Interim Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has the team playing darn good football down the stretch. Including Monday’s huge win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Vegas finds itself 4-3 under Pierce since the firing of Josh McDaniels.
How good have the Raiders been under Pierce? They head into Week 17 against the Indianapolis Colts just one game out of the final playoff spot in the AFC. Sure, it’s a long shot. But to be playing meaningful football in January is a credit to what Pierce has been able to do.
“My resume is on the grass. What do you want? I can put up a fancy presentation, I’ve seen that before. I can put up stats, I can put up my resume, but the best thing that happened for me was an opportunity,” Antonio Pierce told reporters, via USA Today.
“And at the end of the day, we got to win. And right now, my record, our record is 4-3.”
Pierce, 45, also made a pitch directly to the Raiders owner and chief decision-maker. “Hopefully, Mark Davis sees improvement and growth within our team. He sees the style and play that he wants from the Raiders,” Pierce told reporters.
Indeed. The Raiders’ culture has changed big time since Pierce replaced McDaniels. We see it on the football field, within the locker room and in the community in Southern Nevada. That culture change was needed for the downtrodden organization following the drama of the past several years.
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There are sexier names potentially out there for the Raiders to consider, including Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
But Raiders players love what Pierce has brought to the table as their interim head coach. We’re talking star players and franchise cornerstones.
“I’m definitely rooting for him. I love the guy, I love his mentality, his passion for the game is undeniable. His evolution. He’s done a great job.”
Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams on Antonio Pierce
Part of the culture is the man leading things on the sidelines. As we saw with McDaniels in his less than two seasons as the Raiders’ head coach, that can go both ways. Adams’ mentality compared to earlier in the season adds another layer to this.
Remember, it was two years ago that then-interim head coach Rich Bisaccia led the Raiders to a surprise playoff appearance after Jon Gruden resigned in disgrace. Instead of retaining Bisaccia, Davis went for the big-name hire in McDaniels. It proved to be a mistake. Will he make the same mistake again?