NFL Rumors: Raiders HC Antonio Pierce in "hot seat" after depressing start to season, claims insider
Coach Antonio Pierce and his Las Vegas Raiders have endured a tough campaign. They are 2-7 through Week 9 with virtually no chance of making the playoffs. They are one of nine teams in the league with two wins heading into Week 10, but Pierce is reportedly the coach under most pressure to turn the season around or risk getting axed at the end of the year.
The Outkick's NFL insider Armando Salguero believes that Pierce, who's in his first full year as the Raiders' coach after taking over from Josh McDaniels in October last year, is on the hot seat. In his column, Salguero wrote:
"I cannot guarantee the Raiders will stick with Antonio Pierce after the season. ... You know what happens after the season if the team doesn't play better the next two months?
"Owner Mark Davis will want answers, as is his right...Does he have an epiphany about patience and stay the course with Pierce in January 2025? I don't anyone can say for certain."
Pierce is desperately trying to turn the campaign around and make bold decisions on trade deadline day to salvage the season and save his job.
Antonio Pierce fired multiple coaches after 2-7 start
While teams were busy addressing positional needs, the Raiders coach made different kinds of moves and fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg, and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello following their 41-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
He promoted pass game coordinator Scott Turner to interim offensive coordinator and also brought in his father and former Raiders coach Norv Turner as senior advisor to help turn the tide of their dwindling season.
Explaining why he made changes to his coaching staff midway through the season during his media availability on Monday, Pierce said:
“It just became apparent that obviously we weren’t doing enough as a staff and as a team to overcome our mistakes and downfalls.”
The coach is also part of the problem. He has fielded three different quarterbacks this season, and his inability to commit to a signal-caller has hurt the offense, which ranks 26th in the league in points per game, with 18.7.
Antonio Pierce is hoping his decision to swap coaches will flip the franchise's fortunes or he could be the next coach on his way out of Las Vegas.