On Sunday, the Raiders let one get away. On the road against a division opponent, Vegas was unable to overcome a slew of self-inflicted errors, including, but not limited to, multiple fumbles and some poor offensive productivity. It was the type of disappointing Raiders loss that fans had come to expect, but in a strange way, the outcome was actually surprising. The Raiders won’t have many chances to win divisional away games, so Sunday’s setback is likely to sting much more than normal.
If the loss doesn’t hurt, Antonio Pierce’s explanation for That Moment will. If you were out in Vegas doing Vegas things and missed a football game in the middle of the day, here’s a quick recap: Pierce made perhaps the most cowardly punting choice in the last quarter century. I’m not kidding; there’s almost no precedent for his decision to punt with six points down on the Chargers’ half of the field. If you think you were angry, just wait till you hear his reason! This is shaping out to be a really enjoyable blog.
Antonio Pierce’s conservative game plan lost the Raiders a win in Week One.
“I mean, we got what we wanted, and we backed them up,” he remarked after the game. “But they broke off a single run, and that was the end of it… We considered going for it because it was a long one [yard]. We had a stop earlier in the game, gained momentum, and the punter did an excellent job of pinning those guys back…”
I mean, what were we expecting? It is not common for NFL coaches to get on the platform immediately following a loss and lament how many bad decisions they made. Pierce isn’t exactly incorrect either; Raiders punter AJ Cole did pin the Chargers on their own eight-yard line, and the Raiders defence had kept the Chargers to 15 points before to that point. By all accounts, it was the wrong decision, but you can understand what he was thinking.
Pierce’s cautious playcalling was pushed under the rug during his interim stay last year, largely because anything was preferable to Josh McDaniels. However, since taking over for McDaniels, he has been one of the most conservative coaches in the NFL, which will be an interesting wrinkle to watch during the season. A conservative coach and Gardner Minshew are a match made in Heaven, assuming Heaven is a city with a six-win football team.
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