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There have been rumors aplenty about Josh McDaniels‘ final days as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders but one that gained popularity came from Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer on November 5. He reported that during a heated team meeting, Antonio Pierce, who was the linebackers coach at the time, spoke about how his 2007 New York Giants team was able to win a Super Bowl by always believing they could win.
The problem is that Giants team beat McDaniels’ New England Patriots team in the Super Bowl that year. According to Glazer, McDaniels called out Pierce and told him to not bring up the Patriots anymore, which played a role in the coach getting fired. However, that may not be how it actually went down.
Defensive end Maxx Crosby refuted Glazer’s report.
“I don’t know where that came from or where [Glazer] heard that. … [McDaniels] didn’t stand up and like [say] ‘AP, you can’t talk about the Patriots.’ That’s false,” Crosby said on the November 7 episode of the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast.
Now, it’s possible that McDaniels pulled Pierce to the side and told him not to bring up the Patriots. That’s something Crosby wouldn’t have been party to but it doesn’t appear that McDaniels made it an issue in front of the players.
Antonio Pierce Wants Mentally Tough Team
Nobody has denied that Josh McDaniels is a smart coach when it comes to calling plays and running an offense. However, being a head coach requires a lot more. Antonio Pierce isn’t calling plays but he led the Raiders to their best performance of the season in Week 9 30-6 win over the Giants.
Pierce believes that the mental toughness he brings plays a role in getting the team ready to play.
“Every team is a reflection of (its) head coach,” Pierce said during his November 6 press conference. “So, if you’re not mentally tough — that’s what I pride myself on, that was my way as a player, to have that kind of mindset not to blink, not to worry about anything. And I just wanted to start that process with the gentlemen. They bought into it.”
It takes more for a team to win than being mentally tough but the Raiders do have talent. For whatever reason, McDaniels didn’t know how to push the right buttons.
Tom Coughlin Praises Antonio Pierce
Antonio Pierce spent much of his career being coached by Tom Coughlin, who won two Super Bowls as a head coach. Coughlin knows Pierce well and had a lot of praise for the former linebacker now that he’s getting a chance at the head job.
“He has outstanding leadership skills and because of the work that he puts in, people will follow him,” Coughlin told The Athletic’s Vic Tafur and Tash Reed in a November 8 interview. “He believes that if you study enough and play hard enough, you can win no matter who you are playing, and that’s the mentality you have to have at the pro level.”
“Players like him because he says it like it is,” Coughlin continued. “He doesn’t mince any words. And he will help them be the very best that they can be.”
It still remains to be seen if Pierce has what it takes to be a head coach but he’s off to a strong start.
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