Tag: Antonio Pierce

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.

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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.

Raiders to hit ‘reset’ button during upcoming bye week

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce had a theme during his Sunday postgame remarks. It’s time to hit the “reset” button.

After Sunday’s 41-24 loss at the Cincinnati Bengals, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce hit a consistent note during his postgame remarks: It’s time for the Raiders to hit the reset button.

“Today wasn’t a good day in the office. Got the bye week to reset. Need to look at everything, and when I say everything, everything,” Pierce said.

The Raiders (2-7) didn’t wait long to slam down that reset button either. News broke late Sunday night that the Raiders had canned offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg.

Pierce had been asked in his postgame media availability following the loss to the Bengals if changes were coming.

“I’ve got to use the bye week to look at everything,” Pierce said.

That sounds about right after Las Vegas endured Cincinnati scoring on each of its first five offensive possessions and totaling 373 yards of offense. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw for a career-high tying five touchdown passes against the Raiders.

Meanwhile, offensively, the Raiders benched quarterback Gardner Minshew in favor of former Atlanta Falcon and Arizona Cardinal Desmond Ridder midway through the third quarter. That duo combined for a pair of giveaways and directed Vegas to just 217 yards of offense and 3.7 yards per play.

To Minshew and Ridder’s credit, each directed the Raiders to one touchdown drive.

Afterwards, Pierce couldn’t point his finger to anything in particular that led to things getting so out of hand.

“No. That wasn’t a good enough effort obviously. Score tells you that. It looked like that the entire game except for probably the first quarter. But again, going to have to reset over the bye week. Got enough time to sit there and really, really dive into what we can do to fix this because it can’t continue,” Pierce said.

As the Raiders enter their bye week, Las Vegas is riding a five-game losing streak. Pierce shared what his message to the team will be as the Raiders look to correct things in the season’s second half.

“Yeah, we’ve got to reset. It goes for all of us. It’s a group effort, it’s a team effort. We’ve all got to find a way to do better. We’re going to pinpoint from this game and look at a lot of things from coaches, to play calling, to players, to execution, to situations that we all can do a much better job and put ourselves in position to get into the fourth quarter and actually have a chance to win and not be always playing catchup,” Pierce said.

The Raiders return to action with a trip to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Nov. 17 with kickoff set for 10 a.m. PT and the game to be televised on CBS.

Raiders were stunned Robert Spillane returned from injury ‘we all thought he was done’

Early in the team’s loss to the Chiefs, Robert Spillane was helped off the field in what looked like a serious injury. Apparently not for him.

With the Chiefs at the goal line on their first drive, looking to score, the Raiders got what looked at the time like the worst news. Middle linebacker Robert Spillane was down on the field in pain. Then he required assistance from two trainers to help him off the field, putting no weight on his right ankle.

Spillane immediately went into the media tent, missing the ensuing play in which the Chiefs punched it in for the score. And with the prospect of the Raiders losing their leading tackler and QB of the defense, those kinds of plays figured to be even more frequent.

“I went to him right after he got out of the tent and asked him — I thought what we all thought, that he was done,” said Antonio Pierce. “he said ‘No, I’m fine. I’ll go out there.’ It was just, I think, one of those things that scared him.

That goal line snap would end up being the only snap he missed in the game and he went on to put up 12 tackles, again leading the team. And Pierce said there’s no plans to rest him for any games.

“He’s a linebacker,” Pierce added. “He’s got a lot going on. This is a contract year for him, he’s a warrior, he loves ball, he loves being a leader, he’s a captain. . . Between him and Maxx [Crosby], you can’t pull those two guys off the field. You want more players like that.”

Spillane is currently fourth in the league with 79 tackles this season. Sunday was the sixth time this season he has put up double digit sacks.

And that snap he missed was the first and only snap he’s missed all season.

Raiders still last team to beat Chiefs coming to Las Vegas Week 8

The Chiefs shouldn’t need any extra motivation this Sunday, but not losing again to the last team to beat them should do it.

It’s hard to believe, but the last time the Chiefs lost a game was Christmas last season…to the Raiders. The Chiefs have reeled off a string of 12 straight wins since then.

Now those same Chiefs come to Las Vegas to face the team that was the last to send them off the field with their heads down.

“Our team has talked about it. We’re fired up. We’re excited,” Antonio Pierce said of facing the Chiefs. But Pierce said he’s talking only about trying to end their three-game losing streak against a division foe.

As for last year, he is ready to leave it in the past, adding that his excitement “has nothing to do with last year’s game. That team is not even here this year.”

Though the Chiefs may not be ready to put that one behind them. They are known for trying to dredge up anything they can to give them extra motivation. I wouldn’t even put it past them to bring up the Kermit puppet that fan brought to training camp.

