Antonio Pierce is Doing it His Way

"Sometimes you got to just do it your way."

For Antonio Pierce that means many things and for the Las Vegas Raiders they're hoping that means a reversal of two decades of misfortune.

"All I want to do is see the Raiders win and be a consistent organization," Pierce told us after a practice heading into the team's Week 1 battle against division rival the Los Angeles Chargers. "Not people be talking about, 'Oh there go the Raiders again.' I'm tired of that shit."

The last two decades has been mired with plenty of "that shit."

Since their storied Super Bowl XXXVII run ended in misery, controversy and a Gatorade bath for the coach they helped walk out the door just 11 months prior, the Raiders have compiled the 2nd worst record in the NFL. They've shuffled through 12 coaches and 23 starting quarterbacks, including three last year and they'll add a 24th to the list this coming Sunday when Gardner Minshew starts against the Chargers.

Last year Pierce was appointed the interim head coach, taking over a dreadful 3-5 team with low morale and seemingly no hope and infused them with energy, turning the season around and eventually earning the full head coaching job. The defense was markedly better in Pierce's 5-4 finish to the season, recording more sacks, turnovers and lowering their third-down efficiency substantially. And for Pierce the turnaround was simple.

"It's funny because everybody thinks it's about X's and O's," Pierce said. "Sometimes just making and letting these gentlemen know that you believe in them and that their skillset really can translate into us winning football games and doing it a certain way."

Pierce was the second of three Black head coaches hired in the NFL this offseason, sandwiched between former linebacker Jerod Mayo in New England and Raheem Morris in Atlanta. The hires doubled the number of Black head coaches in the NFL, and represented another two former players joining the fraternity. Both are significant to Pierce, a turning of the tides he hopes signals a bit of an evolution of the role, and a movement he's happy he's to be on the forefront of.

"The way I carry myself being myself, I think that's good for other coaches going forward because we all get caught in this cookie cutter world that you got to act a certain way, you got to look a certain way, you got to talk a certain way and sometimes you got to just do it your way," Pierce proclaimed. "And I just happen to be fortunate that that works for the Raiders, right?"

The 45-year old lifelong Raider fan talked all things Raiders with us, including a quarterback battle that went down to the wire, his superstar pass rusher Maxx Crosby, his playoff expectations for the season and even his infectious personality leading to some endorsements and a hilarious commercial.

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Coach, how you doing? What's it feeling like right now your first season as a full head coach? You got the full honor this year, how are you feeling going into the season?

Man, I'm excited. I'm not excited just for me, I'm excited for our team because I see the work, the brotherhood, the tightness, the teamwork that we put in shit, the grind that we've been going on each and every day in training camp and I'm just looking forward to the regular season and see these guys really put it out there for everybody else to see. Now, are we're going to win every game? I hope so. But in reality, man, I think what we're going to see is a team that everybody's proud of. We're going to play the game the right way, the Raider way, get after it, man, show that pride into that Silver and Black and do our best we can. At the end of the day, man, these dudes have really bought into everything that I've asked him to do. We've been grinding, we went away for camp, put pads on more live scrimages, they played in the preseason, things we haven't done in years and really no bitching and complaining. They just kind of laced up your pads and strapped with their chin straps and went out there and did what they had to do.

I want to start with the defense because I think it's been a little bit of a transformation. They ended the season very strongly. What do you feel like you brought specifically to this team that ignited that kind of transformed them in that sense and got this defense more aggressive and more effective as the season went on last year and hopefully carries on to this year?

Yeah, it's funny because everybody thinks it's about X's and O's. Sometimes it's just making and letting these gentlemen know that you believe in them and that their skillset really can translate into us winning football games and doing it a certain way. The one thing that we did get after (I took over) was the physical style and I said, look, we got to get roll call to the ball. We need to intimidate people when they watch our film they gonna be like, "God damn, I don't want to deal with 98. I don't want to deal with 41. I don't want to deal with all 11 of these guys because they showed up on each and every snap around the ball carrier." So I said, man, it's got to look right, it's got to sound right. I said that intimidation factor has to be real. They can't be talking. I ain't talking about talking. I'm talking about what our pads and our helmets and all that stuff and the way we play and our style of play being heavy handed. And those guys really bought into it. And more importantly, man, I just told him I believed in them, man. I told them I believed in them. I believed in them when I was linebacker coach, I just didn't have to say to speak up on some things. And when I got the opportunity, I kind of got into 'em on how I felt and how we played and how we going to play going forward. And it hasn't changed. We had another practice today. It looked exactly same it looked when we ended the season.

