10-game losing streaks and several blowout losses are generally obvious signs that an NFL team’s head coach isn’t the answer. As both of those things have happened during the Las Vegas Raiders‘ ’24 campaign, Antonio Pierce is at risk of losing his head coaching job in Sin City once this season concludes.
With a 2-12 record through 15 weeks, the Silver and Black’s 2024 season is already all but over. Fans have become more interested in the 2025 NFL Draft than the remaining three contests on the schedule. Pierce, who was hired this past offseason to galvanize the Raiders’ locker room and be a leader of men, has done nothing of the sort.
In the meanwhile, Pierce has demonstrated an abundance of reasons why the Raiders are better off going in another direction heading into their ’25 campaign.
While star players on the roster such as Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby initially pounded the table for Pierce to be hired as the team’s full-time head coach, that same table has since gone untouched. Adams, who’s now a member of the New York Jets, asked to be traded off of his childhood team three weeks into experiencing a non-interim head coach version of Pierce during the regular season.
In early December, Adams, on a struggling Jets team, was asked if he regretted his decision to leave Las Vegas. Instead of answering with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, Adams reflected on his time under Pierce to serve as his answer.
“This team is not one of the teams that come in here and bullsh*t all week then go out there and expect to do well,” Adams said of the Jets following their fourth straight loss.
That’s just one example as to why Pierce isn’t the answer for the Raiders moving forward.
Antonio Pierce isn’t the right head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders: Here’s why
Unsuccessful coaching decisions
Originally, Pierce planned for Kliff Kingsbury to take on offensive coordinator duties in Las Vegas. However, despite Kingsbury initially agreeing to come aboard, that plan did not come to fruition.
With Kingsbury withdrawing his name from the job, Pierce pivoted towards Luke Getsy.
Regardless of the reason why, Getsy was unable to make the Raiders an offensive threat of any kind. This led to a coaching change after only nine weeks.
On the heels of a five-game losing streak, it was time to shoulder the blame on someone. Pierce decided the coaches who would take the fall would be those on the offensive side of the ball. That included the quarterbacks coach, offensive line coach, and offensive coordinator.
Although there was a change in coaching, there was no change in the lack of offensive success. The unit has become even less successful, in fact. In their five contests since making those coaching changes, not one has yielded 20-plus points for the Raiders.
Since Week 10, Las Vegas has averaged 15.4 points per contest. No week has gone by where the team scored more than they did the week prior during this timeframe.
Pierce has found less success than Josh McDaniels as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders
Antonio Pierce came to be the Raiders’ [interim] head coach after his predecessor Josh McDaniels was canned eight weeks into the team’s ’23 campaign.
McDaniels was given a six-year deal to be Sin City’s head coach starting in 2022. He would hold this position for only 25 contests.
During McDaniels’ tenure, the Silver and black had a record of 9-16, winning only .360% of games played. Six of those nine wins came in 2022, one year after Las Vegas finished with a 10-7 record and a playoff appearance under different coaches.
And yet, as bad as those numbers are, they stand superior to Pierce’s.
Pierce, who’s now served as the Raiders’ head coach through 23 contests, has led Las Vegas to an overall record of 7-16. This equates to a win-percentage of .304%.
That percentage is made worse by the .556% win-percentage Pierce had entering the 2024 season. To have a better percentage of wins than McDaniels did in Las Vegas, all Pierce had to do was not drop at least 12 contests through 15 weeks. While that may seem like a simple enough task, it was one Pierce was unable to accomplish.
Even with a defense that has held their own through most of the season, and playmakers such as Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers on offense. Davante Adams, too; until he was fed up with how things were being handled in Las Vegas, that is.
Should Pierce get the ax, Bowers, Meyers, and several defensive players such as Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins and Jakorian Bennett make the Raiders an attractive job for anybody looking for a head coaching gig. On top of that, Las Vegas is currently projected to have the second-most cap space this summer with $111.6 million. They’ll pick high in the 2025 NFL Draft, too.
Antonio Pierce has horrible game-management skills
Time and time again, it seems Pierce is constantly making poor game-management decisions. These decisions have single-handedly cost the Raiders more than one game this season.
Whether it’s relative to time management or on-the-field decision making, Pierce has come up short since taking over halfway through the ’23 season.
Games against the Kansas City Chiefs this year serve as a perfect example.
During Las Vegas’ Week 8 meeting with the Chiefs, Sin City kept putting themselves in a perfect position to walk away as the first team to beat Kansas City this season. However, Pierce’s terrible time-management skills practically single-handedly prevented that from happening.
Towards the end of the first half, Pierce’s squad got the ball back with just under two minutes remaining. Instead of trying to do something with the football, Pierce thought it best to take time off of the clock and head into the half. This decision gave the Chiefs got the ball with just over one minute left. Unsurprisingly, Patrick Mahomes was able to capitalize by adding three points before the half reached its end.
At the end of the second half, the Raiders scored a touchdown on the ride side of the two-minute warning to make it a one-possession ballgame. However, Las Vegas had no choice but to concede due to Pierce using all three of his timeouts long before. Once Kansas City got the ball again, they simply kneeled three times to end the contest.
In the second meeting against the Chiefs, Pierce displayed a new level of poor situational understanding. The Raiders had the ball at Kansas City’s 32-yardline, ready to kick a potential game-winning field goal. Instead, Pierce elected to call another offensive play. This resulted in a fumble that the Chiefs recovered for a Kansas City win.
The bottom line
Experience has not changed Pierce’s ability to make the correct decisions. At some point he must be held accountable for this disastrous season, considering he’s played a large part in that. It is unacceptable to be outcoached by other teams consistently.
If the Raiders want to be a threat in the future, they’ll need a coach with game-management skills. Or, at the very least, a coach who displays some qualities that you can invest in. To this point, Antonio Pierce has failed to show any investible qualities.
*Top Photo: Las Vegas Sun
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