It was a downright ugly affair in Week 14 for Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce and rookie signal-caller Aidan O’Connell. Has Raider Nation seen enough?
For O’Connell, it must have been one of the most embarrassing losses he’s ever been involved in. The Purdue product saw the team rally behind him following Josh McDaniels’ exit from the Raiders. Some fans had wondered if the former head coach had thrown his rookie under the bus prior to being fired. Fast forward a few weeks, and it seems some fans have made their minds up—he’ll be a solid NFL backup, but he’s not the organization’s savior.
As for Pierce, how the mighty have fallen, right? Fans will recall a jubilant locker room after a 2-0 start to his interim run. Victory cigars—remember those? Now it seems some within Raider Nation will light up a cigar once Pierce, like McDaniels, is shown the door. That sounds harsh but scoring zero points at home coming off a bye week (two weeks of preparation) is simply inexcusable. Yes, he’s a defensive coach, but, fair or not, he’s the leader.
Have Raiders fans seen enough from the young duo?
Again, the assessments sound harsh, but the NFL is a results-driven enterprise. And, as of late, there’s not much that would lead owner Mark Davis to believe either of the two is a long-term answer. With that being said, what about Raider Nation?
The biggest reason that the Las Vegas Raiders scored zero points on Sunday is ____.
— RaiderRamble.com™ (@TheRaiderRamble) December 11, 2023
Following Sunday’s action (or lack thereof), we posed the question to our readers. The recurring theme for most of our responses was that both the head coach and quarterback are most responsible for Week 14’s debacle.
What’s interesting is that neither Aidan O’Connell nor Antonio Pierce will have much time to rest their laurels. The Raiders will be playing on Thursday Night Football—perhaps a quick turnaround is what both of them need. Accept the loss, process it, and transfer it to Cincinatti. If not, Thursday could be another disaster.
*Top Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
(By Tony Brucks)
Not throwing anyone under the bus here but I am being realistic.
The offensive game plan totally sucked. The defensive game plan was superb.
The overall game plan was nill.
Aidan has advanced and progressed enough that he should of had a much better game than he had. So who is responsible for that?
Its a split blame and I call it 75% coach and 25% Aidan.
Should Aidan be taking more initiative and be more daring? Probably.
Should the play calling be more open? Hell yes.
We have ample big play makers on offense and the offense is playing like a bunch of old ladies.
You cant “execute” anything when you play like you are scared on top of playing like you dont know what you are doing.
So who gets the credit or blame for that?
We have nothing left to play for this year. So how come we are not going full throttle and having a blast doing it?
All that being said I understand full well you have to have the tools to do any job.
You dont build a house with paper mache and bubble gum.
You have to have the right materials.
You have to have the right tools.
You have to have the right person to build it.
This team is a mess offensively and has been all season! No HC will solve am ineffective OL.We need PLAYERS!
Well I think we need to go get a offensive coach asap our defense is awesome now we have what I think is our best head coach we’ve had in a long time and we have a top notch team he can work with Aiden is our guy give him a chance with Jimmy as back up we can get it done. Go Raiders
(by GTHANG)
The reason our offense is bad? Is it not obvious by now?
McDummy and co gave away our starting QB and got nothing in return. “A fireable offense in itself” according to former Patriot Teddy Bruschi.
I wonder what the offense coordinator was doing for the last two weeks. If your offensive line sucks and they can’t open up the holes for the running backs and you have an abundance of receivers. Create plays for the quarterback to create time by rolling out, screen plays to the backs, tight ends and wideouts.
We need to draft a running gunning quarterback. Reconstruct the offense line. Without blocking you’re not going anywhere.
Mark the offensive coordinator has to go!
Unless the general manager moves or shows us that he is capable of making them we can keep him. Move Antonio back to defensive coordinator and get a fresh head coach with great leadership skills.
For me this one falls more on the OC than on O’Connell or Pierce.
The vikings are known to blitz a lot and disguise coverage, 2 things a rookie is going to struggle with (and he did).
You have to lean on the run in that situation. I know Jacobs was hurt but next man up, we have other backs. Runs, simple route play action (make the reads easy for the rookie), end grounds/jets (I don’t remember any) and screens.
I haven’t lost faith in Pierce but O’Connell showed he may not even have what it takes to be a backup. That loss was embarrassing and made me long for Jimmy G to be put in.