The Las Vegas Raiders started their 2024 NFL season on a sour note with a 24-17 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, their AFC West rival.
Head Coach Antonio Pierce addressed the team’s struggles and areas of improvement in a detailed press conference, highlighting both the offensive and defensive issues that plagued the Raiders in their season opener.
There are legitimate excuses for the struggles of the 2023 Raider Nation offense, but there are none for what we saw on Sunday.
In the NFL, there are no moral victories. You win, or you lose. This loss will hurt for the entire season, as did the offensive debacle last season against the Minnesota Vikings.
QB Gardner Minshew said it best, “We beat ourselves.” He was 100% correct.
Below is the transcript of Coach Antonio Pierce’s press conference from Monday.
Q: Any updates on Tyree Wilson?
Coach Pierce: “I actually don’t. We were just talking about it now. He hasn’t gotten out of the medical deal with Chris Cortez and them, but last I heard, it was a knee. Hopefully, that’s a limited knee.”
Q: I know that you want a ball control offense, but do you want to see your offense be more aggressive?
Coach Pierce: “I think when you look at the offense, we look at the end result. There were a lot of plays called in the pass game that was to be aggressively thrown down the field. There are a lot of things that factor into that, protection, guys open, quarterback. All that stuff goes into play. So, when I say ball control, I want to keep our defense fresh, and I want to be able to finish games in the fourth quarter like what happened to us. A big part of our game is our identity and being physical and being stout at the line scrimmage, and that didn’t happen yesterday. Defensively, it did until the fourth quarter, and they cracked us. It was a couple fits. Again, all fixable things. But when you talk about our offense, we got playmakers. We got to get the ball into their hands. We got to protect better, and we got to make quicker decisions at the quarterback position. It all goes into play. It’s a group effort. It’s not on one individual.”
Q: The day after he was signed to the active roster, Charles Snowden got the start. Can you just talk about what you saw from him in practice that led to you making that decision? What did you see that you liked from him in the game?
Coach Pierce: “I mean, we made a 53-man roster. If we had 54, he would have been the 54th guy. He was right there. I thought he did a hell of a job in the preseason. The reason he started is obviously because of the package that he was in on. So, I don’t think that was really the big reason why he started, but he gives us a lot of flexibility. He can play SAM linebacker, he could play defensive end, a core special teams guy for us as well. So, for the limited reps he got in practice, I thought he did a pretty good job. He showed up. I wish we could take back that offsides penalty because we had a sack fumble on there. But I thought for the most part, he showed up.”
Q: What did you see on tape with Zamir White and the running game? And how can that be corrected?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, we didn’t finish. We didn’t finish up front. Running backs got to stay on track and we got run with better pad level with our backs overall. I mean, some of these tackles, we got breakthrough arm tackles. And I think just up front, we got to finish. We got to stay on our blocks. I mean, they did an outstanding job. Hats off to them. They finished blocks and finished plays, and we didn’t. And that has to start with us as coaches and the players doing it.”
Q: I know you’re waiting to hear back on the results of Tyree Wilson’s knee, but with Malcolm Koonce already on IR and Tyree possibly missing a little bit of time here, how aggressive do you guys then have to be in bringing in somebody potentially to address the depth at defensive end and edge rusher?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, we got thin real quick. [Tom] Telesco is working on that right now currently.”
Q: Brock Bowers had the second most receiving yards of any tight end so far this weekend. What were your thoughts on game one of his professional career and what he can provide moving forward?
Coach Pierce: “I thought we saw just a glimpse of what it is and what he can be. What I really was excited about was him in the run game. I thought he had some really good examples of some blocks out there on their defensive ends, 52 and 97. But again, like any rookie, it’s his first game. I think he felt like he left some yards out there as well. But it was good for him to get into the flow of the game, get his first couple catches, make some plays, move the chains for us, and again, just keep involving him into our game plan.”
Q: I know we asked about the fourth-and-one decision last night, but isit ever second guessing yourself on that decision? Or how does that kind of play out that process?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I get analytics, I get what’s been going on, but the balls at the eight-yard line. Our defense at the time had only given up 200 yards of total offense. That’s the strength of our team.”
Q: Your calling card since you got this job is discipline. Yesterday, there were some penalties. Was that more first game going out, or was it something that you had to nip in the butt?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, well, we had two penalties, which one was costly because it was on a big run. And then we had the offsides penalty, that was a sack. So, we had two penalties in the game. The thing that’s disappointing was just, obviously, the little deal down there in the end zone. And I get it, we’re protecting our teammates, but we never want to put ourselves in a position where it’s possibly ejection, fines, or suspension down the road. We don’t want to be that team, right? And, again, the history of the Raiders has always been that team, but we don’t want to have that. Our guys just got to be careful. Again, I love protecting one another and going to battle for one another, but if you throw punches or anything like that, you’re in the wrong sport.”
Q: Do you have a conversation with your players when they find themselves in a situation like Tyreek Hill?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, that’s tough. I was thinking in America today, you got to be smart, do your best to listen to what the officersays and not put yourself in that position. I don’t really know a lot of information that went into it, but I would tell our guys just be smart. It’s different times.”
Q: You mentioned that you guys had fixable issues. Does that make the loss more frustrating, or do you leave the game encouraged because you can fix the issues?
Coach Pierce: “No, it’s more frustrating. Because I thought, when you look at it, I’m just going from the offensive side of ball, we had about six or seven possessions where we’re at midfield or in plus territory, and it didn’t go the way we wanted to go. We didn’t finish. We make a big play with Brock [Bowers], incomplete pass, two sacks, right? We get a two-minute drill, and we have a fumble. We get down there, we get an explosive run, we get a holding. Then next play, we fumble. The Raiders yesterday didn’t do a good job oftaking care of the Raiders. Little self-inflicted. Obviously, give credit to them, but there’sthings that we could just clean up and do a lot better. Details matter. Details matter, right? And I thought our guys played hard, the effort, everything. They competed their asses off, but at the end of the day, they created the plays and made the plays that we didn’t.”
Q: Watching the film, were there some positives maybe you didn’t see from field level that you felt encouraged by?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, defensively, I’llstart off. I mean, we got out of the gates very fast, justlike we wanted. Patrick [Graham] called the game aggressively, we got after it, we hit the quarterback, we affected the quarterback, we pressured the quarterback. We were really good on third downs, good in the red zone. Run defense, 83-85 yards in the first half. Boom – we’re playing the kind of game we wanted. Full court defense, half-court offense with field position. Special teams, I thought we made some plays here. We did a good job on number 12 [Derius Davis], a really good returner. Thought we pinned him back, got a tackle inside the 15-yard line there. And then offensively, we’ll make an explosive play, and then there will be a negative. We couldn’t put back-to-back good plays together and that was frustrating. And again, to be honest, you want to get the run game going early. Every team in the National Football League, you watch them. Saw the Detroit Lions at the end of the night last night. The ability to run the ball, that’s critical late in ball games. And we got to do that and we got to do a good job of finishing. It starts up front with our o[1]line, starts with our coaches as well. And then I’m going to keep going to our backs, man. We got to run through contact, we got to run with low pad level, we got to run with a certain intent, and that we didn’t do that yesterday and it didn’t show up enough.”
Q: You talked about the need to stay levelheaded, and then with the fight that happened and the possible suspensions and things like that. Are you worried about hearing anything like that? Have you heard anything yet?
Coach Pierce: “That’s above my pay grade. That’s at the NFL offices now. Got to be a pro. Guys got to
