Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce Friday Before Pittsburgh Steelers

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce held his final press conference of the week moments ago, prior to hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders (2-3), despite Davante Adams’ drama, are moving forward as they prepare to host the Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2) on Sunday.

The team has announced a switch at QB1 from Gardner Minshew to Aidan O’Connell, and the Silver and Black are marching on.

Raider Nation’s Coach Antonio Pierce held his final press conference moments ago before hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday, and you can watch that in its entirety below:

Below is a transcript of Pierce’s entire press conference on Wednesday:

Q: Were you going to name the starting quarterback?

Coach Pierce: "Yes sir. Aidan O'Connell."

Q: What went behind that decision? Coach Pierce: "I mean, it was a quarterback battle early on. [Gardner Minshew II] started five games, and at this point, I think it's best to go with Aidan [O’Connell] going forward."

Q: Before you even got here, this franchise did a lot of roller coastering, and you've talked about building a culture. So when they come out roaring out of the gates on all three phases of the game, then the pick six, they just seem to go down. How do you build a mentally tough culture?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I hate to use it, but it's a teaching lesson, and it's something that we try to do on the sideline as that was happening. You could feel it. It was real. I'm not going to hide from it, right? We could feel the air a little bit from our team and say, 'Guys, it's one play.' And when we really look at that game, probably two series later, we had the ball at the 50-yard line and we had a great opportunity to make a play. We didn't do it. We punted, kept them backed up. And there's so many plays in the game where you can change the momentum and get it back on our side, and we didn't do that, and we have to find a way. And it's not one person, it's not one unit. It's a team doing that collectively. Like I said, the ball is at the 50, no problem. We got them backed up, keep them backed up, and we'll get the ball again, we got to make the best of those opportunities and that's what it is going forward."

Q: In terms of the quarterback decision, do you envision this being kind of a constant battle throughout the year, or do you plan on making the switch for good?

Coach Pierce: "I don't plan on making switches at any time. When it's time to make a switch, we'll make a switch."

Q: There were a few returns that gave Denver a great starting field position. What was your evaluation of the play on special teams and what would you like to see improve?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I think we all were a little disappointed in our special teams. The coverage, obviously we lost leverage a few times, didn't really seal an edge on them and allow the returner either to crease us or to get to the sideline, and that's something that we worked on. And the object of every week is to put our best 11 out there, and we're going to work on that this week."

Q: Can you please clarify what did you see on Aidan O'Connell that made you have this decision, or was this a team decision?

Coach Pierce: "No, it wasn't a team decision, it was my decision. That's just what I felt was best for the offense going forward." 

Q: It came out yesterday that Christian Wilkins has had surgery on his foot. How disappointed was that news, and how do you guys account for his absence?

Coach Pierce: "I'm tired of losing good players, that's never good. But I tell you what, up to that point Christian [Wilkins] was pretty dominant in that first half – a sack, two TFLs, running around, and it happened early in the second quarter. He played on it, that's a really tough SOB there. And Christian, right away went and got it fixed, and he was there this morning at 6am trying to get ready, talking about being back in a couple weeks. So, knowing Christian and his work ethic, obviously it's disappointing, but again next man up mentality. We've been dealing with that since Thursday before the Chargers, and we'll keep doing that."

Q: How difficult is it to prepare for a team that may be having a quarterback change themselves when they've got two different quarterbacks preparing right now?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I think well one, the good part, we've went up against Russell [Wilson] a few times now. We're familiar with him as well. But really, we don't worry about that. You've got to look at the scheme and the offense. Listen to Mike Tomlin's presser, how many reps does he get, who is the hot hand? That's not really my job. We've just got to do the best job we can really to make sure we don't make mistakes to give them opportunities as well."

Q: Speaking of Mike Tomlin, how much respect do you have for him, the longest tenured coach in the league right now, just your thoughts on Mike Tomlin?

Coach Pierce: "Oh yeah, when I was playing, he was coaching, and he's been winning, he's been winning. He's winning. He just wins. He wins. I know we always judge him on championships, but each and every year to have a winning season, to get a team ready to play their style of play, their identity, right? You know what Steeler football looks like. That's hats off to him. He was a young coach when he took over, and all he's done and matured into probably one of the greatest coaches in this game."

Q: You mentioned you've seen Russell Wilson a couple times. Luke Getsy is pretty familiar with Justin Fields. I guess how much you talk to him or pick his brain for knowledge on that?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, our staff did that right away. And the same thing with - we've got Gerald Alexander, Robert Spillane, we've got some guys that are familiar with Pittsburgh. So, whatever intel we have inside the building and we can share with one another, the better it is for us."

Q: Any update on Michael Mayer?

Coach Pierce: "He's still out."

