It's hard to imagine Antonio Pierce's first season as the Las Vegas Raiders' full-time head coach going much worse. He's had a star player (Davante Adams) request a trade, the team has been ravaged by injuries, he's fired three key offensive coaches and his record is 2-7.
While nobody expected Pierce to be a brilliant game manager or to call plays, the one thing he had going for him is that he seemed to have control of the team last season as the interim head coach. Now the Raiders just seem like a huge mess.
Despite speculation that Mark Davis could fire Pierce after just one season, some insider don't believe that will be the case. Tashan Reed and Vic Tafur of The Athletic are predicting that he gets at least one more year to turn things around.
"As the Raiders’ season has gone off the rails, speculation about Pierce’s job security has intensified," Reed and Tafur wrote. "His in-game decision-making has been heavily criticized and the coaching staff hasn’t been able to find any consistent success. But owner Mark Davis isn’t itching to make his third coaching change in three years. He hoped the Raiders would be more competitive, but he knew Pierce was inexperienced and would endure growing pains."
The Raiders have arguably been the least stable franchise in the NFL from a coaching standpoint over the last decade. At a certain point, Davis needs to pick a head coach and give them the time they need to fix the team.
That said, it's diffiuclt to fully buy into Pierce. He's already proven that he's not a good CEO-type head coach. He's made poor coaching hires and some egrgious game management decisions. Davis can't double down on him just for the sake of continuity. The Raiders need to show signs of life in the second half of the season or they may need to make another change.