The Las Vegas Raiders, like most teams that retain and extend an interim head coach whose successes were based heavily on the fact that they were not the unlikable full-time head coach whom they replaced, were unhappy with the performance of Antonio Pierce after just one season. The team dismissed Pierce Tuesday, though not before pulling the bush league maneuver of making him awkwardly give an end-of-season press conference before he was informed of his status.
Though Pierce struggled to find a comfort zone as a game manager and vacillated throughout the season between painfully conservative and overly aggressive, and his handling of a dismal quarterback situation robbed the team of an offensive identity, winning even four games with that roster deserves commendation. So, too, does the fact that Pierce oversaw an offensive staff that pieced together the greatest single season by a rookie pass catcher ever (while Brock Bowers was still not receiving the Rob Gronkowski double-team treatment toward the end of the season for some reason, it’s impressive that a team with limited weapons managed to target and complete passes to said weapon so often).
