Kudos to Antonio Pierce for giving a blunt assessment of his Las Vegas Raiders after a pathetic 3-0 loss to the visiting Minnesota Vikings.
“No, poor performance coaching. Starts with myself, starts with the coordinator, quarterback, and so on. Just bad overall,” the interim head coach said up at the podium Sunday afternoon during the postgame press conference. “The whole football program. Our whole program, everybody. Got to win, but it isn’t good enough. So, got to win.”
The Raiders coach says it like it is…
Sometimes you have to tell it like it is as a head coach, and that’s as cut and dry as a head honcho can get. There’s something refreshing about Pierce’s openness and transparency when he gets a microphone in front of him. And it’s one of his most endearing qualities as the captain of the Silver and Black.
Pierce is also not in the excuse-making business and is quick to say that any shortcoming on the team is his responsibility alone to fix, so double kudos.
But man, Pierce can also spit some eye-brow-raising stuff at the podium, too. I mean, WTF-worthy stuff.
Here’s two:
“No, I think you can look at both teams as they were looking at it, right? But for us, as we were moving the ball, there were opportunities—penalties, turnovers—for us to put points on the board. And that just wasn’t the quarterback,” said Pierce when asked if there was any inclination to move from rookie Aidan O’Connell to benched veteran Jimmy Garoppolo during Sunday’s debacle. “That’s why I said it was the offense. It’s easy to point the finger at the quarterback, and obviously we will look at that as we go forward. But we knew what we got when we put Aidan at quarterback; it was going to be some ups and downs, and this was not one of our better performances.”
Now I have no qualms with Antonio Pierce sticking with Aidan O’Connell.
During his introductory press conference after being elevated to the interim head coach role, he stated that the rookie gave the Raiders the best chance to win.
Where I have an issue is: “We were moving the ball.” The Raiders had 12 drives and generated only eight first downs. And the most yards gained was a five-play, 34-yard drive that ended in a fumble by slot receiver Hunter Renfrow. Drives one through four didn’t top 30 yards apiece and ended in punts. The fifth was a white flag-waving 26-yard drive before halftime. Then came Renfrow’s fumble on drive six. Seven through 10 resulted in punts. Then came O’Connell’s ill-timed interception on drive 11, and drive 12 was an inconsequential lateral/fumble. All those drives netted the team 170-meager yards.
Moving the ball, my ass. If that’s what Pierce truly considers moving the ball on offense, then no wonder why the team didn’t score a single point in the game. Yuck.
Here’s the second, coming from Pierce’s Monday media availability.
“Yeah, that’s something we’ve talked about each and every week since I’ve been here. I think I said that—run the ball, play action, take shots,” said Pierce when asked about how concerned he is regarding the lack of attacking downfield to stretch defenses. “I got to call it, got to throw it, and got to execute it. And that’s going to be continued as long as I’m here. We’ll talk about it, and hopefully it shows up on gameday.”
I get it. Pierce is a standoff head coach who lets his assistants do their thing. And that’s an admirable trait. He’s not going to interfere, stick his nose in areas, or muddle the process. But he is the head coach and has the ultimate say. So, when he says, “hopefully it shows on gameday,” that strikes as peculiar. As the head honcho, he’s the leader and has the ultimate veto power and ability to say what goes.
A good head coach will let his assistants do their jobs but will also step in and course-correct. They don’t stand idly by and merely watch. If Pierce isn’t keen on what interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree is calling, then by all means, be about that action.
The postseason aspiration disappeared like the Raiders offense did against the Vikings. It’s pure evaluation time, and if wins come as a result, so be it. That may hinder the draft position, of course, but the team can worry about that later.
And because of all that, Las Vegas should be coaching like they have nothing to lose—because the team doesn’t.
As great as the “got to call it, got to throw it, got to execute it” gusto is, it doesn’t mean jack if it’s merely talk. Uber-dunce Josh McDaniels was the king of coach speak, and Antonio Pierce must be wise not to be merely a quote machine with no follow-through.
*Top Photo: Darrell Craig Harris, Raiders Today