What was once a story of hope and belief quickly turned into one of disappointment and regret. In the end, another dark chapter of Las Vegas Raiders history is closed; what’s to follow the Antonio Pierce-saga?
After 26 games as the head coach in Sin City, including a nine-game stretch as interim, the Raiders have relieved Pierce of his head coaching duties. The search is on for a new captain; this time, they’ll be doing so without Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams.
How did Las Vegas get here?
The story of Pierce taking over as the Raiders’ head coach can be traced back to the start of the NFL’s 2022 season. Although Pierce didn’t rise to his now-former position until mid-2023, his journey truly began when the Raiders hired Josh McDaniels to steer the ship one year prior.
When McDaniels came in, the Raiders were fresh off of a 10-7 season that ended with a postseason appearance. Talent-wise, the roster was the best it had been in two entire decades. The offense housed names such as All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs and Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller, in addition to multi-time Pro Bowl quarterback Derek Carr.
Don’t forget Pro Bowl receiver Hunter Renfrow, either.
The defense had stars as well; Maxx Crosby and his partner in crime Yannick Ngakoue. Ngakoue led the team in sacks that season, hitting 10-plus in that category for the second time in his career.
To make things even better, McDaniels started off his tenure in Sin City by giving extensions to Waller, Carr, Renfrow and Crosby. If that wasn’t enough, he did what seemed impossible: McDaniels put an end to the ‘Davante Adams and Raiders’ pipedream by turning it from a dream to a reality.
Everything seemed perfect in Raider-land. And then, it wasn’t.
Chapter 1: The Josh McDaniels era
With a now-loaded roster that was set to be in place for a number of years, and the momentum of a postseason trip that transpired the year prior, big things seemed to be in store for the Raiders.
That appearance was quickly crushed, however.
Las Vegas began their ’22 campaign 0-3, heading into their Week 6 bye with a 1-5 record. At the season’s end, the team had won just six contests while losing 11.
In search of a scapegoat for the train-wreck season, McDaniels decided to move on from long-time starting quarterback Derek Carr and Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller before their new contracts kicked in that each had signed that offseason.
McDaniels was confident that parting ways with Carr was a good move due to his belief in Jimmy Garoppolo, who was slated to be a free agent in 2023. The plan was to replace Carr with Garoppolo and return to the success the team had in 2021.
That didn’t happen–at all.
Instead, 2023 turned out to be an even bigger flop than 2022 had been. So much so that McDaniels found himself out of a job eight weeks through Year 2 after signing a six-year deal with the Raiders.
When it was all said and done, McDaniels walked away with a .360% win-percentage as head coach in Sin City.
That’s where Antonio Pierce comes in, and why Josh McDaniels is so relevant to his equally-short head coaching tenure; without the unbelievably disastrous McDaniels-saga, there is no Pierce steering the ship.
Antonio Pierce takes over as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders
With a 3-5 record, in a locker room that witnessed a majority of their core players leave throughout the last two seasons, players needed a reason to believe. They needed a reason to continue fighting, and more importantly, a reason to want to continue being part of the Raiders organization.
Hope is all they wanted. Luckily for Antonio Pierce, he took over as Las Vegas’ head coach in the midst of players wanting hope.
Pierce gave them that hope–not necessarily because of who he was, but because of who he wasn’t. He wasn’t Josh McDaniels, and that was enough for players to have hope of a brighter future.
With positivity in the air as McDaniels departed, the Raiders were able to feed off of that raw emotion. Under Pierce, who served as the team’s interim head coach through nine contests, Las Vegas finished the second half of their season with a 5-4 record.
Raw emotion coupled with hope is a powerful thing. Time and time again, these ingredients prove to form a recipe that elevates people to achieve things they otherwise wouldn’t even attempt. The Raiders were yet another example, quickly turning a helpless season into one that ended in 8-9 fashion; a half-game below .500.
But what happens when that raw emotion runs dry? It’s back to reality.
Back to reality
Turning around another near-disastrous season gave Pierce quite a reputation around the NFL.
Raiders controlling-owner Mark Davis conducted interviews for the then-available general manager position with intentions to hire a general manager before a head coach. During these interviews, Davis asked each general manager which head coach they’d bring along to Sin City if hired. Every general manager who interviewed gave the same answer: Antonio Pierce.
