The Las Vegas Raiders are still recovering from the disastrous tenure of head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco. While hopes were initially high for this leadership tandem, the ceiling began to fall as soon as Week 1 of the 2024 season.
Las Vegas started the year on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers, led by Jim Harbaugh in his return to NFL coaching. With the Raiders down 16-10 with 7:20 remaining in the game and Las Vegas on the Chargers' 43-yard line, in a shocking move, Pierce elected to punt the ball away.
Of course, Los Angeles went down and scored, and the Raiders only got one more possession in the game. They ended up losing 22-10, and Pierce was widely ridiculed for his decision, which ended up being unprecedented in NFL history.
Mike Vrabel makes Antonio Pierce-like blunder in Week 1 against Raiders
Flash forward to this Sunday, and the Raiders are kicking off the Pete Carroll and John Spytek era in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season. They faced off against the New England Patriots, who are led by Mike Vrabel, also in his return to NFL coaching.
With just under five minutes left to play in the game and the Patriots down 20-10, Vrabel opted to punt despite being at midfield. Of course, the Patriots only ended up getting one more possession, and the Raiders pulled out the 20-13 victory.
In fairness to Vrabel, he was 10 yards behind Pierce on the field and was dealing with a 4th-and-10 after a false start on rookie left tackle Will Campbell. Pierce's decision to punt, by contrast, came on 4th-and-1.
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But the Raiders and their fan base were glad to be on this side of a déjá vu moment in which a coach makes a peculiar decision with the game on the line that ultimately ends up in a loss. Vrabel is a veteran coach, which makes it sting even worse for the Patriots.
Pete Carroll and his staff simply out-coached Vrabel and his, as the Silver and Black marched into Gillette Stadium on Sunday and came out with an East Coast road victory. Pierce, who had choice words for the Raiders before the game, surely watched this unfold as well.
Las Vegas will now take its 1-0 record into a Monday Night Football matchup in Week 2 against its AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers, who are also 1-0. Harbaugh is unlikely to make a similar mistake, but I suppose you never know in a tense NFL game.