Antonio Pierce gave the Las Vegas Raiders a boost after becoming the team’s new [interim] head coach. So much so that Rich Gannon notes the 45-year-old should get more credit for how he helped the team navigate the coaching change while preparing for a game.
Behind the scenes, Pierce had to convince the team to buy into his message; something that’s not an easy task. A coaching change doesn’t guarantee a turnaround. Oftentimes, the entire situation can get out of hand, and a team spirals further out of control.
Rich Gannon: Antonio Pierce had the Raiders ‘ready to play’
There were so many moving parts last week that, for the regular fan, it can get lost in the juggling what Pierce needed to do after he was named interim head coach. The Super Bowl champion named a new starting quarterback in Las Vegas and had the pressure of needing to beat the New York Giants to save their season.
“Congratulations to Antonio Pierce and that whole operation,” Gannon recently said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “I mean, he had this team ready to play. I think there’s a lot of week of adversity. They fire their head coach, their general manager, [and] the offensive coordinator. [Then] they replaced the starting quarterback with a rookie, Aidan O’Connell.”
Every playoff team faces adversity at some point in the season. Las Vegas did so in 2021 when Jon Gruden resigned and Rich Bisaccia took over as interim head coach. Luckily for the Raiders, Bisaccia guided the team to the postseason.
Pierce will look to replicate that same story for the Silver and Black. Nonetheless, that task won’t be easy. The Raiders are nearly at the end of the easier part of their schedule. Mark Davis, the team’s controlling owner, might have given Pierce and Co. a fighting chance to turn their season around.
A challenging schedule awaits the Las Vegas and Antonio Pierce
If the Raiders can secure back-to-back wins to start the Pierce-era, it will generate much-needed confidence. The squad will need all of that, considering what lies ahead.
After the game against the New York Jets, which is an opportunity to get to .500, Las Vegas gets the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. Additionally, the Silver and Black get the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Chargers, leading into their second game against the Chiefs.
Gannon explains that the win over the Giants was crucial now that the road to a potential playoff berth gets complicated following the Jets game.
“That was a much-needed win for the Raiders,” Gannon added. “I’m anxious to see them keep it going because the schedule doesn’t get any easier. But really happy and impressed by the way this team took a punch last week and rallied around Antonio Pierce, rallied around the rookie quarterback, and really went out and put a hurting on the New York Giants.”
Las Vegas will play a struggling Jets offense under Zach Wilson, who could be the perfect confidence booster for the Raiders’ defense. They’ll need all that and more when taking on both the Dolphins’ offense and Patrick Mahomes.
*Top Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images