Getty Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce.
The Las Vegas Raiders are currently enjoying a much-needed bye week. The first half of the season has been about as bad as the team could’ve imagined.
At 2-7, head coach Antonio Pierce decided to fire offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and promote offensive assistant Scott Turner to the position. Quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg were fired while Norv Turner was hired to serve as an advisor.
This is a major shift for the Raiders halfway through the season and it appears there was an important team meeting that took place, according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones
“Sources tell CBS Sports that several Raiders players, including team captain Maxx Crosby, spoke openly in a players-and-staff meeting Monday addressing what they viewed as inefficiencies and deficiencies within the organization on a week-to-week basis,” Jones wrote in a Nov. 9 column.
“The hope for everyone involved is that the talks result in some positive change for the Raiders in the second half of the season.”
The Raiders seem to have these types of meetings every season, which is never a good sign for a head coach. It remains to be seen how the team will respond to the changes and the meeting.
Not Like the Josh McDaniels Meeting
Pierce has proven himself to be a player-friendly coach. The problem with that is that it means players need to keep each other accountable.
Last season, there was an infamous meeting where players aired out their issues which led to Josh McDaniels getting fired days later. According to Jones, this wasn’t that time of meeting but there were some concerning topics addressed.
“After Monday’s coaches meeting, the team met with the staff and the floor was open for anyone to speak their mind,” Jones wrote. “According to sources present, a few themes emerged. Players had issues with the schedule not being efficient. There was a lack of organization and ‘wasting time,’ and there was a ‘lack of discipline and accountability.’
“One source described the meeting as ending ‘uncomfortably for all parties.’ But, to be sure, this meeting was nothing like one between the players and head coach from almost exactly a year ago.”
Based on this report, it doesn’t sound like Pierce has control of his locker room. He may have been leaning too heavily into being a players’ coach. The hope is that he can learn from this.
Can Raiders Turn Things Around?
Pierce has proven before that he can lead an impressive turnaround for a struggling team. Las Vegas really needed a bye week and perhaps that will be enough to work out some kinks.
However, the fact that the team is ravaged by injuries and might have the worst quarterback room in the NFL hasn’t changed. Scott Turner also doesn’t have a great track record of being a playcaller as he didn’t have a top-20 offense once when he was the Washington Commanders‘ offensive coordinator.
The Raiders’ schedule is tough the rest of the way as they only have three teams with losing records left. They do have the talent to be more competitive than they have been but it’s difficult to see them winning more than two to three more games.
