Tag: Antonio Pierce

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.

Busters for Raiders Week 9 loss to Bengals

Those who had the roughest outing in the Raiders big loss in Cincinnati.

Over a ten minute stretch from the end of the second quarter to midway through the third quarter, the Bengals left the Raiders in the dust. What was a 10-10 tie because a 31-10 Bengals lead and they pretty much never looked back. Next thing you knew it, it was a 41-17 game and coaches’ heads were rolling before the night was up.

Busters

LB Divine Deablo

Tight ends have been gouging the Raiders of late. Opponents are realizing that’s one of their weaknesses and they’re exploiting it. Mike Gesicki alone had five catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Often times it was Deablo who they went after for those catches. But that wasn’t the only area Deablo struggled in this one.

The Bengals’ first drive went for a touchdown. At one point, on three consecutive plays, Deablo gave up either the catch or run for 27 yards to put them at the Vegas 33. The second TD drive came in the final three minutes of the first half and it was Deablo who gave up the TD catch from ten yards out.

First drive of the third quarter saw the Bengals drive for another TD. Deablo missed a tackle on a 21-yard run early in the drive, then in first and goal at the seven, he was out of position on a five yard run, and two plays later gave up another touchdown catch.

LB Robert Spillane

Kudos to him for playing through his injury, but he doesn’t look right out there. Just like last week, he’s still making some tackles. They’re just several yards down the field. And he’s having more troubling fighting through blocks and cutting quickly.

The Bengals’ second scoring drive, he gave up the two biggest plays on the drive — an 18-yard catch and a 12-yard catch and run where he missed the tackle. Then the first play of the third quarter, he had Joe Burrow dead to rights on the blitz and missed the tackle to give up an 11-yard scramble instead.

He finished with seven combine tackles, which was his second lowest total of the season and had just one solo tackle.

WR DJ Turner

Even with the Bengals scoring to end the first half and to begin the third quarter, it was still a two-score game. Then Turner lined up in the backfield to take the handoff and fumbled it. The Bengals recovered it at the Vegas 21 and drive for another touchdown. Dagger.

T Thayer Munford

What Troy Hendrickson did to him in this game was sickening. Henderickson finished the game with a single game career -high four sacks. And three of those came from the left side while Munford was in the game.

It may be considered cruel to call Munford out considering he was pressed into left tackle duties after Kolton Miller and Andrus Peat both went down with injuries. But, I am not here to give consideration to such things. He got embarrassed in this one. Enough so that you realize why he is the third string left tackle and not the primary backup. We’re talking about the season opening starting right tackle here too.

HC Antonio Pierce, OC Luke Getsy, DC Patrick Graham

No coach is safe from criticism here. And not just because it was a bad game and we’re spreading around blame liberally. But because they each had their very specific issues.

The offense once again dried up after the opening drive. Just a few days after Getsy took exception to the term “scripted drive”. And probably about the time the Raiders plane landed in Vegas, he was no long employed by them.

Even still, the Raiders were down just one score in the final seconds of the first half and driving. But in third and four from the 48, after Getsy called a doomed screen, they are in prime position to go for it on fourth down. Just 17 seconds left and about five yards away from Daniel Carlson field goal range. Instead Pierce showed no aggressive and a complete lack of faith in his offense and his defense by sending out the punt team. There was nothing to gain from that decision and almost everything to lose.

If you are worried you won’t make it and the Bengals would drive into field goal range, then you think they can just easily to that anyway, so what’s even the point? Otherwise, you just go down fighting. You don’t give up. Before halftime, the Raiders gave up.

As for Graham and this defense…the Bengals scored on every one of their first five possessions; four of which were touchdowns. And far too many times, there were wide open receivers. Whether it be backs squirting out of the backfield with no one around, tight ends finding huge soft spots in the zone, or running backs finding gaping holes for chunk plays. This defense is a shell of what it looked like when it found inspiration late last season.

See the Ballers

Antonio Pierce won’t commit to Raiders starting QB heading into bye week

Is Gardner Minshew still the Raiders starting QB or will he be replaced by Desmond Ridder? Antonio Pierce isn’t ready to make that decision.

Here we go again. Back to the Raiders being in limbo at the QB position. In the third quarter of Sunday’s game, looking at a 31-10 deficit, the Raiders pulled starter Gardner Minshew in favor of Desmond Ridder.

At the time, you could write it off as the Raiders just being down three scores and just pulling their starter. But if that were the case, Monday morning you’d expect to hear the head coach commit to Minshew as the starter. He didn’t do that.

“I’m using the bye week to look at everything.” Pierce said in response to a question about the team’s starting quarterback.

This controversy at the QB position has been going on almost weekly dating back to the beginning of the offseason.

