely talking about the Davante Adams trade a few weeks ago.

Regardless of what Pierce sees from his players and staff, the next few weeks will test the team’s perseverance. The Raiders will face AFC West rivals in their next two games: first against the Broncos and then against the Chiefs in a nationally televised game. Rivalry games could help Pierce motivate his squad, much as he did during his run as interim coach last year.

But if Las Vegas loses in blowout fashion down the stretch, it will be a bad look for Pierce. Even if nobody is quitting, all players and staff simply have to be better to finish this lost season on a positive note as Pierce envisions.

Raiders still living week-to-week at QB heading into Week 12

While Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew the starter for week 12 vs the Broncos, he wouldn’t commit to anything past that.

As the Raiders head for their week 12 matchup with the Broncos, they are sticking with Gardner Minshew. And past that, who really knows.

Monday head coach Antonio Pierce was asked if he believes Gardner Minshew is the best option at quarterback for the team moving forward, he chose his words carefully.

“He’ll be the quarterback this week,” said Pierce.

That’s something, at least, considering several times this season Pierce was completely non-committal on Monday as to who the team would start the following week. And one of those times, he switched quarterbacks with Minshew being benched. It was only because of the injury to Aidan O’Connell that Minshew regained his starting job.

The competition now is between Minshew and Desmond Ridder who the team signed off the Cardinals practice squad a few weeks ago. Minshew was benched midway through the game in Cincinnati in favor of Ridder only to have Minshew return to the starting lineup out of the bye week and with a shakeup on the offensive staff.

Raiders’ Antonio Pierce says Dolphins remind him of legendary offense

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce says one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history comes to mind when he watches the Dolphins.

The Miami Dolphins offense is loaded with talent, but has underachieved for much of the 2024 season. After leading the NFL in offensive yardage a year ago, the Dolphins rank 20th in yards this season and 30th in points scored.

Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce remains impressed with Miami’s offensive skill players, though. So much so, that he thinks the Dolphins offense is reminiscent of one of the greatest groups in NFL history: The Greatest Show on Turf.

“The Rams. On the turf,” Pierce said Friday when asked what offense comes to mind when he watches the Dolphins. “When they were rolling with Kurt Warner and [Torry] Holt and [Isaac] Bruce and Marshall Faulk. Even later on down the road, didn’t even matter if it was on grass, they were fast. Like it was on you right now. The speed is legit. You can’t mimic it. We’re doing the best we can in practice.

“But the good part about it like I said, we went against these guys last year and really felt the speed of [Tyreek] Hill and [Jaylen] Waddle and those guys over there. So we understand that, and we respect it. But at the at the end of the day, with speed you have put hands on them, right? Physicality needs to show up.”

The St. Louis Rams earned the Greatest Show on Turf nickname when they led the NFL in both scoring and offensive yardage for three consecutive seasons between 1999 and 2001. Warner, Faulk, and Bruce are all Hall of Famers and Holt has been a finalist for induction in each of the last five years.

Miami’s offense has proven capable of making big plays and putting up big numbers, but a comparison to the turn-of-the-century Rams may be praise that’s a little too lofty.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Dolphins offense reminds Raiders HC Antonio Pierce of Greatest Show on Turf

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce drew a strong comparison between the Dolphins offense and that of the Rams ‘Greatest Show on Turf’.

Much has been made this week about the sheer speed the Dolphins possess on offense. With the likes Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Raheem Mostert, and De’Von Achane, they have elite speed. Or as Raiders DC Patrick Graham put it ‘they can run-run‘.

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce played in the league for nine years from 2001-09. And when he was asked Friday what offense the Dolphins offense reminds him of, he made a strong comparison.

“The Rams. On the turf,” Pierce said referencing the St Louis Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf offense. “Like that was real. When they were rolling with Kurt Warner and [Tory] Holt and [Isaac] Bruce and Marshall Faulk. Even later on down the road, didn’t even matter if it was on grass, they were fast. Like it was on you right now. The speed is legit. You can’t mimic it. We’re doing the best we can in practice.

“But the good part about it like I said, we went against these guys last year and really felt the speed of Hill and Waddle and those guys over there. So we understand that, and we respect it. But at the at the end of the day, with speed you have put hands on them, right? Physicality needs to show up.”

It’s one thing to have to deal with great speed at receiver where the defense lines up their fastest players. It’s another thing to then also have to account for the running backs coming out of the backfield as well as making plays in the passing game.

De’Von Achane leads the team in rushing (457) and yards from scrimmage (774). He’s a legit game breaker whose career has been mired by injuries, including when the Raiders faced the Dolphins last season.

