Report: Antonio Pierce’s Game Plan Raises Questions After Raider’s Latest Loss

“Gotta take care of the ball,” said Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said after a 20-15 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. “I mean, interceptions — three interceptions and a sack-fumble. The football’s the most important thing, gotta take care of the football. Gotta be smart with the ball, at the end you try to take a shot but the other ones, we just gotta do a better job taking care of the ball.”

Pierce’s summation of the Raiders’ most pressing issue from their Week 7 matchup is more than a valid take. The Raiders again lost in large part from self-inflicted wounds. Penalties are still a factor and the turnovers have lingered.

Quarterback Gardner Minshew, of course, had to take over nearly right away on Sunday when Aidan O’Connell left the game due to an injury. The run game was anemic again, as was everything else not named Brock Bowers.

However, one writer thinks that the loss is on Pierce himself. NFL.com’s Eric Edholm wrote in his Sunday takeaways that Pierce “hurt the Raiders’ chances of winning.”

“The Raiders were forced to make another quarterback change after Aidan O’Connell left Sunday’s game with what is believed to be a broken thumb, per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport,” Edholm wrote. “So the Raiders’ QB wheel spun back to Gardner Minshew, who struggled early before rallying late. But even as the game’s pendulum swung back the Raiders’ way, Pierce’s lack of aggression in the final 20 minutes cost his team. They settled for field goals on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter, cutting the Rams’ lead to 20-12, and it looked smart when the Raiders intercepted Matthew Stafford. But after a time-consuming Raiders drive (7:25), Pierce chose to take the field goal rather than go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Los Angeles 9-yard line (after a false start pushed them back) with just under three minutes left.

“The Raiders still needed a touchdown to win after that, and they had all three timeouts and the two-minute stoppage. Instead down 20-15, Pierce waited way too long to use the timeouts, bleeding valuable clock. They needed to drive 89 yards in 78 seconds, and Minshew threw a late pick — his third of the game — to end it. The Raiders had a chance to win this game, but now they’re 2-5 heading into a tough game at Arrowhead Stadium next week. This was one they kind of needed.”