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You mentioned 98. Let's talk about him big Maxx Crosby. What's the next evolution of his game? He's already a prolific pass rusher. He has the tackles for loss, he puts pressure on almost every single play. He's relentless. What is the next step a guy like him can take to be even better than he already is?

Making his teammates around him better. Being that leader. Being that captain. I mean it could all be about him and we'll be a losing team or he can make up his mind and make everybody else around him better and make the team better. And there's certain things that sometimes stats could be good for an individual and not always good for a team. I think Maxx can be up for Defensive Player of the Year. I wish he'd have won it last year. He was close and that's going to be the goal again this year. But that's not our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to win the division, get in the playoffs. That takes team defense and Maxx understands it. That's why we signed Christian (Wilkins). That's why Malcolm Koonce and (2023 first round pick) Tyree (Wilson) and these guys have really bought in being here the whole offseason. And it's going to be critical that Maxx keeps bringing those guys along because his energy, his effort really drives us as not only a defense but as a team.

Let's talk about the quarterback position. I think everybody coming in this year was wondering what the decision would be. Obviously there's an investment with Minshew, there's also an investment of draft capital with (2023 fourth round pick) Aidan O'Connell. What led to the decision ultimately to name Minshew the starter and how are you feeling about that position going into the season?

Yeah, none of that really mattered to me. I didn't care about how much we paid Minshew. I didn't care where Aidan was drafted. I wanted the guy that helped the Raiders win. And when I looked at it, I looked at situational football, taking care of the football, the operation, the command of the offense. And then obviously we had a ton of reps in the training camp and then we split these guys for two games in the preseason and we let the proof be out there on the grass. When it came down to it, we went with the gentleman that was experienced, had a little bit more savviness about himself, can get out of the pocket, a little bit more movement, I think that played into it. And then Aidan is still a young player. Aidan is going to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League, but right now we got somebody that can take a little bit of that stress off of him and get 'em to keep learning how to play quarterback. Seeing Aidan's only started 10 games in National Football League. Minshew played in 59 of them, right? Been in league for six plus years. So that experience really carried us over and just a certain moxie about him. But I thought both gentlemen handled it like true pros. I couldn't thank them enough (for) how they really battled each and every day but kept it friendly competition. But at the time everybody knew that they were going neck for neck at each other.

Let's talk about these two tight ends, Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer. I feel like it offers so much versatility to your offense. I think we've seen situations in the past where you guys had your pass catching tight end, you had your blocking tight end specialist. Now you obviously have a mix of both with these guys. What does that do for your offense going to the season and what are the possibilities there with Brock and Michael at tight end?

Look, I'm going to put my players hat on. When I played I hated teams that had two good tight ends. It was a pain in my ass. And when Brock Bowers was there at 13, I couldn't believe it because we thought he'd be gone. Obviously we were looking at other positions as well, but best player available happened to be one of the best players in college football for the last three years. Are you kidding me? And then you team him up with the guy that was a probably – well he didn't win awards because Brock won 'em – the second best tight in college football the last three years was Big Mike. And then we watched the two guys in practice and again, just like the quarterbacks, yeah they're competing. Yeah, they're like, damn, I want the ball. But man, the way they work together, the way they both compliment each other in a run game, in a pass game, it's really good to see man. And most of the time we get into this selfish world as athletes and it's all about us. But these two gentlemen truly bought in to the team aspect and I think Brock, the sky's the limit there for him. And I think for Big Mike it's the same way.

Let's talk about you. You're one of only six black head coaches in the league. You are one of the three that came in this year to double that. How important is that brotherhood to you for what you do and how close are you with those guys? Look, you're competing at the highest level, but at the end of the day this is a fraternity. It's a very rare fraternity. Talk to me a little bit about that.

It's cool man. It's cool just to see the opportunity for one, not just black gentlemen, former players, right? Two other former linebackers. Guys that (are) a little bit younger than me that I watched play and I know they watched me play as well. I respected their game as professional athletes and I've watched them grow in a professional game as both linebacker coaches and then coordinators and now head coaches. So really good to see man.

