Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis made a bold move firing head coach Josh McDaniels after an embarrassing Week 8 Monday Night Football loss to the Detroit Lions. He installed assistant coach Antonio Pierce as the Raiders interim head coach, and the team is now on a two-game winning streak. Pierce has impressed Davis with his leadership thus far, which may prevent the owner from making the same mistake he made two years ago.
After letting Jon Gruden go following his email scandal in 2021, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia took over, went 7-5, and made the playoffs. Still, Davis let him go and hired Josh McDaniels, which was an unmitigated 9-16 disaster.
Antonio Pierce has a chance to become Raiders' full-time coach
Now, Davis has the chance to possibly get it right this time with a Raiders interim coach, and while he hasn’t revealed Pierce’s chances yet, things sound like they’re going well.
“While Davis has not specifically stated what interim coach Antonio Pierce needs to do for the full-time job to be his for the 2024 season and beyond, sources say Davis has noticed the energy in the building that Pierce brought when he was elevated following McDaniels' firing on Oct. 31,” NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport wrote on Sunday. “While pleasantly surprised in how the team has responded with back-to-back wins, Davis is said to be impressed, sources say.”
Hopefully, Pierce has impressed Davis enough with his first two wins to get a little grace period moving forward. The Raiders do have two wins, but they are against the New York Giants and New York Jets, two of the worst teams in the league.
In Week 11, the Raiders face the Miami Dolphins, one of the best teams in the AFC. There is no shame in losing to the Dolphins, but if they do, Pierce has to hope Mark Davis continues to evaluate him on the energy in the building and not just wins and losses.
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