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Antonio Pierce was recently named the new permanent head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Last season, he replaced Josh McDaniels, who was fired by the team after a 26-14 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 9.
The former New York Giants linebacker went 5-4 in the nine games he coached the Raiders last season, and the team improved under his guidance. Since the players wanted him back, Raiders owner Mark Davis eventually made him their permanent head coach.
Pierce recently spoke with Maxx Crosby on his 'Rush' podcast about how he prepared the team for its Week 16 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Coming into that game, Patrick Mahomes had never lost on the road to the Raiders and had a 9-1 overall record against them. However, in Week 16, the Raiders surprised everyone when they defeated the Chiefs 20-14. Mahomes committed two major turnovers and had one of the worst games of his career.
Talking about the preparations for that game Antonio Pierce said:
"I told these guys I said listen, this is our time, it's our time, enough is enough and Max knows exactly how we build up that week. what I was doing to build up that week to hate the color red. Like we saw red, we hate red, like it was on that kind of level."
"I told him there's an additional dislike and hatred, there's a hatred for the Chiefs like you got to truly dislike and hate this individual team. We’ll be cool now all offseason, we're going to shake hands but between those white lines and the grass it was on and these guys did it."
The Chiefs-Raiders rivalry has a long history, which is why Antonio Pierce wanted all current players to understand how important it is. Under his leadership, the team was finally able to defeat Mahomes in front of Raiders fans in Las Vegas, which played a significant role in Pierce landing the job this offseason.
Antonio Pierce has a very challenging task next season
The Las Vegas Raiders are coming off an 8-9 season in which they finished second in the AFC West and missed the playoffs. It is going to be very tough for Antonio Pierce to improve on that record and take the team to the playoffs.
Both the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos will be better next season and that will make the road even tougher for the Raiders. There is no surety yet on who will be the quarterback for the team as Jimmy Garoppolo is likely to be released by the team and rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell didn't show signs of being a franchise quarterback last season.
Moreover, given how stacked the AFC is with elite quarterbacks, Pierce, and the Raiders' front office quickly need to find their quarterback of the future. Nobody knows whether the Raiders will draft a quarterback, sign someone in free agency, or trade for Justin Fields, and until that happens, it's hard to envision what the team can achieve next season.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Maxx Crosby's 'Rush' and H/T Sportskeeda.