“Just dynamic. Everything’s explosive. Everything’s a big gain,” Pierce said of Achane. “Everything’s an explosive gain in the run game, the pass game, route-running. I think, obviously you look at the size, you think a smaller guy, but he runs like a big boy. He runs behind his pads, does a good job. He gets on you fast, and the arm tackles is not going to work with a player like this. You have to chest him up. You have to just put the body blows on him to slow him down throughout the game.”

That’s your Holt, Bruce, and Faulk comps right there. Tua Tagovailoa is a far cry from Kurt Warner, but with those weapons he may not have to be.

Norv Turner conversation with son Scott about joining Raiders staff was so wholesome

Some things are bigger than football. And when Raiders interim OC Scott Turner asked his dad Norv to join him in Las Vegas reminder of that.

Some things are bigger than football. And sometimes, as with Norv Turner joining his son with the Raiders, it can fulfill both the football aspects as well as the life.

When the Raiders fired Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator, Antonio Pierce turned to passing game coordinator Scott Turner to take over as interim OC. To which, Turner had one request — bring my dad onboard.

“AP made the decision that he made and he contacted me and we went through the process and the only thing I really asked for was if we could have my dad come, just for some help,” said Scott of his father Norv. “He was good about that, when AP was a player he played against my dad when he was a coach, so he said he thought it was a good idea and that was pretty much it.”

Norv had coached at the NFL level, either as an offensive coordinator or a head coach for nearly 40 years. But this was about a lot more than his wealth of experience. For both of them, this was the bonds between father and son and grandchildren.

But first, it was about breaking the news to mama Turner that Norv was coming out of retirement.

“He just said don’t tell your mom. He was like ‘I got to find out how I’m going to break it to her.’ Scott said of his dad’s response to being asked to join him in Las Vegas. “She was good. She was like ‘I don’t know why he was so nervous’. I was like ‘Come on, you know why’. He’s living with me. My kids are enjoying it. They don’t see him much, but they will as we get to the end of the week and my mom will be out here in about a week or so.

“I coached with my dad before. He was the coordinator, I was the quarterback coach. So being able to live close to him was great. Now, my kids are older — 10 and 8 — so they’re like super fired up about having Papa around. So, that part of it on a personal note is really cool.”

On a professional note, Norv Turner is yet another former head coach and well-respected mind on this Raiders coaching staff. Joining the likes of Marvin Lewis and Tom Coughlin in senior advisory roles. And being that he’s had a personal interest in the Raiders of late due to his son being on staff, he isn’t coming into it completely fresh.

“Being able to have him see us at practice every day, not just watching us from afar and helping with input is invaluable,” Scott added.

“He watches football constantly. He knows what we’ve done one offense,” Scott said of Norv. “Obviously the verbiage is totally foreign to him, but I can just translate it. He just says what he thinks and I say ‘Oh, we call it this’ or whatever. So, it’s really not that hard.

“And just fundamentals, tidbits for the quarterback, he’s sitting in a lot of the quarterback meetings. Just stuff that you don’t even think of. Again, I can only see so much.

“We have a great coaching staff, those guys do a great job too. It’s just another set of eyes. With the wealth of experience that he has who also, he’s not afraid to tell me what he really thinks obviously, so that part of it is great also.”

So, welcome back to the Silver & Black, Norv. And to spending more time with your son and grandkids. You love to see it.

Raiders hope one particular coaching move can rekindle spark on offense

No area has suffered the most this season than the ground game. The Raiders are hoping the move to Joe Philbin as OL coach can fix it.

Since Antonio Pierce overhauled the offensive coaching staff, he made it clear this team will be built around the run game. And that fact alone tells you why the team is 2-7 and have lost five straight.

They simply cannot run the ball. Like, historically bad at running the ball. Which wouldn’t be terrible if the team wasn’t relying upon it so heavily. But being that they were counting on it being a strength, everything else kinda fell apart along with it.

So, when Antonio Pierce fired Luke Getsy after just nine games, he also let a couple other coaches on the offense go as well.

“Our ability to run the football has to change,” said Antonio Pierce.”We have to run the football. We’re one of the worst teams in football, if not the worst running team in football. So, that has to change.”

With the way the team finished last season, there was reason to believe they could get something going on the ground.

Zamir White came in for the injured Josh Jacobs for the final four games and White’s rushing numbers were quite good. Even without seemingly doing anything special — which Jacobs was known for — White was still churning out the yards, averaging nearly 100 yards per game and over 4.7 yards per carry.

This season, he has seen his numbers take a nosedive. He is averaging less than three yards per carry and a few weeks ago lost his starting job.

What happened? A new blocking scheme happened.

The offensive line has struggled to acclimate to it as have the backs. And the entire offense.

That’s why along with Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg was fired and replaced by Joe Philbin.

“Joe Philbin has been around this game a long time, coached some really good offensive lines, and been around some good offenses as well,” Pierce said. “And obviously, you got a gentleman who’s been a head coach, we talked about that prior. He’s been an offensive coordinator, and his forte is O-line play.”