But, let’s be honest, they don’t need to do all that. It’s a division game against an old, hated rival. And they have a streak to try and keep going.

“I don’t think they need to be fired up,” said Pierce. “They know what time it is. We know what time it is. It’s time to strap it up and play it. We need to play, and we know they’re coming with their best, because they’re the best team in football for the last few years.”

We will see soon if they have a happier Halloween this year than they had Christmas last year.

Antonio Pierce discusses what Raiders expect to see from new Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins

The Chiefs have a new weapon. It’s former All Pro DeAndre Hopkins. He adds a potent weapon for the Raiders to consider in their game planning.

After the Raiders traded Davante Adams to the Jets, he played right away. So, it’s fair to expect the possibility that Chiefs newest addition at receiver could be ready to go against the Raiders this Sunday.

DeAndre Hopkins may not be the elite receiver he once was, but he was a 1000-yard receiver just last season when the Titans had some decent QB play and now he joins the best QB in football with Patrick Mahomes, so he instantly becomes a threat the Raiders and every other one of the Chiefs’ opponents have to account for the remainder of the season.

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce talked Wednesday about what he expects from Hopkins and the Chiefs Sunday.

“You kind of got to look at it twofold, right? We know they’re going to have some plays for him, get him in there and learn the playbook. But, to be honest, no disrespect to Hopkins, this offense still goes through 87 [Travis Kelce] and [Xavier] Worthy down the field vertically. So, I’m sure Andy [Reid] just as he’s done in years past when he’s made trades for certain players, he finds that role on those six or whatever many plays he has for that gentleman.

“You’re talking about a proven vet that’s been in multiple systems. It’s not going to take him a long time to learn it just to get him up to speed. Not quite sure what we’re going to get from there, but we know what their primary focus us.”

It’s true, the major threats among the receivers are Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy. Kelce is stilling riding a string of nine straight Pro Bowls while Worthy is the team’s new speed burner deep threat. But Pierce knows it only takes a handful of plays from Hopkins for him to hurt the Raiders. And his addition give them one more thing on an already long list of things to worry about.

Busters for Raiders Week 7 loss to Rams

There’s plenty of blame to go around for the Raiders’ latest ugly display. But I’m still going to try and really zero on in the worst of the worst.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for the Raiders’ latest ugly display. But I’m still going to try and really zero on in the worst of the worst.

Busters

QB Gardner Minshew

His first drive looked decent, leading the Raiders to their first score. But it went downhill after that. His second possession they went three-and-out. His next drive ended with him rolling left on third down and forcing a pass to Brock Bowers that was easily intercepted. There was no reason to even attempt that pass. Just a terrible decision on Minshew’s part. And it led to the Rams’ first TD.

In fact, Minshew would turn the ball over four times in the games. The first three led to TD’s  – two interceptions and a fumble scoop and score – and the fourth one ended the game.

Every time he got even near the red zone, things would fall apart. First time, he got to the 25 and went 0-2, second time he got to the 24 and had a false start and went 0-2, third time he got to the 23 and went 0-2, fourth time he got the ball at the 14 off a turnover and went 0-1, And the fifth time he got to the 15 and went 0-2 – completing one pass that was stopped for no gain. Yeah, that’s right, five times from the 25-yard line or closer, he didn’t complete a single pass for positive yards. Going 1-10.

T DJ Glaze

The first drive of the game ended with Glaze giving up a pressure that led to a bad pass on third down and a punt. The next drive he was flagged for holding and the Raiders were unable to make the yards back up, but in the process of trying, Aidan O’Connell injured his thumb on a rushing defender and is now on injured reserve.

His final act was to jump early on fourth and goal from the four when the Raiders needed a touchdown to have a chance to tie it up. Suddenly the fourth and goal at the four became fourth and goal at the nine.

G Jordan Meredith, C Andre James

The second score for the Rams came on defense. When Meredith failed to block Cobie Durant and he shot through to hit Minshew for the strip sack. Kam Curl picked it up and returned it for the touchdown to give the Rams a 14-3 lead in the second quarter.

The first possession of the third quarter for the Raiders ended with a three-and-out and it was led out with James giving up a run stuff.

The Nate Hobbs interception gave the Raiders the ball at the LA 14-yard-line. On first down, Minshew threw for Brock Bowers for six yards, but James was flagged for ineligible man down field to bring it back.

On the final drive for the Raiders, Meredith missed his block to give up a run stuff on third down that forced the Raiders to go for it on fourth and one. Then on first and goal from the four, James gave up a pressure, forcing Minshew to throw the ball away.

T Kolton Miller

Late in the second quarter, the Raiders drove to the Rams’ 24-yard line looking to get their first touchdown. That ended in part because Miller gave up a hit on Minshew, leading to a bad throw, so they settled for a field goal to go into the locker room down 14-6.

