In a surprising comment, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce admitted he is not very worried about the Carolina Panthers before his team faces the NFC squad this Sunday.
There was optimism around the Panthers entering the 2024 season. Last year’s horrible season was chalked up to a bad head coach hiring and serious growing pains for a rookie QB. That is why the team hired quarterback guru Dave Canales to be their head coach in the offseason.
Also Read: Where do the Carolina Panthers land in our latest NFL offense rankings?
Yet, despite having the man who fixed both Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in recent years, Carolina has gotten off to a 0-2 start this season and Bryce Young has brought his struggles with him from 2023 to the new season. Things hit a low point this week when the head coach made the bold decision not to let Young work through his struggles and benched him following their loss in Week 2.
It is the latest moment in what has been a messy situation for the Carolina Panthers after firing their head coach the previous two seasons. The team’s horrible play has made them an underdog in any game until further notice. And it seems that Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce rather focus on fixing his own team’s problems than worry about anything Carolina will bring to the table this weekend.
Carolina Panthers record (2024): 0-2
“We’ve got a lot of things that we need to correct,” Pierce said during his Monday press conference (h/t Associated Press). “It was a win yesterday, but there were a lot of things in that first quarter that were ugly, in that first half that was ugly, and in that third quarter that were ugly. We’re not worried about the Panthers. We’ve got to fix the Raiders.”
Pierce probably didn’t mean to take a subtle jab at the Panthers. But it says a lot about how they are viewed around the league that the PC answer and being overly respectful didn’t even come into play. And the Raiders head coach really does not seem that concerned about the Panthers as long as his team plays better.
Also Read: Find out where the Carolina Panthers rank among the NFL stats leaders after Week 2