NFL Insider: Raiders' Antonio Pierce Set to Finish Out Season amid Hot Seat Rumors

The Las Vegas Raiders are unlikely to make a coaching change during the season.

On the latest episode of the Scoop City podcast (starts at 18:00 mark), The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported the Raiders will let Antonio Pierce finish out the regular season before making a decision on his future as head coach:

"I believe that the Raiders are going to allow Antonio Pierce here to finish out the year and then they're going to make a call on this. And look, Mark Davis really likes Antonio Pierce. He always has, but I can tell you, he does not like losing, not like this. And I'm curious to see what direction they're going to go. And ok, Tom Brady is involved in this stuff now. I think that's a factor we have to keep remembering when we're talking Raiders, as weird as it is. He's going to have an influence, and this type of losing is not going to cut it if Tom Brady wants to be part of an organization. So I'm expecting to see improvements made in this offseason for them to be a much better team, because this is certainly is not what they envisioned when they decided to fire Josh McDaniels and and go with Antonio Pierce here as the full-time head coach."

Piece has had a very interesting run with the Raiders over the past year. He was named interim head coach in October 2023 after Josh McDaniels was fired.

The response from Raiders players to Pierce immediately after he took over as head coach was incredibly positive. Davante Adams told reporters in January that "the whole locker room feels" like Pierce should be get the job full-time.

Maxx Crosby went so far as threatening to request a trade if the Raiders didn't take the interim tag off Pierce.

It didn't seem unreasonable to think Pierce would at least be a competent NFL head coach. He went 5-4 in nine games during the 2023 season after replacing McDaniels.

That late-season success hasn't carried over to 2024. Adams requested a trade early in the season and was dealt to the New York Jets in October. A carousel at quarterback has led to a lot of instability on the offense.

While some of the Raiders' issues can be attributed to lack of roster talent, Pierce has made some head-scratching moves during games that have cost the team. His in-game time management has been called into question.

The peak of the problems were on display in a 19-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Black Friday. Pierce burned a timeout late in the fourth quarter when he couldn't decide whether or not to punt or try a 57-yard field goal. He opted for the field goal that was no good.

After the Raiders got the ball back, they drove down to Kansas City's 32-yard line with 15 seconds remaining. They didn't have any timeouts left and spiked the ball to stop the clock, rather than let it run down to set up a potential game-winning field goal and leave no time left.

The Raiders' next play resulted in a botched snap that was recovered by the Chiefs to end the game. Pierce has also called out his players for making "business decisions" during games when he didn't like how they played in a Week 3 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

All of these issues have led to the Raiders entering Week 15 with a 2-11 record. They are tied with the New York Giants for the worst record in the NFL and will miss the playoffs for the 20th time in 22 seasons since 2003.