Supporting the Las Vegas Raiders since they relocated to Sin City has been a rollercoaster ride. Not necessarily a fun one, but the kind in which your initial rise is followed by a steep and seemingly never-ending free fall. Adrenaline junkies might like the constant chaos. Raider Nation sure doesn't.
Jon Gruden 2.0 was the franchise's future. Then it was Josh McDaniels. Hiring Antonio Pierce was like a redo for the Rich Bisaccia mishap. Then he failed too, leading the team to hire Pete Carroll, who has, unsurprisingly, been an unmitigated disaster.
It's not a stretch to say that things are worse now than they were a season ago under Pierce. Does that mean that Las Vegas shouldn't have looked to find an upgrade? Not necessarily. But fans are realizing that, while Pierce may not have been part of the solution, he certainly wasn't the problem.
Antonio Pierce is slowly being absolved of blame in Las Vegas
On Wednesday, ESPN's Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler wrote their weekly column with buzz and insights from around the league about the NFL's current happenings. Fowler noted that, while the Raiders had relatively low expectations going into the year, they felt that they could stay competitive.
However, things have not panned out in that way, and Carroll's job in Las Vegas is anything but safe. The following bit from Fowler, specifically, should make Pierce feel vindicated for how things went down with the Raiders.
"One team source acknowledged, 'It wasn't supposed to be this bad,' and that something will need to change. Whether removing Carroll is that change has not been crystallized. But the proverbial hot seat chatter doesn't appear to be going away," Fowler wrote. "As one source with knowledge of the Raiders' operation noted, what the team needs is what it thought it had with Antonio Pierce -- a high-energy first-time head coach with a high ceiling. The Raiders didn't have enough patience to find out whether Pierce (who went 4-13 in his only full season in Vegas, saddled by bad quarterback play) could mature into that. Either way, the Raiders appear to be in danger of a second consecutive one-and-done in the top leadership role."
First and foremost, the perception that Las Vegas could want an Antonio Pierce-like coach is a bit embarrassing. They had one! They literally had one in the building, and they gave up on him after one year, despite the front office clearly not being all-in on winning now. They punished Pierce for losing.
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If owner Mark Davis gives up on a young, first-time head coach for winning four games, but then turns around and gives a 74-year-old another chance for winning just two, then there is something seriously wrong in Las Vegas. But perhaps that is obvious.
Look, it's unlikely that Pierce was going to turn into the next Dan Campbell. But Campbell got another chance after finishing 3-13-1, and winning three of the last six games. Pierce got fired for going 4-13 and winning two of his last three.
As an owner, you have to be patient if you are going to hire a young coach. The other side of that coin is that if you hire a veteran, especially the oldest head coach in NFL history, he needs to bring instant success, because maybe someone born before super glue was invented can't lead a rebuild in 2025.
Pierce certainly had his share of shortcomings as a head coach, namely his poor clock management and decision-making. But he has to feel vindicated hearing that the Raiders may be in the market next year for a young, first-time head coach with high energy and a high ceiling. That sure sounds like him.
Whether this is buyer's remorse for swapping Pierce for Carroll or not is unknown. But it's hard to imagine that Pierce would have this team in a worse position than Carroll has them currently, and this report makes it sound like the Raiders know that.