On Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders will play host to the New York Giants inside of Allegiant Stadium, this after two straight road losses to NFC North teams. After the Monday night loss against the Detroit Lions, team owner Mark Davis cleaned house, getting rid of his head coach, general manager, and offensive coordinator.
Now, a new era will begin for the Raiders, and sitting at 3-5 going into this matchup, they need to get this season back on track in a hurry. Here, we look at some key storylines to keep an eye on in this matchup.
Raiders vs Giants 2023 Week 9: 3 key storylines to watch
Antonio Pierce makes his head coaching debut
As we stated earlier, the Raiders moved on from Josh McDaniels after the embarrassing loss on Monday night, and will now turn to linebackers coach Antonio Pierce to be their interim head coach the rest of the season. Pierce is no stranger to the New York Giants, as he played many years with the franchise, and won a Super Bowl for the G-Men, so this is a special team for him to be making his head coaching debut against.
Aidan O'Connell gets the keys to the offense
The Raiders also made a huge decision this week in terms of the quarterback position, as Pierce is opting to go with rookie Aidan O'Connell over Jimmy Garoppolo the rest of the way. This is a move that Raider Nation has been clamoring for, and now, the rookie will get a chance to make his second NFL start against a very good Giants defense in Week 9.
Raiders defense must continue their strong play
Despite what people may think, this Raiders defense is actually carrying the team this season, and they continued to bail out the offense time and time again on Monday night. That will be a key on Sunday against a Giants offense that has struggled in a big way this season, but is getting Daniel Jones back at quarterback.