First it was Aidan O’Connell taking all the first team reps. Then by minicamp, Minshew started getting some first team reps. By camp they shared first team reps equally. It wasn’t until two weeks prior to the start of the season that Pierce named Minshew the starter. And even then, he made it clear he wasn’t confident in his choice, saying he would give Minshew the first quarter of the season and re-evaluate at that time.

Just a week after Minshew led a come-from-behind win in Baltimore, struggles at home against the Panthers had Pierce putting in O’Connell late in the game and already waffling on Minshew as the starter.

Two weeks later, he made the switch, benching Minshew in favor of O’Connell. Then in just his second start, O’Connell left with a thumb injury and Minshew was back in as the starter.

The next day the team signed Desmond Ridder off the Cardinals practice squad and Sunday, after just two weeks with the team, he was in the game for Minshew.

Now, Pierce is saying he is using the coming week to decide whether Ridder will be the team’s starter or not. And you can bet, even if Ridder isn’t named the starter this week, the question will come up every single week if Minshew struggles.

Antonio Pierce talks what went wrong with Raiders offense, what he’s looking for in new OC

Antonio Pierce had a lot to say about the many issues on the Raiders offense that led to Luke Getsy’s firing and what he wants in the new OC.

After five straight losses leading to a 2-7 record this season, the Raiders have taken drastic action. Sunday night they fired OC Luke Getsy after just nine game with the team and also let go of two other members of the offensive staff.

While as of Monday morning, Antonio Pierce was not ready to name a replacement, he did going into what he thinks went wrong that led to the firing and what he’s looking for in the next offensive play caller.

Let’s start with what went wrong.

“When I look at the last nine weeks, I just look at a bunch of things,” said Pierce. “I’ll just start with turnovers. I don’t care what team you are, who you have at quarterback, who’s your head coach, who’s your OC, you’re not going to win games when you turn the ball over at the rate we’ve been turning the ball over pretty much three times a game. Especially 13 in the last five.

“I think we’ve had enough opportunities to punch the ball in, to give our team an opportunity to win games and we haven’t done that. And that’s really a compilation of everything. That goes from play caller to the play of our players to execution to details to the confidence that we’re playing with.

“A lot of those things factor into it. Some of it is shocking. Because I think when we left training camp we felt good about this group and our team. Obviously we did get hit with injuries, but that’s no excuse because every team in the league is dealing with that as well. But I think offensively it just wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go and it didn’t look the way I wanted it to look.”

It’s honestly strange for Pierce to suggest they felt good about how the offense looked coming out of camp considering he never got what he wanted which was one of the two quarterback to step up and say ‘I’m the guy‘. He himself said he was giving Gardner Minshew the first quarter of the season to keep the job and then benched him after five games.

As to the other issues, yeah, much of that falls on the OC. The run game issues in particular, which were the reasons for the missed opportunities like happened in the loss to the Chiefs last week.

As for what he’s looking for in a new OC.

“Matching the philosophy and the idea of what I preach which is physicality, ability to run the ball, taking shots down the field, protecting the football first and foremost, disciplined up front,” Pierce added.

“We got to do what’s best and gives us the best opportunity to win. Whatever that may be. If it’s throwing the ball 60 times, fine. If it’s running it 60 times, fine. But we got to find a balance and an identity on offense going forward.”

This strikes at the heart of the complaints against Getsy’s approach. How it seemed like his decisions were based too much around trying to do what the defense didn’t expect as opposed to sticking with what worked. In consecutive games this season against the Rams and Chiefs, at the most critical times, he abandoned what was working in favor of what was not and it killed the Raiders chance of punching it in for the score.

So, the moral here seems to be that many of the Raiders issues don’t fall on Getsy and thus it seems unlikely this change is going to miraculously make things better. But enough of it was Getsy that a change needed to be made if this team is at least able to capitalize on their opportunities and not fall flat each time.

Raiders HC Antonio Pierce not ready Monday to name Luke Getsy replacement

Luke Getsy was fired as Raiders offensive coordinator Sunday night. As of Monday morning, Antonio Pierce was not ready to name a new one.

There has been plenty of speculation as to who will take the place of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who the Raiders fired Sunday night. But as of Monday morning, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce was not yet ready to name that person.

“I’ll use the next 24 to 48 hours to sit down with the staff and figure out who’s going to call the offense going forward,” Pierce said in his Monday morning conference call.

The name most mentioned as a potential replacement is pass game coordinator Scott Turner. Turner is the son of former Raiders head coach Norv Turner.

Scott was an OC in Washington for three years from 2020-22 and in Carolina for a season prior to that. So, he’s got some experience calling plays.

Pierce said the decision to fire Getsy was his and his alone. But it sounds like his decision as to who replaces Getsy will be based a lot on the input he receives from his staff. And in the process, he will also need to fill the spots of the OL coach James Cregg and QB coach Rich Scangarello who were also let go.

He will hope to have those positions filled – likely in house — this week while the players are off and before they return to practice after the bye.