On Tuesday in Costa Mesa, the Raiders players finally got to strap the pads on and start hitting each other. Nobody was more excited about this notion, however, than head coach Antonio Pierce. He spoke with the media before things got going at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex:
Pierce's Presser
Obviously, the first question that Pierce was asked before the first padded practice began was what he expected from his team today given the change. He wasted no time displaying how excited he was for the guys to start hitting, beginning his statement with "bang, bang!" and going on to say that the team will be at full speed and he expects "a lot of clatter, a lot of chatter" and for it to be "a bloodbath in the trenches." That sounds like Raider football.
Pierce mentioned that he expected the offense to get a bit of a boost today when the pads go on because the offensive lineman can be more physical and the offense can run the ball now. Former lineman Richie Incognito spoke with the offensive line group on Monday evening and Pierce thought that they would be coming out motivated with a chip on their shoulder.
He did counter that statement a bit by saying that he still needs to see more out of the two quarterbacks currently battling for the starting job. He wants either Gardner Minshew or Aidan O'Connell to say "I'm the guy AP" and separate themselves, but neither has done so thus far in his opinion.
The main thing that the first-year head coach wanted to see on the first day of padded practice was for his squad to "set the tone" and show that they were capable of being what he called "a heavy-handed team."
His best quote, however, was when he sang the praises of safeties Tre'Von Moehrig and Marcus Epps, saying that before they came along the defensive backs were "individual contractors" but now we see "a group playing together really enjoying each others' successes." The secondary group has been a pleasant surprise in camp thus far as they are demonstrating how capable they are of making big plays this season.