Life as an NFL coach is easier when you’re winning, especially in the rare case you’re doing so with no expectations.
Antonio Pierce made an impression last season. Taking over for Josh McDaniels, who was fired midseason during his second disastrous stint as an NFL head coach, Pierce connected with the Las Vegas Raiders players and fanbase by saying the right things, injecting some bravado and winning some games. He went from an interim to rightfully getting a shot to see what he could do with the full-time job. Raiders owner Mark Davis hired him as his permanent head coach in January.
Pierce’s first full season as a head coach is only three games old, but there have already been some questionable moments.
Pierce wouldn’t endorse quarterback Gardner Minshew II as his starter after a horrid loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. He questioned the players’ effort after the loss. His comment that some players made “business decisions” got traction in a hurry. During a fired-up news conference after the loss that was heavy on the theme that the Raiders got their behinds kicked, Pierce seemed to be at a loss for why some of the things that worked last season aren’t working again.
“Same group, for the most part, all came back,” Pierce said. “Same technique, same coaches. It’s not a different scheme. We’re going have to coach it better, be some hard asses on the guys, and guys have to take to rough coaching because we didn’t see that coming on either side of the ball.”
There’s still a lot of talk. Now it has to be followed up by substance.
The Minshew part of Pierce’s week seemed to be a sign of an inexperienced coach.
Minshew played pretty well in a Week 2 comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens, a stunning victory that kept the Raiders from an 0-3 start. Minshew wasn’t good in Week 3, but nobody on the Raiders was, including the coaches. Though there was much more talk from Pierce about the effort of the defense than there was about getting outcoached by Dave Canales and his Panthers staff.
Minshew got replaced by Aidan O’Connell late in the game, and then Pierce didn’t say Minshew was still his starter when asked on Monday.
“I think we’ve got to get with the players and just evaluate everything from yesterday first,” Pierce said.
On Tuesday, reports said the Raiders were sticking with Minshew. An ESPN.com report quoted a source saying “nothing was ever pondered” regarding a quarterback switch. Basically, Pierce left his quarterback hanging out to dry for nothing. Even if Minshew barely won the quarterback competition in preseason, treating him like that after a loss that was far from his fault isn’t a great look.
And then there was the “business decisions” line that caught fire.
The term “business decisions” refers to a player who might not go all out to make a tackle or take on a block, particularly late in a blowout. That’s what Pierce thought was going on late in the Panthers game.
“I think as the game went on — I don’t think it was the team — I think there were definitely some individuals that made business decisions,” Pierce said after the game. “And we’ll make business decisions going forward as well.”
A lack of effort is not ideal and needs to be corrected. But, like Minshew, it’s a team that played hard enough a week earlier to beat the Ravens. There’s more talk about which players might have missed a tackle late in a blowout than accountability for a coaching staff that was overwhelmed by a Panthers team that was clearly the worst in the NFL through two weeks. With the comment, Pierce also put a bright spotlight on his players and also himself, because words like that have to be backed up by action or they’re meaningless.
The priorities seem off. But everything can be a learning moment, even for a head coach. Pierce has coached only 12 games. Over the long haul, talking about “The Raider Way” and lighting victory cigars will have to be backed up with solid Xs and Os and having your team prepared to play the Panthers at home. Pierce’s ability to manage a game came under immediate scrutiny in Week 1 when he punted on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 43-yard line in the fourth quarter, a move so questionable that even the Chargers were shocked by it. Those are the moments that win and lose games in a highly competitive league, not endless platitudes about beating the Kansas City Chiefs.
Pierce isn’t off to a great start this season. He talked a lot in his postgame news conference after Sunday’s loss about getting harder on the players. The same needs to apply to him.
