Raiders coach Antonio Pierce used strong language Monday morning to describe the team’s performance in the first half of the season. After taking a week to reflect on what went wrong, he’s now focused on finding hope for the team in their final eight games.
Part of this effort began on Sunday night when Pierce decided to fire offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello, and offensive line coach James Cregg. Pierce said he would take a day or two to figure out who would take over these responsibilities moving forward.
Las Vegas found itself in a similar position last year when owner Mark Davis fired coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler after a 3-5 start and a 26-14 loss to Detroit in a Monday night game.
Pierce was named interim coach, and the team went 5-4 over the rest of the season, bringing new energy to the organization and earning him the full-time role. Now, the Raiders are 2-7, on a five-game losing streak, and coming off a 41-24 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday.
“It’s kind of ironic that I took over around this time last year and we played better football at the end of the season,” Pierce said.
“I’ve got to find a way to get that back into these guys, starting with our staff and our players, and make sure that we get back in this building next week, we’re energized, we’re focused, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to get a win in Miami.”
The question is how much can really be done to improve this team.
There is no clear franchise quarterback, and Pierce said he’s considering moving on from Gardner Minshew to give Desmond Ridder a chance. Neither quarterback is the long-term solution, and neither is Aidan O’Connell, who is expected to return in about a month after recovering from a broken thumb.
The Raiders’ running game is the worst in the NFL, averaging only 76.9 yards per game. They also don’t have a true No. 1 receiver, and the offensive line has been hit hard by injuries.
On defense, the Raiders have struggled too. They were hoping their defense would at least keep them competitive, but it has allowed 27.9 points per game, ranking just ahead of Jacksonville, Dallas, and Carolina — teams that have a combined record of 7-19.
This brings up another question: Should the team even try to make something of the rest of the season?
Losing more games would give the Raiders a higher draft pick, which could help them land a franchise quarterback. The front office might decide to focus more on building for the future than on trying to win right now.
That approach wouldn’t help Pierce’s job security, however, so he hopes the changes he made after the loss to the Bengals will help set the team on a path to success. With a week off before facing the Dolphins, Pierce has extra time to think about how he wants to make that happen.
“The timing does work out for the decisions that I made going forward,” Pierce said. “But it wasn’t like I was going into each and every week thinking about making decisions. Had confidence in Luke that we would get it turned around and once I felt like we needed to make a change, I did.”
