After what was a dreadful 2024 campaign, there has been plenty of speculation that the Las Vegas Raiders may part ways with head coach Antonio Pierce. However, as of right now, it looks like he might be staying put.
Not only did Pierce do his Monday press conference, he said that he hasn’t “been told anything different” in regard to him coming back in 2025, according to The Athletic’s Tashan Reed.
If Pierce were getting the boot, chances are he would not have taken part in the Monday presser. The team has not confirmed he is staying yet, though.
Pierce went on to say that talk about him possibly being fired is “coming from outside the building, not inside the building,” per Levi Damien of Raiders Wire.
When asked if he envisions making changes to his current coaching staff, Pierce said, “no, not as of today,” according to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez, while also saying that he liked the job interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner did because “it just looked right,” before adding he liked the way Turner took more shots downfield.
In terms of what he can do better, the Raiders head coach said he needs to go with his gut more. He also said he’s considering changing his approach at training camp, and admitted he regrets the decision at quarterback.
Finally, Pierce said he understands why Raiders fans turned on him.
“You have to win. I understand that,” Pierce said, according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “But Raider Nation is great — they showed up for all nine of our road games and were loud, and I really appreciate that.”
Pierce basically just laid out exactly why he should be fired.
We know what he was up against with injuries and a lack of talent, but one of the things thing he could control, his decision-making, was the most glaring issue, as he was wrong much more than he was right, and that hindered a team that had little room for error to begin with.
His approach at training camp was wrong. His quarterback decision was wrong. He chose the wrong offensive coordinator in Luke Getsy. He made bad in-game decisions because he didn’t go with his gut more, and now we’re expected to believe Pierce’s gut will right the ship when it failed him everywhere else.
If you were one of the many Raiders fans who wanted Pierce gone, this presser is going to leave you pulling your hair out. Las Vegas needed to make big changes after what we saw this season, and as of right now it doesn’t look like those changes are coming.