The Raiders were in third and five from the LA nine-yard line to begin the fourth quarter. But Miller gave up a pressure and Minshew ditched it out of bounds to preserve at least a field goal. The next drive he gave up a run stuff for a loss.

DT John Jenkins

After the Rams’ first takeaway, the first play saw Jenkins driven back nine yards on a run play that put them in scoring range. He later was seen being pushed back on another nine-yard run and on the final Rams’ possession, while they looked to run clock, he was blocked back on a 14-yard run. Jenkins finished with zero tackles or any other stat in the game.

HC Antonio Pierce, OC Luke Getsy

With a reprieve on the missed field goal (and earlier extra point), the Raiders went on what was to be their long drive to try and salvage the game. A touchdown and two-point conversion ties it. They would get all the way to the four-yard-line. Along the way they converted a fourth down with a Mattison run, followed by a nine-yard Zamir White run, and then a 12-yard end around by Tre Tucker to put them in first and goal at the four. And would get no closer.

From there, Getsy inexplicably went away from the run completely, calling three pass plays despite Minshew having been 0-7 on passes inside the 28-yard line before that. Then on fourth down, DJ Glaze was flagged for a false start and Antonio Pierce lost his nerve, opting for a field goal instead. This despite a field goal keeping them a touchdown away and giving up major field position and clock time in the process. A terrible decision by Pierce that at best made their hopes of tying or winning the game exponentially more difficult and at worst sealed the Raiders fate.

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Another crucial call by Antonio Pierce snuffs out Raiders glimmer of hope vs Rams

Even with all of the Raiders’ mistakes, they still had a shot late against the Rams. But another poor decision by Antonio Pierce killed it.

Four yards. That’s how far away the Raiders were from having a shot at tying up their game against the Rams Sunday. That in and of itself is pretty shocking considering how many mistakes and miscues the Raiders had in the game.

They turned the ball over three times in the game and each of those turnovers led to touchdowns. Meanwhile they hadn’t gotten in the end zone all day themselves.

But despite it all, they had a legitimate shot to clean the slate. They were down 20-12 which means a touchdown and a two-point conversion and they tie it up. And when the chips were down, Antonio Pierce made the wrong call, pulling the rug out from underneath them.

Three straight passes from the four probably wasn’t the wisest decision for starters. Mainly because it was the run game that was actually doing the best work for the Raiders in the game.

Two of those passes fell incomplete and the third was stopped for no gain to bring up fourth and goal at the four. And, as it should be, the Raiders went for it.

But then DJ Glaze was flagged for a false start. And suddenly Pierce had second thoughts. For some reason, scoring from nine yards versus four yards changed everything. He. then opted to have Daniel Carlson come out and kick his fifth field goal of the day.

“We had three timeouts,” said Pierce when explaining his decision. “So we figured we’d get the ball back for those guys with a minute forty or whatever it was on the clock and give our offense a chance again in the two-minute drill with no timeouts. That was the thought process.”

Having all your timeouts isn’t nearly a good enough reason to make that decision. Even if you fail, you still have your timeouts. And even with the field goal, you still need a touchdown.

When you think about it is the worst of all possible scenarios. Even worse than going for it and failing. It was simply the wrong call by Pierce. And it killed their best chance late in this game.

Best case scenario is you go for it, make it, convert the two points and tie it up. Then you’re just a defensive stop away from a chance to win it or head to overtime.

Next best case is going for it, making the touchdown, failing on the two-point conversion, getting a defensive stop, and then needing only to drive for a field goal to win it.

Next best is going for it, failing, turning it over on downs near the goal line, getting a stop, and then another chance to tie it up with decent field position.

Worst case is settling for a field goal, setting them up at their own 30 off the kickoff, getting a defensive stop, and starting your drive deep in your own territory off the punt with just over a minute with no timeouts left. That’s just what happened.

The result was the Raiders were forced to be one dimensional — the dimension that they had struggled with all day with a leaky offensive line and practice squad receivers — and the Rams easily knocked down the first two passes and picked off the third to end the game.

Let’s be clear here. This Raiders team had no business being still in this game late. They did everything in their power to be blown out. But the reality is, they were in that position. And that call on fourth down squandered their one shot to pull out an unlikely win. That falls no Pierce.

Two weeks ago in Denver, he called for a punt on fourth and two at the Denver 42. In the opener — also in LA — he went for it on fourth down at his own 41 early in the game and then late in the game, down a score, a punted on fourth and one from the Chargers’ 41. Make sense out of that. Make sense out of any of his 4th down decisions. I dare you.

And all this is to say nothing of the utter lack of discipline on this team that has had them in a steady, slow motion implosion the past three weeks. It’s one thing to shoot yourself in the foot. It’s another to have the wind taken out of your sails from a lack of aggressiveness in those times when aggressiveness is called for.