Antonio Pierce turned to the hit pregame hype song “Run This Town” by Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West as a way to help galvanize the Las Vegas Raiders fan base on Instagram. His Thursday post with him alongside famed Raiders fan “Violator,” plus a quartet of cheerleaders, came with the clear intentions of psyching up the fans ahead of the 2024 Sunday home debut.
But following the Silver and Black’s embarrassing 36-22 defeat at the hands of the previously 0-2 Carolina Panthers Sunday, Pierce sounds like a coach who’s about to run some Raiders out of the building.
Antonio Pierce Fires Off Advanced Warning About ‘Business Decisions’
Now 1-2, the Raiders looked overmatched and were outplayed by a Panthers team that rolled with veteran quarterback Andy Dalton.
Pierce didn’t hesitate to fire off a new warning after the game when addressing reporters.
“I think there were definitely some individuals who made business decisions, and we’ll make business decisions going forward as well,” Pierce said.
#Raiders HC Antonio Pierce on the loss to the #Panthers:
"As the game went on, there were some individuals made business decisions, so we’ll make business decisions going forward as well."pic.twitter.com/LHLgWXpK8N
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 23, 2024
It’s clear he captured some Raiders players not giving the type of effort he was expecting. Especially for a team that entered the contest favored to knock off the Panthers, plus facing a Carolina team that benched its top overall pick from a year ago, Bryce Young, in the days leading up to the game.
Pierce became even more succinct, yet blunt, once he was asked if there were any positives from the performance.
“Nothing,” Pierce muttered.
How Bad Did the Raiders Struggle? A Closer Look
With Pierce’s area of expertise being on defense, he’s likely going to start doing his extensive “business decisions” there.
Dalton hadn’t produced a 300-yard outing since Oct. 20, 2022 while with the New Orleans Saints. He shredded the Raiders for 319 passing yards and tossed three touchdown passes in the romp. Carolina hadn’t surpassed 195 passing yards in the first two games of the season.
But that’s not all that likely left Pierce discontent. Chuba Hubbard racked up 114 rushing yards on 21 carries. He entered the game with just 78 total ground yards.
Diontae Johnson went on to shred Pierce’s secondary with eight catches for 122 yards. That’s now the veteran’s first 100-yard output as a Panther — after finishing below 20 receiving yards in the first two contests.
While the Raiders did produce two sacks of Dalton (linebacker Robert Spillane snatched the QB for a solo sack while Christian Wilkins and Charles Snowden split another), Dalton still picked apart the defense by helping four different WRs to averages of more than 11 yards a catch on the day.
Pierce likely won’t just limit himself to evaluating the defense as a whole. The Raiders’ ground game struggled immensely by averaging just 3.4 yards per carry. The pass protection didn’t help matters, either, surrendering three sacks.
A Look at Where Pierce Could Make His Decisions
Before Sunday, Raiders insider for The Athletic, Tashan Reed, warned that the Silver and Black faced offensive trench problems.
And he wrote about their woes after the upset of the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2.
“They beat the Ravens despite allowing five sacks, surrendering 10 quarterback hits and being limited to 27 rushing yards on 17 carries. But that’s not sustainable. For the Raiders offense to be reliable, the line has to be better,” Reed wrote in his postgame column.
Changes in that area could commence immediately, with the Carolina performance sounding off the latest alarm. While the Raiders only allowed a pressure rate of 31.3% per TruMedia before the Panthers loss, starting quarterback Gardner Minshew has noticeably needed to hang onto the football much longer for an offense that relies on getting the ball out in less than three seconds — which is a longtime strength of the veteran QB.
It certainly doesn’t help that starting tackle Kolton Miller has played hurt. But he’s shown protection lapses, as his fellow OT Thayer Munford. Inside, the Silver and Black may end up pulling the plug on center Andre James and finally insert Jackson Powers-Johnson at his spot.
Pierce has other areas to figure out, especially the backfield. Lead back Zamir White only has 68 total rushing yards and is averaging 3.1 yards per carry as the replacement for fan favorite Josh Jacobs. Alexander Mattison hasn’t fared much better, averaging 2.3 per rush.
Then there’s the secondary. Fans blasted Jack Jones and Nate Hobbs for how they covered Johnson on Sunday. No one in the Raiders’ defensive backfield has snatched an interception through the first three games, either.
Pierce clearly hoped “Run This Town” would energize the Raiders via social media three days ago. The Panthers ended up running Sin City — and now have Pierce running towards making changes.