After finding immediate success as the interim head coach in Las Vegas, Antonio Pierce and the Raiders have since come back down to earth, dropping two consecutive games after starting 2-0 during his tenure. The Raiders are still in the mix for a Wild Card spot in the AFC, and with only five games left in the season, Antonio Pierce is looking for whatever help he can get to keep his team in playoff contention. Pierce's move: bring in a handful of former NFL coaches who know a thing or two about the postseason.

“Sources say former NFL head coaches Tom Coughlin, Marvin Lewis and Adam Gase were all at Raiders headquarters this past week, sitting in on meetings and providing input on all aspects of the football operation amid preparations for the Raiders' home game Sunday against the Vikings,” Tom Pelissero of NFL.com writes. “Since taking over for the fired Josh McDaniels on Nov. 1, Pierce has leaned on Coughlin — who coached Pierce for five seasons with the Giants, which included a victory in Super Bowl XLII — as well as Lewis, who coached Pierce in 2002 with Washington and was on staff with him for three seasons at Arizona State.”

If you're a first-time head coach, why not surround yourself with guys who have a combined 41 years of experience of head coaching experience? Coughlin has won two Super Bowl's with the New York Giants, Marvin Lewis led the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs seven times, and Adam Gase, well, Gase was once a warm human body who stood on an NFL sideline. As for what Coughlin, Lewis and Gase were providing for Pierce and the Raiders staff, Pelissero writes that “Pierce tapped their brains on everything, from scheduling to scheme to technique to officiating and more.”

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The Raiders are 5-7, and while they may be on the outside looking in, it was only two years ago that Vegas went on a furious rally in the last month of the season with interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, winning four straight games to clinch a playoff berth on the final night of the season. Will history repeat itself this year? Only time will tell.