Why the Raiders MUST Hire Antonio Pierce

As a Las Vegas Raiders fan for the past 23 years, we as a fan base and the organization have dealt with a lot of disappointment. Since losing to Tampa Bay in Super Bowl XXXVII, the Raiders have made the playoffs twice and lost in the wild card round both times. In 2021, John Gruden was fired in the middle of the season, and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia took over as head coach, which I thought was an interesting decision. Usually, it’s the offensive or defensive coordinator who takes over, but Bisaccia turned out to be perfect for the role. By all accounts, the players loved him, and they went 7-5 and made the playoffs after a very entertaining regular season. They lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round (give an assist to the officials), but I was sure Bisaccia would be hired on as the full-time head coach the following season. For some odd reason, Mark Davis decided to hire Josh McDaniels, which turned out to be a horrible decision. McDaniels is a horrible coach, who’s only been made to look good by working under Bill Belichick and having Tom Brady on his team, so to no one’s surprise, McDaniels sucked and was let go in the middle of this past season. Again, Davis made an interesting move and made linebackers coach Antonio Pierce the interim head coach, which turned out to be perfect. When McDaniels was fired, my imminent thought was that they could bring Bisaccia back, but then Pierce gave his first press conference as head coach. The man made me want to run for a wall for him, and the players seemed to feel the same way. Under Pierce, the Raiders went 5-4 and were actually in the playoff hunt until losing to the Indianapolis Colts in their second to last game of the season. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that the Raiders HAVE to hire Pierce as the full-time head coach. In his nine games as head coach, the team played better than they ever did under McDaniels. Even in their four losses, they were still competitive; their only loss by more than one score was to the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-17, but don’t forget they actually had a 14-0 lead in that game. Their only other losses were to Miami, a playoff team, the Colts who were a win against Houston away from being a playoff team, and Minnesota, who was in the playoff hunt until the last game of the season. They went into Kansas City and beat the Chiefs, which never happens, and hung 63 points on the Los Angeles Chargers, which is definitely something you don’t see every week. They played very well under Pierce and let’s not forget, the Raiders were starting a fourth-round rookie at quarterback, Aiden O’Connell. If Davis decides to let Pierce walk, I’m not going to say I won’t be a fan anymore, but I’ll be extremely disappointed. More important than that, it sounds like the players would be extremely disappointed as well, with Maxx Crosby, Devante Adams, and Josh Jacobs all expressing their support for Pierce. Pierce is what the Raiders need, and I really hope Davis realizes that as well. Please, Mark, learn from your mistake of not hiring Bisaccia and hire AP.