Two weeks into the Raiders’ offseason and they officially have their head coach and general manager in place. The Raiders retained interim head coach Antonio Pierce and hired former Chargers longtime GM Tom Telesco to the GM job.
The two of them took to the podium Wednesday to be officially introduced and take questions from the media.
One burning question involves the next step for the Raiders now that the head coach and GM are in place. That’s what they are looking for in an offensive coordinator.
“Minimum 24 points,” Antonio Pierce said with a laugh.
Though that was a bit of a wink and a nod to the fact that the Raiders didn’t score more than 20 points over the first eight games last season with Josh McDaniels and Mick Lombardi in charge of the offense.
“I don’t think everybody’s meant to be for the Raiders,” Pierce continued. “I don’t think everybody’s meant to play for the Raiders or coach for the Raiders. I think that’s going to be something I really dig into as we go into that process.”
That process is starting immediately as the Raiders have several offensive coordinator interviews lined up this week.
Pierce mocked the assumption that he simply “wants to run the ball.”
“No, AP just wants to run a style of football. It’s the approach. It’s being a teacher. It’s being somebody that can stand in this room and the men who are looking at him like you’re looking at me that they believe in the plan and the process and they are a teacher and they can adjust on the fly. Because that’s what this game is all about.
“Style of play? I think that’s all going to vary. There’s a lot that goes into it. We know that we have some positions on our roster that we need to look at and be evaluated more. With Tom and myself as we go forward. But you know what you see in the National Football League. You’ve got to be able to run the football, play action pass, and what are the Raiders known for? The vertical passing game. So, we want to see the shots down the field. We want the explosive plays. So, that has to be a part of it. The creativity — the shifts, the motions — all that stuff goes into it.”
Then it was Telesco’s turn to answer. He first said “I’ll just go with his answer.” Then he elaborated. Sort of.
“One thing I talked about in the interview is you want to have an identity,” said Telesco. “The Raiders have an identity on offense. It’s speed and get the ball downfield. So, that’s definitely going to be a part of that. But there’s more that goes along with that. We have to run the ball when we have to run it and play action pass, but we’ll find the right offensive coordinator that’s going to fit this team.”
It sounds a lot like the style of play will be largely dependent upon what they hear from the OC’s they speak with along with the strengths of the team.
The most telling statements came from Pierce which were 1. Ability to get players to buy in. 2. Style will vary based on players on the field. And 3. Ability to adjust on the fly.
Last season they were unable to do a lot of what they wanted to do because they simply didn’t have the talent at quarterback to get it done. First with Jimmy Garoppolo and then with Aidan O’Connell.
So, obviously getting a talented quarterback in there will go a long way.
