Interim head coach Antonio Pierce is taking over for the recently fired Josh McDaniels as the Las Vegas Raiders were making changes at head coach, general manager, quarterback coach, and offensive coordinator on Wed Nov 1, 2023 (@AdamSchefter X Photo)
By Barbara Mason
Wednesday morning the Las Vegas Raiders were making headlines for all the wrong reasons. This team has been been struggling for awhile now and Monday’s game was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
It was a horrendous showing from top to bottom and so the Raiders cleared the board firing head coach Josh McDaniels, general manager Dave Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mike Lombardi. When these guys were hired they were expected to take the team to the next level. They did indeed take a step, unfortunately, in the wrong direction.
It seems that McDaniels is more suited to an offensive coordinator role. He was also fired from his head coach duties with the Denver Broncos in less than two years.
McDaniels did, however, have great success with the New England Patriots winning six Super Bowls rings but as offensive coordinator. The offensive success he had in New England never translated to Las Vegas which led to some of the most embarrassing losses in Raider franchise history.
The Las Vegas Raiders lost to the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football in a game that they, quite frankly, had opportunity to have won. Something is not clicking with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and some blame has to go to the quarterback coach Bo Hardegree.
After the Garoppolo misfires Sunday as well as the questionable effort on both sides of the ball the Raiders are taking swift action promoting Hardegree, former quarterback coach, to offensive coordinator in an effort to stop the bleeding as the Raiders dropped to a 3-5 season record.
Not long after the McDaniels and Ziegler firings the Raiders fired offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. Hardegree will replace Lombardi. Lombard’s 31st per game for eight weeks in NFL offensive ranking was part of the reason for the dismissal.
Lombardi as offensive coordinator posted 30th in points scored per game with 15.8. On Monday Night Football the Raiders had only 157 yards against the Lions. The Lions had 486 total yards against the Raiders. Lombardi was in his second year with the Raiders after stints with the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets as an assistant. Lombardi also was the quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots.
New head coach and general manager: The man stepping into a most difficult situation has been named. The new interim head coach for the Raiders is linebacker coach Antonio Pierce. Champ Kelly will serve as interim general manager. Once this season is over the team will be doing an in depth search committed to finding the right fit for the Raiders.
Pierce will make his NFL head-coaching debut this Sunday against the 2-6 New York Giants. This will be an interesting match-up considering that Pierce won a Super Bowl as a player in 2007 with the Giants. He will be the eighth different head coach, interim or regular, since October 2011.
The Las Vegas statistics for the 2023 season are about as grim as you could imagine. They are No. 31 in total offense, No. 32 in rushing yards per game and rank 30th in points per game. The talented Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs have been underused at the receiver and running back positions which is absolutely insane.
Jacobs was the NFL’s rushing leader and has been insignificant this season. Adams only had 1 catch for 11 yards against the Lions on Monday’s game in Detroit and was understandably livid on the sidelines.
Neither of these guys have been used in a way to maximize their talent. Another former Pro Bowl player slot receiver Hunter Renfrow had been underutilized with only ten receptions so far this season after catching 103 in 2021.
This will be a tough time for the team going forward. The change at the Head Coach position is always difficult and especially when it happens during the season. With so much undervalued talent the hopes are that they can somehow turn this season around and put a better product on the field with these difficult changes.
Something has to give at the quarterback position as well as the offensive front line. If the front line cannot efficiently do their job neither can their quarterback. There is so much to be addressed it makes your head spin and these new coaches will certainly have their hands full.
As this drama unfolds all eyes will be on Pierce this Sunday as the Las Vegas Raiders take on the New York Giants at Allegiant Stadium. It is very hard to imagine things going any worse for this team. It has certainly reached it’s pinnacle of setbacks. It will not happen overnight but there still remains hope for an improved performance on the field starting this Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
