Ever since they went to the Super Bowl during the 2002 season, the Las Vegas Raiders have been perennially bad or mediocre, and as a result, they have been the butt of many jokes across the sports world.
Critics have accused the once-proud and relevant franchise of not being run well, especially when Josh McDaniels was their head coach starting in the 2022 season.
After one and a half seasons of ineptitude, especially in close games, McDaniels was fired and replaced with Antonio Pierce, who had previously only had one year of coaching experience in the NFL as a linebackers coach.
But the Raiders improved somewhat under Pierce, finishing the 2023 campaign 5-4 after going 3-5 under McDaniels, and players clearly respect Pierce and want to play for him.
It led Jordan Schultz to say on “The Hard w/ Colin Cowherd” that the Raiders finally feel things are being run correctly.
With Antonio Piece at the helm, the #Raiders feel like they’re being run correctly for the first time in a long time.
🎥: @TheHerd @colincowherd pic.twitter.com/uuHm1odPgt
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 15, 2024
Multiple Raiders players, including star wide receiver Davante Adams, spoke out about the team’s lack of culture, but it looks like there may be a positive one in the process of being built with Pierce at the helm.
As Schultz noted, defensive end Maxx Crosby vouched for Pierce, leading to Pierce being named Las Vegas’ full-time head coach.
To be fair, the Raiders still have a long way to go before they can declare themselves out of the woods — they have a glaring deficiency at quarterback, where Aidan O’Connell, who had an underwhelming rookie year in 2023, and Gardner Minshew II are battling for the starting job.
But between Adams, Crosby, wideout Jakobi Meyers and incoming rookie tight end Brock Bowers, they do have some definite building blocks.
