It was looking like Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce could be one-and-done during the team’s 10-game losing streak in the middle of the season. However, they have now won back-to-back games and Pierce might have new life.
A win against a 10-6 Los Angeles Chargers team at home in Week 18 might be enough for him to keep the job. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, a lot of the rumors about the Raiders moving on from Pierce aren’t actually coming from direct Raiders sources.
“I know a lot of folks think that it’s a foregone conclusion that they’re gonna make a coaching change, but those folks are on the outside,” Garafolo said on Sunday’s “NFL Gameday.” “On the inside of the building, it sounds like there’s a lot of optimism that Antonio Pierce will continue as the head coach of the Raiders.”
While the Raiders are happy to be winning, they’ve gone from having the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to dropping to No. 8, per Tankathon. Garafolo is reporting that owner Mark Davis doesn’t care and actually had a strong message for Pierce amid the team’s losing season.
“Owner Mark Davis charged him with winning down the stretch, said, ‘Don’t even worry about draft position, nothing like that, just win, baby, one might even say,” Garafolo added.
A 5-12 or 4-13 season is hardly winning many games but ending the season on a three-game losing streak could show Davis that the team is headed in the right direction.
What Could Get Antonio Pierce Fired?
The one thing that Pierce absolutely cannot let happen is the Raiders get blown out at home in the last game of the season. The team has done a good job of not getting embarrassed this season even when they’ve lost.
Pierce might even be able to keep his job if the Raiders have a close loss to the Chargers. It would show that even though the team lacks talent, they are still playing hard for the coach. A blowout loss would show that the team is headed in the wrong direction.
The Chargers are also a divisional rival whose fan base doesn’t travel that well. The Raiders should have a strong home-field advantage. Getting embarrassed by a hated rival at home might be too much for Pierce to overcome.
Should Raiders Retain Pierce?
Pierce hasn’t had much to work with this season. The Raiders didn’t give him a strong quarterback room and the team has been ravaged by injury. Had the team signed a quarterback like Sam Darnold instead of Gardner Minshew and didn’t lose Malcolm Koonce, Christian Wilkins and Maxx Crosby for the season, perhaps they would’ve won a lot more games.
However, Davis can’t ignore Pierce’s obvious game management struggles and the fact that he put together a very bad offensive coaching staff that he had to shake up in the middle of the season. It’s difficult to see the upside with Pierce. He doesn’t have much coaching experience and wouldn’t have been a head coach had he not had a chance to perform in the interim role last season. With strong options like Mike Vrabel available, the Raiders need to strongly consider making a change.
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