Before and after Philbin was an OC and a head coach, he has coached offensive lines. Most recently for three seasons in Dallas (2020-22) and for a couple seasons in Indianapolis before that (2016-17).

His last two years in Dallas, the Cowboys rushing attack was top ten in the league. And he did it deploying man-power scheme, which is what the Raiders used the last two seasons with great success including Josh Jacobs becoming the league rushing champ in 2022.

Getting back to that kind of play could be the key to finding something on offense this season.

“Pad level, eyes down, striking, physicality up front, getting off the rock, hand placement, hat where it’s supposed to be,” Pierce added.

“And the one thing we talked about was just purely how we look off the offensive line. What does it look like physically from a technique standpoint, from a fundamental standpoint; so I’m excited to see what these guys do today in practice going forward.”

It may seem crazy to even think of switching up schemes midway through the season, but is it any more crazy to keep trying to force this line to run a scheme they clearly are not meant to run?

This upcoming week the line could have Dylan Parham back on the left side next to Kolton Miller. That’s where they lined up the past two seasons, so you know they could do it. Jordan Meredith was also on the team the past two seasons. Power is literally Jackson Powers-Johnson’s middle name. Well, ok, not really, but the Rimington award winner can definitely run that scheme. That just leaves rookie DJ Glaze at right tackle.

I, for one, think it will be fascinating to see what changes are to be made with this unit and whether the run game will find its footing again.

Raiders get much-needed ‘cold shower’ from bye week

The Raiders hope the bye week helped “wash all that badness off.”

The Las Vegas Raiders enjoyed a much-needed bye week during the NFL’s Week 10.

After dropping their fifth in a row with a 41-24 loss at Cincinnati, the Raiders got an extended break to ponder what exactly has gone wrong and how they can fix it.

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said on Wednesday that the break was much-needed for Las Vegas.

“Good, good. Needed it, man. Needed to take a good cold shower, cold bath, wash all that badness off that took place over the nine games. And I think our staff did the same.

“I know our players did, but they were still around the building, which is the best thing about it, right? People might question our locker room, might question our culture, might question me, but you can’t question our commitment. So, we’re committed to this bad boy and turning it around. So, when they got in here Tuesday, that’s what I felt. That’s what they felt from me, and hopefully you feel it right now,” Pierce said.

Pierce and the Raiders didn’t waste any time trying to explore potential fixes right as the bye week arrived.

In the immediate aftermath of the Raiders’ loss at the Bengals, Pierce made the decision to fire offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg.

Las Vegas elevated Scott Turner to interim offensive coordinator and made Joe Philbin their interim offensive line coach. Turner had been serving as the passing game coordinator and Philbin as a senior offensive assistant.

The Raiders also brought in Scott’s father and former Raiders head coach, Norv Turner, as a senior adviser.

Pierce hopes that moving quick will help with the game planning this week for the Raiders’ trip to the Miami Dolphins.

“Huge. I wanted to get it over with. Once I made my decision that we were going to move on, get those two gentlemen in place, get everything that we need to do from an HR standpoint of paperwork, and get them in the building and start working during our bye week to give ourselves 10 days to get ready for the Dolphins,” Pierce said.

Pierce also announced on Wednesday that Gardner Minshew will remain the Raiders’ starting quarterback for their date at Miami.

Kickoff is set for 10 a.m. PT on Sunday from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami where the Raiders can show just how much or how little the bye week and staffing changes have helped fix their ails thus far this season.

Raiders 2024 midseason Busters

Those who have had the roughest time in an ugly season for the Raiders.

Now that we’ve separated the positive performers aka the Ballers, let’s move on to those whose performances led most directly to the Raiders’ 2-7 record and their five-game losing streak.

Busters

HC Antonio Pierce, OC Luke Getsy

A head coach who preaches not riding the emotional rollercoaster but who lets every loss cause him to make unwise public statements and every week not commit to his starting quarterback. And who always seems to make the wrong decision on 4th down.

We knew these were going to be issues of his coming into the season, which is why he surrounded himself with former head coaches on his staff. But their influence has not been able to curb his worst tendencies. The team is falling apart at the seams on both sides of the ball and all we hear is the same old lines about execution and taking care of the ball.

Days before Getsy was fired, he clapped back at a question about the team’s inability to keep up the offensive success past the first scripted drive. His response was that there is no such thing as a scripted drive, even though that’s a very commonly known concept. And the Raiders have been terrible at sustaining anything past the first drive.

It seems like after that first drive, his game plan seems to consist of simply trying to do what the defense least expects. Even though the reason defense wouldn’t expect it is because it’s just a bad idea. For instance, he will call for runs when the pass has been working, and vice versa. And it has cause many drives to stall either at the doorstep of scoring range or in goal-to-go situations. And this team can ill afford to miss opportunities like that.

