Raiders' Antonio Pierce makes a rookie coaching mistake that looks all too familiar
Being a head coach of a football team is extremely hard at any level. You have to pick the right players to execute the game plan you call. You have to make split decisions with almost no time and little intel on what the opposing team is doing to counter your game plan.It's not easy. […]
Being a head coach of a football team is extremely hard at any level. You have to pick the right players to execute the game plan you call. You have to make split decisions with almost no time and little intel on what the opposing team is doing to counter your game plan.
It's not easy. Even some of the best offensive coordinators can get fired as head coach, as we have now seen twice with Josh McDaniels. And Antonio Pierce- well, he had never even been a coordinator in professional football.
Pierce made a rookie coaching mistake a few times on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. It looked way too familiar, too. The mistakes we saw looked like something McDaniels would do. By now, you likely already know exactly what I am talking about.
Let's start with just how good this defense was. They not only held the Dolphins to just 20 points, they forced several turnovers and held the Dolphins to either three or no points several times in the red zone, and they did that in the clutch during the fourth quarter.
The defense performed well the past two weeks, but that was against two very bad offenses. The question surrounding the defense was whether they could do it against an elite offense. Well, the Miami Dolphins may just have the best offense in the league, so there's the answer to that question.
Pierce's mistake was not taking the points on the two fourth downs late in the fourth quarter when they were in field goal range and instead going for the touchdown/first down both times. That type of game management error just feels like something Josh McDaniels would have done.
Antonio Pierce, at least, was able to acknowledge his mistakes, something that McDaniels couldn't do.
"It's a lesson for all of us," Pierce said after the loss. "Starts with me. I have to do better at managing the game…"
Hopefully, this was a good learning experience for the Raiders interim head coach.
Antonio Pierce is already making Raiders’ history
The Raiders beat the Jets on Sunday Night Football.
