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It has taken less than a week for interim Raiders coach Antonio Pierce to completely overhaul the team’s culture—or lack thereof—left behind by one-and-a-half years of recently fired Raiders coach Josh McDaniels. And Pierce did something that most fans did not notice in the Week 9 win over the Giants, something about which he disagreed with McDaniels during his time on the ex-coach’s staff.
Josh McDaniels did not have the Raiders practice squad on the sidelines on game days. Pierce did. “That was not my belief,” Pierce said.
“They got a Raiders uniform. Those guys bust their tails,” Pierce said this week in his press conference. “Last week it was two days (in practice), this week it will be three days. They’re giving us looks on offense, defense, special teams. They’re working out in the morning, they’re in the meetings, they’re doing everything about it. But then on game day, where are they? I don’t know.”
Huge Raiders Josh McDaniels-Antonio Pierce Change
That might seem a minor change but it is symbolic of the major change in the Raiders franchise since going from Josh McDaniels to Antonio Pierce.
After weeks of player complaints, frustration and general malaise around the team and its direction, the Raiders fired McDaniels last week and, along with that overhaul, also moved starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the bench. Rookie Aidan O’Connell started on Sunday in the dominating 30-6 victory.
Raiders players certainly felt a shift in the team’s attitude.
“We’ve got a new leader right now,” star receiver Davante Adams said after the Week 9 win, per Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “And it’s somebody that we can get behind and somebody that played the game. So it makes it a lot easier for us to connect with him, because he understands the mind of a player and he’s done a really good job just making sure we understand that it’s not about him — it’s about this team.:
Pierce’s former coach, Tom Coughlin, when he was with the Giants is not surprised by the enthusiasm Pierce brought and the way it has affected the team.
“He is a ball of energy and a guy that loves football and is always prepared,” former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin told The Athletic. “He has a little swagger about him. And he is always smiling, I don’t know if he has ever had a bad day on the football field.”
Practice Squad Change Here to Stay for Raiders
As for the change with the practice squad, don’t be surprised to see that continue throughout the season. It made the sideline a bit more scattered than it’s been in the past, but Pierce said the change it worth a little extra chaos.
“I have been in other places as a coach, whether it was high school or college, every man’s in there. You’re on the team, you’re part of the team, you’re in there on gameday,” Pierce said. I just felt the way we practice those two days and what we ask them to do, they deserve to be on our sideline. They earned that right.”
Pierce wants everyone involved with the team to have a stake in its success, and wants to motivate players on the practice unit to work harder and earn a promotion.
“I hope they don’t stay on our practice squad,” he said. “I hope they push themselves to be on the active roster. And that was the carrot I dangled in front of them, and they brought energy on the sidelines. It was a little busier than we used to, than I am used to. But you know what? I’ll take it when they bring that kind of juice like they did.”
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