NFL head coaches often wait to give honest assessments of their teams until after reviewing game footage, but Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce didn’t need to watch the tape to recognize the disappointing performance during Sunday’s surprising 36-22 loss to the previously winless Carolina Panthers at Allegiant Stadium.
Pierce noticed a lack of effort from his players and openly addressed it in his postgame press conference, agreeing with a reporter who pointed out the team’s uninspired performance against a desperate Panthers squad.
“As the game went on, I think there were definitely some individuals that made business decisions,” Pierce stated. “And we’ll make business decisions going forward as well.”
His critical remarks lingered after the game, prompting speculation on social media about which players he was referencing, though the team’s overall poor performance left no clear suspects.
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Coming off a morale-boosting 26-23 win against the Baltimore Ravens, the Raiders, favored by 5.5 points, struggled against Carolina. The defense allowed 319 passing yards and three touchdowns from 36-year-old quarterback Andy Dalton, while the offense managed only 55 rushing yards despite an early focus on the run game.
“It was a bad day for the Raiders,” Pierce remarked.
To address the issues, Pierce plans to implement a week of tough love and traditional practices.
“We got our ass whooped. We need to put the pads on—get back on the sled,” he said. “It’s the same group that mostly returned, so we need to coach them better. Some guys need to toughen up and be ready for hard coaching because we didn’t see this coming on either side of the ball. We had opportunities to run the ball but just didn’t execute. I would’ve booed us too.”
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