Things aren’t going according to plan for the Silver & Black.
The Raiders (2-7) are in the midst of their bye week and in the midst of a five-game losing streak. With Las Vegas mired in this current five-game slump, the Raiders didn’t wait around to make changes.
The Raiders announced on Sunday night that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach James Cregg had been fired. All three were in their first seasons with Las Vegas.
On Tuesday, the Raiders announced a series of moves. Former Raiders head coach Norv Turner joined the team as a senior advisor.
Meanwhile, Norv’s son, Scott Turner, was elevated from passing game coordinator to interim offensive coordinator in place of Getsy.
Lastly, Joe Philbin—another former NFL head coach with the Miami Dolphins—steps into the role of interim offensive line coach. Philbin was previously serving as a senior offensive assistant for the Raiders.
With all of that change and general unrest circling the Raiders, some have begun to speculate on the future of first-year Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce.
Is he going to survive a season that at least for the moment has flown off the tracks?
The Athletic’s Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed addressed that very question in their NFL midseason predictions.
That duo predicts that Pierce will indeed make it to a second full season as the Raiders’ head coach.
As the Raiders’ season has gone off the rails, speculation about Pierce’s job security has intensified. His in-game decision-making has been heavily criticized and the coaching staff hasn’t been able to find any consistent success. But owner Mark Davis isn’t itching to make his third coaching change in three years. He hoped the Raiders would be more competitive, but he knew Pierce was inexperienced and would endure growing pains. – Tafur and Reed, The Athletic.
Tafur and Reed point to a recent quote from Raiders owner Mark Davis that they feel indicates he and the franchise are willing to be patient.
“He’s young as a head coach. He’s learning how to be a head coach. He’s surrounded himself with a lot of good people. He’s just got to grow into the job. It’s his first year, really. What he did last year was phenomenal. … We’ll be OK,” Davis said in October.
Signs of life in the season’s second half would obviously go a long way toward Pierce securing a second full season guiding the Raiders.
It’s an easy argument to be made on Pierce’s behalf that the quarterback situation was an empty deck to begin this season with.
Still, some signs of offensive progress in the season’s second half would definitely enhance his case to stick around and reset with a young franchise signal-caller following the 2025 NFL draft.
Pierce guided the Raiders to a 5-4 finish during the 2023 NFL season while operating in an interim head coaching capacity. That included a Christmas Day win over the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and victories in three of the Raiders’ final four contests.
Pierce now owns a 7-11 mark as an NFL head coach.