Q: Back to my question on culture, when you looked at Carolina, I think it was fair there were some people you could question effort. But on Sunday, it looked like maybe guys were pressing. Guys certainly made mistakes, but it didn't look like effort issues with your team. Am I reading that right?

Coach Pierce: "No, I'm not questioning our effort at all. I thought we played hard. Again, I'm going to go back to there's opportunities to make plays on both sides of the ball, really all three phases. And that day, we didn't make them. But it wasn't from a lack of effort or physicality or our ‘want to’ or desire. No. I mean, the better team won that day. Obviously, listen when you have 11 penalties and three turnovers, you're not going to win a lot of games."  

Q: You talk about next man up a lot. Do you like the complimentary pieces around Aidan O'Connell to help him now that he's kind of be reentered into the spot?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I mean, the same pieces are there. Obviously, we're missing a couple guys, but listen Aidan [O'Connell] was with the same group just about five weeks ago battling. So, I don't really see it as an issue or anything. Aidan's been a pro this entire time. As he was a backup to Gardner, he was very encouraging, very positive. Brought a lot of energy, did a hell of a job for us on the scout team, and he's ready to go."

Q: How did Gardner Minshew handle the news?

Coach Pierce: "Like a pro."

Q: How do you clean up the penalties, because that's something that you guys weren't doing before?

Coach Pierce: "Those are pre-snap penalties, right? We had 11, six of them were pre-snap or post-snap penalties. That's focus, that's attention to detail. And there was two on coaches, right? We had 12 men on the field, that's embarrassing. Embarrassing on me, embarrassing our defensive staff, and we’ve cleaned that up."

Q: You know Jayden Daniels as well as you know him. What isit about him asto why he's doing so well?

Coach Pierce: "He's a good football player. He’s a really good football player. He’s good, that's why he went number two overall."

Q: Any update on the Davante Adams situation? And how quickly do you want to get a resolution this week to kind of move on?

Coach Pierce: "Well the update, Davante [Adams] is doing well. Hamstring is getting there. He's getting closer and closer to getting back on the field, on the practice field, and good spirits. We talked. Everything is good."

Q: Do you see any scenario where he can return to the Raiders?

Coach Pierce: "He's still a Raider. He's never not been a Raider."

Q: Actually playing a game for the Raiders?

Coach Pierce: "He's still a Raider. When he's healthy and he can play, we'll play him. He's just not healthy right now, and he's getting closer though, that's the good part. He's working every day to get that hamstring right. He's in the right headspace mentally. Like I said, we talked recently and had a good conversation and he's ready to play football."

Q: Has he been rehabbing here at the facility?

Coach Pierce: "Yes." 

Q: Can you talk about your four rookies that played a ton this weekend with the two offensive linemen (Jackson Powers-Johnson and DJ Glaze), Tommy Eichenberg and Brock Bowers. Can you talk about this rookie class and how you're acclimating them in?

Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I didn't think we would have four in Week 5. But really, I'll give a lot of credit to the two o-linemen. I thought DJ glaze, I know he had two penalties in the game, but he's been steady Eddy, man, consistent. I've been saying this now since training camp, Jackson-Power, that’s my little wild bull, my little 58. Love him. The energy, the effort. He's got a little nastiness to him. You see him diving over piles. I got to warn him again. He got another warning. But his love and his excitement for the game is really pleasant to see. Brock Bowers is a superstar, we said that, and I don't think I'm putting a label on him. I think it's real. We see it, and all he does is show up and make plays. And then Tommy, I thought it was a really good experience for Tommy to go in there and start and play a full game and prep like a starter and understand like you think you're ready until you got to play 50 or 60 snaps. And there's a lot of things you can still work on, like we all did as rookies, myself included when I played. And just things you can learn from. But I love the experience because if you get a healthy [Divine] Deablo back, that experience and time he got on playing defense is going to make us a better special teams unit. So, really pleased with those four gentlemen.”

Q: What have you seen from Aidan O'Connell from last year to this year and his progression as a quarterback that gives you confidence in him for this week?

Coach Pierce: “Yeah, way more vocal. Just vocal, confidence. Out of that shell, not looking like a rookie no more, not acting like a rookie no more. He has a certain presence about himself, and it's not so outgoing where you'll just notice it. But if you've been around him enough, you know he's definitely speaking up a lot more. I love how he walks around the building. Like I said, really what I respected the most is when we named Gardner [Minshew] the starter, he said, ‘Alright, I’m going to be the best scout team quarterback possible.’ And he was lighting our ass up, right? Every day he gave us the best look and he walked around with a smile on his face. And if you remember the Baltimore game, him and Jackson [Powers-Johnson] were sitting there, rallying the troops and pumping up, and he was just a great teammate. So, all those things factor into decisions.”

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