he Raiders are one of the NFL’s top comeback stories late in the 2023 season, pulling within two games of the AFC West lead after back-to-back upsets of the Chargers and Chiefs . Interim coach Antonio Pierce, meanwhile, believes performances like those will be the deciding factor in whether he secures the club’s full-time head coaching job.
“My resume is on the grass,” Pierce told reporters this week, via USA Today. “What do you want? I can put up a fancy presentation, I’ve seen that before. I can put up stats, I can put up my resume, but the best thing that happened for me was an opportunity. … The worst day I was going to be as a head coach was my first day. … I really take pride in each and every day to get better.
“(That’s) no different than when I was a player,” Pierce continued. “And by the end, you look at it — whatever your career was and whatever my coaching career is — and you sit there and say, ‘Look, this is what he was.’ And hopefully [Raiders owner] Mark Davis sees improvement and growth within our team, he sees the style and play that he wants from the Raiders, he sees a fan base that’s behind us, he sees a building that loves coming to work and loves being here. … And at the end of the day, we’ve got to win.”
So far, Pierce and the Raiders have done just that. Seven games into his tenure as interim coach, Pierce has already overseen more victories (4) this year than predecessor Josh McDaniels, who went 3-5 before his abrupt dismissal ahead of Week 9. In total, McDaniels went 9-16 in less than two seasons on the job, while Pierce’s resume already includes several signature wins, including a 30-6 rout of the Giants, a historic 63-21 rout of the Chargers and Monday’s 20-14 upset of the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
