It's been the mystery of the Raiders season.
After Las Vegas' disastrous Week 3 home opener loss to the Panthers – who were, at the time, the worst team in football – emotions were high. The Raiders had just come back from beating Baltimore on the road, and it looked like they were turning into a team that was going to surprise some people in late December/early January. Garder Minshew was slingin' it, the defense looked like one of the NFL's best, and the Panthers had just benched their starting quarterback.
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Then *Andy Dalton* went into Vegas and put up over 300 passing yards and three touchdowns, and the first True Panic of this Raiders season officially began. After the game, Antonio Pierce made headlines for saying that Raiders players 'made business decisions' toward the end of the game, and that the team would be making some business decisions of their own in return. It was all very doom and gloom.
Fans spent the next week watching the tape and trying to figure out who, exactly, Pierce was talking about. It didn't take long for everyone to form their theories, and after Sunday's win against the Browns, Pierce all-but confirmed that they were right the whole time.
Pierce confirms that Jack Jones was benched for the 1st quarter of Week 4's game
#Raiders coach Antonio Pierce, on CB Jack Jones sitting 1st quarter: "Yeah, that was my decision. That’s between me and Jack.”
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) September 30, 2024
Jones:"That’s ball. I mean, if I'm not up, I'm not up. If I'm up, I’ve got to play...that's something you got to talk to AP about, man. I'm the player.”
Well there ya have it! It does make Jones' original denial a little awkward, although I guess it's not surprising considering he deleted all his tweets later that evening. The Raiders-Panthers tape shows quite a bit of unflattering Las Vegas football, though the clips of Jones pulling up on tackles late in the game are especially obvious. And quite frankly, if the Raiders' 'business decision' was only sitting a starter for one quarter of one game this year, that's not too bad. Maybe there was a hefty behind-the-scenes fine or something, but Pierce's original comments made it sound like the team was keeping all options on the table.
Jones played pretty much throughout the rest of the game – he ended with 39 snaps, which was middle of the pack on defense – so it seems like the Business Decision Saga has officially come to an end. Truly amazing what winning one (1) NFL game can do for the vibes. Bring back the end of practice dance-offs!