And I think just for me, the way it happened, the way I carry myself being myself, I think that's good for other coaches going forward because we all get caught in this cookie cutter world that you got to act a certain way, you got to look a certain way, you got to talk a certain way and sometimes you got to just do it your way. And I just have to be fortunate that that works for the Raiders, right?
I don't know if it works for everybody. I don't know, nor do I care, but I appreciate Mark Davis for really allowing me to be myself. That was our opening conversation when he asked me to be the interim head coach on Halloween night and I told him the only way I know how to be is myself, so I hope you can handle it. And we kind of chuckled and we talked pretty much every other day and we just kind of laughed because we got a lot of similarities because he's the only child, I'm an only child. We both love the Raiders. We both grew up Raider fans and we just want to see the Raiders succeed. That's all I want to do is see the Raiders win and be a consistent organization, not people be talking about, "Oh there go the Raiders again." I'm tired of that shit.

What's it like for you when you bring that to the locker room and you see your players embrace that? You came into a tough situation in the middle of the season. You have to change your quarterback, you got cameras for this Netflix show all through that. What's it like for you to see your players embrace that and really look like a much better team after that as you push that forward? What's it feel like for you as a coach and as a former player to be like, "Okay, these guys are really rocking with me. They're buying in. They're loving what we're talking about."

Man look, this is a sport, but this is a people business. This is a brotherhood. It's a team. It's the one sport that (has) the most players, most coaches involved on a daily basis. And if you don't get the people part, I don't care about your X's and O's buddy, I'm not even listening. So I hear all about this X's and O's. I always laugh about that because I've never seen too many X's and O's coaches win. I haven't seen them be successful and that's just my opinion. But what I do know is people. And coaches that get people, and have a good sense for football, and surround themselves with other good gentlemen that coach the game the right way, that speak to one another the right way, that respect one another the right way and understand the culture that you're trying to build; that I think is a winning formula.

Alright, so what are your goals this year? I mean I think obviously the big one, the pie in the sky, "We want to win the Super Bowl, we want to be playing in February." But for you, your first year is the full head coach. Your first year in this role. What are your goals as you go forward into the season?

Well, you hear it all the time: "Interim head coach next year it is going to look like a shit show." So what I'm looking for and what we're striving for as organization of staff and players is consistency. To look a certain way to make it sound right, to look right, to play the Raider way. To be an organization that plays with pride and passion, man. We compete like no other. We are our own identity, but we do it the Raider way. And if we can be like that consistently, I think we'll win some games. When I say some, we'll win enough. We want to get into dance, right? When I say the dance, we want to get into playoffs because if you get into playoffs, you got a chance. Now what you're going to talk about that Lombardi Trophy, and our ultimate goal is a Lombardi. We got to do it each and every week, man. And I know we did it, we talked about it this year. Our motto is brick by brick and we're going to do it each and every week, each and every day, each and every opponent. And at end the season I told them we're going to stack up our bricks and see where they go. Hopefully that's enough for us to get in the playoffs, to win a division and then we can keep going for the Lombardi. But that's the goal of every team. But that's the goal here because it's been a long drought.

Lastly, let's talk about this partnership with Levy. I watch this commercial, you make me want flip a burger. Having you at my job would make me more productive. Tell me how this came about, what it is for you and what you guys are putting together going forward.

Man Levy does an outstanding job at our stadium. Silver and Black hospitality just teaming up, feeding everybody there, giving the fans that greatness, that experience. And I wanted to team up because we got The Raider Way on the football field and got The Raider Way in the kitchen. I got a chef and we was in there, man, we was flipping burgers and got the onions on there, man, big wagyu beef. And I'm just watching this team interact with him. I'm like, man, that's no different than AP out there with the boys (laughs). Know what I mean? On game day and just watching the teamwork of how they do things. To me, the Commitment to Excellence, they strive for that as well in the kitchen, right? He's like, man, this is going to be the best goddamn burger. And that's what we was talking about. Look, this is the best burger anybody ever going to have. And I'm like, look, ill be a part of that because we're going to move this going forward. When people come to Allegiant Stadium, yeah, they watching the Raiders, but they're eating this juicy burger from chef and this crew man. And that's how we do things in the Silver and Black hospitality business.