The previously successful run game has been an unmitigated disaster in the zone blocking scheme he implemented and the offense as a whole has looked completely lost.

LT Kolton Miller

Three times this season Kolton Miller was the Top Buster with four times a Buster overall. He just hasn’t been himself. He has given up six sacks this season, which puts him on pace for 11 sacks which would be by far his most sacks allowed since his rookie season.

QB Gardner Minshew

Speaking of guys having their worst seasons…Minshew has thrown more interceptions (8) than touchdowns (6) this seasons. There’s also been several instances where he panicked at the first sign of pressure and just bounced around inside the pocket until he was sacked.

RB Zamir White

Nothing has gone well on the ground for the Raiders. However, Alexander Mattison for outplayed White which is saying a lot. And it’s the reason Mattison ended up taking his job.

In his first season as the named starter, he has averaged just 2.9 yards per carry and has two fumbles. Despite being a strong back, he hasn’t had success in short yardage, often going down at first contact. He also has just six catches on the season.

C Andre James

Three times this season, James was a Buster. He was injured in Week eight which had rookie Jackson-Powers Johnson move over to center from left guard, and the difference was obvious. JPJ had his best game of the season and was named a Baller. Something James has not accomplished this season.

DT John Jenkins

Jenkins has done almost nothing this season. Unless you consider getting routinely pushed up field on the block as doing something. The Raiders run defense has been abhorrent this season and the door is often opened when he gets sent backward. He had 61 tackles last season and he won’t come close to that this season on his current pace. He also has yet to record a tackle for loss and has just two QB hits.

T Thayer Munford, T DJ Glaze

Between the two of them, they have five times been Busters over the first nine games. Munford started the season and held up well in the season opener. But the next week he was the Top Buster on a team that otherwise had a great game. He was injured the following week and Glaze stepped in.

In his six starts this season, Glaze has been a Buster three times, including two of the past three games.

Munford came in last week as the team’s third string left tackle and absolutely lit up, including Trey Hendrickson putting up three sacks on him. He has given up five sacks this season despite playing in just two full games.

See the Ballers

The Athletic dissects Antonio Pierce’s future as Raiders head coach

The Athletic dissected Antonio Pierce’s Raiders head coaching future and the questions that surround it.

Things aren’t going according to plan for the Silver & Black.

The Raiders (2-7) are in the midst of their bye week and in the midst of a five-game losing streak. With Las Vegas mired in this current five-game slump, the Raiders didn’t wait around to make changes.

The Raiders announced on Sunday night that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg had been fired. All three were in their first seasons with Las Vegas.

On Tuesday, the Raiders announced a series of moves. Former Raiders head coach Norv Turner joined the team as a senior advisor.

Meanwhile, Norv’s son, Scott Turner, was elevated from passing game coordinator to interim offensive coordinator in place of Getsy.

Lastly, Joe Philbin—another former NFL head coach with the Miami Dolphins—steps into the role of interim offensive line coach. Philbin was previously serving as a senior offensive assistant for the Raiders.

With all of that change and general unrest circling the Raiders, some have begun to speculate on the future of first-year Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce.

Is he going to survive a season that at least for the moment has flown off the tracks?

The Athletic’s Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed addressed that very question in their NFL midseason predictions.

That duo predicts that Pierce will indeed make it to a second full season as the Raiders’ head coach.

As the Raiders’ season has gone off the rails, speculation about Pierce’s job security has intensified. His in-game decision-making has been heavily criticized and the coaching staff hasn’t been able to find any consistent success. But owner Mark Davis isn’t itching to make his third coaching change in three years. He hoped the Raiders would be more competitive, but he knew Pierce was inexperienced and would endure growing pains. – Tafur and Reed, The Athletic.

Tafur and Reed point to a recent quote from Raiders owner Mark Davis that they feel indicates he and the franchise are willing to be patient.

“He’s young as a head coach. He’s learning how to be a head coach. He’s surrounded himself with a lot of good people. He’s just got to grow into the job. It’s his first year, really. What he did last year was phenomenal. … We’ll be OK,” Davis said in October.

Signs of life in the season’s second half would obviously go a long way toward Pierce securing a second full season guiding the Raiders.

It’s an easy argument to be made on Pierce’s behalf that the quarterback situation was an empty deck to begin this season with.

Still, some signs of offensive progress in the season’s second half would definitely enhance his case to stick around and reset with a young franchise signal-caller following the 2025 NFL draft.

Pierce guided the Raiders to a 5-4 finish during the 2023 NFL season while operating in an interim head coaching capacity. That included a Christmas Day win over the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and victories in three of the Raiders’ final four contests.

Pierce now owns a 7-11 mark as an NFL head coach.