The Las Vegas Raiders were a bad football team in 2024 under Antonio Pierce. Not only did the team go on a 10-game losing streak at one point in the year and suffer some brutal defeats, but drama surrounded the organization throughout the campaign.
Owner Mark Davis made the sensible decision to move on from the first-time head coach, and he replaced him with Pete Carroll, a model of consistency and competence. Only through the first five weeks of the 2025 NFL season, however, it has been more of the same under Carroll's tutelage.
In fact, some could even argue that the turmoil of a Carroll and John Spytek-led Raiders team has been worse than that of a Pierce and Tom Telesco-led squad. It's always easier to look at things in hindsight, but some Raiders fans already feel like they owe Pierce an apology.
Pete Carroll's start has Raiders fans apologizing to Antonio Pierce
On Sunday, Las Vegas traveled up to Lucas Oil Stadium to take on the Indianapolis Colts, and they got absolutely dismantled, losing by a score of 40-6. The aftermath of the game has been even crazier, as starting linebacker Germaine Pratt was mysteriously released on Monday afternoon.
This move came as a shock to Raider Nation because Carroll and his staff were supposed to prevent drama like this from entering the building. However, it was eerily reminiscent of Christian Wilkins' departure earlier in the offseason, which has been a major blemish on the new regime as well.
When fans couple those two moves with the ongoing drama and weird circumstances surrounding Jackson Powers-Johnson's fight for playing time, Jakobi Meyer's contract situation, Raheem Mostert's being inactive, and Amari Cooper's immediate retirement upon arrival, it paints a picture of a coach losing control.
Not to mention, Carroll's lack of accountability for Geno Smith has been shocking, and second-round rookie Jack Bech has played a far too interior role to fourth-rounder Dont'e Thornton Jr. The veteran coach has shown a willingness to make adjustments, but also a pattern of poor decision-making.
Let's not rewrite history and start acting like Pierce was a great decision-maker either, as his clock management gaffs were some of the worst the league has ever seen. Plus, the Davante Adams saga wore on the team and fan base, and Michael Gallup retired under Pierce's watch, similarly to Cooper.
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But the baked-in excuse for Pierce was that he did not have the quarterback or star running back that he wanted. When he wanted Jayden Daniels, he was given Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew. When he wanted Josh Jacobs, he was given Zamir White and Alexander Mattison.
In addition to this, Pierce wanted Kliff Kingsbury as his offensive coordinator, but Davis was unable to get a deal done. Kingsbury went on to help lead the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, whereas Luke Getsy was fired during the Raiders' bye week.
By contrast, Carroll obviously has a say in the personnel, as they reunited him with Smith and brought along other former Seahawks like Jamal Adams and Stone Forsythe. Davis also forked out the big bucks for Chip Kelly, who became the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league for Las Vegas.
Once again, Pierce was a disaster for the Raiders, and while Carroll's tenure has started tumultuously, he still has a credible pedigree that indicates that he could turn things around. But for the last two decades, it seems like the organization has failed, and the pieces in it have just been collateral damage.
Pierce was scapegoated by Raider Nation and made to be the root of all of the franchise's issues. Five games of Carroll's tenure, however, tell the fan base that something stinks in the organization, no matter who is involved, and things won't change until they get to the bottom of it.
Regardless, the fan base owes Pierce an apology because they blamed him when, clearly, there is some larger organizational failure at play. Let's hope Carroll and Spytek are the ones to lead the Silver and Black out of this rut, because the fan base is starved for success and deserves it.