With this knowledge, Davis felt hiring Pierce was the only answer that made sense. After all, if he didn’t, whoever was hired to be the team’s general manager would do so anyway.
And so, a head coach was chosen for the Las Vegas Raiders before a general manager was.
The players were certainly relieved. The man who they believed gave them hope was here to stay. In reality, however, it was the players who were responsible for their own hope. Any individual could’ve taken over for McDaniels, and the team would have responded the same way due to their hope for a better tomorrow.
In the end, Pierce himself proved that true.
While Pierce did in fact finish his interim season with a 5-4 record, it wasn’t a result of great coaching. In fact, one could argue Pierce himself cost the team a game or two during his first few licks as a head coach. Poor time management and lack of situational understanding, in addition to being oblivious of momentum, were things that stood out during this 5-4 streak.
As harsh as it may sound, the Raiders finished 5-4 in spite of Pierce, not because of him. Unfortunately, Las Vegas was unable to overcome those same lingering obstacles presented by Pierce in 2024. The raw emotion from the season prior had left, and it couldn’t be more obvious.
Chapter 2: Antonio Pierce, and his final dance as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders
What do you get when you combine a 10-game losing streak, being down double-digits at some point in 15-of-17 contests, and a star player downright demanding to be traded off of his childhood team? You get the 2024 Las Vegas Raiders season.
It all started in Week 3 when Davante Adams, who grew up a fan of the Raiders, was fed up with the direction of Sin City’s football team. After only three weeks of being under Piece as the full-time head coach, Adams felt he needed to start fresh somewhere else.
A 22-36 loss to the 0-2 Carolina Panthers was the nail in the coffin; specifically, how things went down that week. Although Adams didn’t outright blame his coaches for this decision, it was more than implied.
Later in the season, Adams responded to a question about potential regret of coming to the New York Jets, who hadn’t done a lot of winning since his arrival. The 32-year-old threw shade at the Raiders with his answer.
“This is not one of those teams that come in here and bullsh*t all week, and then go out there and expect to do well,” Adams replied.
As spiteful as Adams’ comment may have been, it’s plenty accurate. On top of losing 10 consecutive contests, the team constantly trailed by double-digits. In fact, there were only two games this season where the Raiders did not trail by double-digits at some point.
That’s blatantly unacceptable.
Reality hit Davante Adams quicker than it did Maxx Crosby, although Maxx started to let it sink in as well. The usual hopeful and high-energy Crosby had a different demeanor through the typical storm this year. Instead of chalking up the season as a wash and getting excited for the next, the Raiders All-Pro had doubts.
The end of another disastrous era
“There are so many things that gotta be talked about, so it’s going to be interesting,” Crosby said on his podcast, The Rush. He wants to win now; a point he made sure to emphasize.
Unfortunately, the Raiders didn’t do much winning under Antonio Pierce, even after a 5-4 start in 2023.
In the end, Pierce managed to finish with a worse win-percentage than his predecessor Josh McDaniels; even with his original 5-4 advantage. While McDaniels won only .360% of contests in Sin City, Pierce walked away victorious .346% of the time.
As such, the Raiders parted ways with Pierce on the first Tuesday on January.
The downfall of the season, aside from continuous terrible time-management skills and inept situational understanding from the head coach, can largely be attributed to quarterback play. Pierce has a hand to play in that development as well.
Heading into the 2024 offseason, Pierce was sure Aidan O’Connell was the team’s future signal caller.
“What happens and whatever we do, it has to go through Aidan O’Connell. Being honest with you, because he’s earned that right,” the now-former head coach noted.
And while Minshew went on to win the job in 2024, Pierce still had plans to move forward with O’Connell.
Last week, Pierce spoke about the 26-year-old quarterback. “I think Aidan O’Connell will be a starting NFL quarterback,” he explained.
Such confidence in his quarterback left the Raiders picking up Gardner Minshew as a plan-B instead of searching for a new plan-A. There’s no reason that should be the case in 2025.
Who will be the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders? That remains to be seen, but minority owner Tom Brady will play a major part in the hiring process.
*Top Photo: Getty Images
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