NFL insider gives Antonio Pierce & Raiders some key advice

On the "Rich Eisen Show" over the last few days, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero has gone into detail about the state of the Raiders and their head coach Antonio Pierce. He acknowledged that it can be somewhat simple being an interim coach because you essentially listen to the complaints about the previous man in charge. But, in order to be hired as a full-time head coach, there is a lot more to it than that. And in order to be a successful head coach, there are some non-negotiables.  

Pierce’s best quality

It has been said all offseason that the best thing that Pierce learned during his stint as interim coach was that he doesn’t know everything. One man cannot possibly have all the solutions for something as complex and dynamic as an NFL football team, and Pelissero acknowledged this about Pierce. He has never been a full-time head coach at anything higher than the high-school level, so Pierce won’t be an offensive or defensive playcaller or be out-scheming people but he knows exactly who to surround himself with and who to bounce ideas off of.  

Even as the interim, Pelissero pointed out that Pierce consulted with Super Bowl-winning coaches Marvin Lewis and Tom Coughlin, as well as other established former coaches in the league like Adam Gase. He also made two critical coaching moves: hiring Luke Getsy and retaining Patrick Graham. Pelissero said that after the Bears beat the Raiders in 2023, Pierce “saw what Luke Getsy was doing in that situation and liked how he was utilizing the players on the field.” Pierce may not come from an offensive background, but as a cerebral defensive coach, he knows what good offense looks like. 

As far as Graham is concerned, Pelissero believes that it is a miracle that he is still around as the Raiders defensive coordinator. He refers to Graham as “one of the smartest defensive coordinators in the entire league” and credits Pierce for convincing him to “be on board” with what the Raiders are trying to build. Pierce has undoubtedly done a great job of surrounding himself with the right people and proving that he knows a team cannot win simply through energy and toughness. 

Pelissero’s concern, however, is that Pierce will be coaching against “three of the best coaches in football history” in the AFC West. This means that six times a year, Pierce will face a team that is coached by either Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh or Sean Payton. Reid obviously deserves credit for his stints both in Philadelphia and Kansas City, but the Harbaugh and Payton hype is a bit undeserved.

Harbaugh is returning from a ten-year NFL hiatus and Payton has made only one or two successful postseason runs since his 2010 Super Bowl win. Both of these coaches have a bit more to prove before they are labeled as some of the best in history, and the Raiders' staff stacks up well against theirs, all things considered.