Last season was one of the worst in a long time for the Las Vegas Raiders, as they finished 4-13 in their first full year under Antonio Pierce as head coach. And ultimately, the franchise chose to move on from Pierce and bring in Pete Carroll as the team’s new head coach.
Carroll has been around the NFL for a long time and is a former Super Bowl Champion who excels in building a foundation and culture within his teams. And in an appearance on NFL Today on CBS Sports, Pierce spoke about Carroll’s experience being a significant factor in his potential success with the Raiders, via Vegas Sports Today:
“Pete Carroll—the biggest deal with him is he’s been here and done that before. He’s won everywhere he’s been: USC, the Seattle Seahawks. He brings in a culture. I think it’s no different than what I tried to do last year, right? You bring in that culture, you get guys excited, but you gotta maintain it.”
Pierce would continue, noting that Carroll was able to get what Pierce himself couldn’t with the Raiders, the quarterback and running back that he wanted:
“I think the key thing that happened for Pete Carroll, he got his quarterback. He got his quarterback. He got the guy that—look, man, ‘I go to war for this guy,’ and that’s what Geno Smith said out the gate. Then he went and got a running back. So it’s interesting for me because that’s what I wanted last year, and I didn’t get it. My guy, Josh Jacobs, he plays for this team, the Green Bay Packers. But better yet, I think with him and [GM John] Spytek, they’ve done a great job of working together. It always starts with the head coach and GM being on the same page.”
There are certainly some things that didn’t go Pierce’s way in his time with the Raiders. He has spoken about how it hurt to lose Josh Jacobs in free agency, and it was heavily reported that he wanted the Raiders to trade up in the 2024 draft for quarterback Jayden Daniels, who would go on to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. There is no denying it is impossible to win in this league without a quarterback.
Of course, some questionable coaching moves and decisions on his part hurt his case, and the Raiders may be better off under Carroll. It certainly looked that way after the team’s impressive Week 1 victory over the New England Patriots on the road, but hopefully, one day, Pierce will get another shot as a head coach on some level.
Geno Smith sets franchise record in Raiders debut
As Antonio Pierce noted, Pete Carroll was able to secure his quarterback in Geno Smith, and in his debut with the franchise, Smith made Raiders history.
