Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast on Navigating the Distractions

Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast features an exploration of the distractions facing the Silver and Black.

Las Vegas Raiders Antonio Pierce and Mark Davis / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) are back at work trying to fix a faltering franchise before they head to Los Angeles this Sunday to take on the (1-4) Rams.

After watching the film of Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Coach Antonio Pierce stepped to the platform moments ago to discuss the Silver and Black and their latest loss.

Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast features an exploration of the distractions facing the Silver and Black. You can watch that podcast in its entirety below:

Below is a transcript of Coach Antonio Pierce’s entire Monday press conference:

Q: What truth did the tape tell you?

Coach Pierce: “Critical between the penalties, the turnovers, an assignment error here, missed tackle there. I mean, that's what it came down to. I think there's a lot of opportunities that if those plays didn't happen, the ball goes and bounces our way, but that wasn't the case, right? So, turnovers again bit us in the butt. Four penalties, but they were critical, in critical moments and took points off the board. Turnovers as well. We had an interception on one and its third-and-18 and we're off the field, and that drive continues to a touchdown.”

Q: I asked you before the season about Luke Getsy calling plays from the field or the booth. And you said we will kind of play it by ear. Are there any thoughts of moving gets Getsy upstairs?

Coach Pierce: “I mean, I've thought about it. I haven't made a decision yet.”

Q: Clearly the refs have a directive from the NFL that got to protect quarterbacks, so I'm not blaming them. But when I went back and watched the Matthew Butler personal foul, he had his arms on him before the ball is released. I know it's the rule and they enforced it properly, but how do you teach a player to play differently? How do you coach that?

Coach Pierce: “Well, the way we teach it and coach it, when you're about to land on a quarterback, you've seen it with Maxx against I believe it was the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson, he kind of hit him and kind of rolled to the right and left. You can't put all your body weight on him. You can't land directly on them. Right, wrong? I mean, they called it. I mean, we do teach it to go to one side the other. And that's the biggest takeaway that we're going to talk to Matt Butler about.”

Q: Similar to that, just in terms of coaching points on the ineligible man field. Lookslike Jackson Powers[1]Johnson and Andre James were blocking, and then they kind of disengaged, but they're stuck there. What are they supposed to do?

Coach Pierce: “Well, I don't even think it was disengaged. If you look at it, [Cameron] Heyward slings 68 (Andre James) forward for an extra yard, and it's two and a half yards from the line of scrimmage. And it's one of those you got live with, and obviously you guys are watching, that call went back and forth a couple times. Just didn’t go in our favor.”

Q: When you watched the film, were you happy with the defensive pressure you guys put on Justin Fields?

Coach Pierce: “I thought we did a good job in the first half. I thought it was consistent. There were obviously some times you saw some breakdowns where he's able to escape. But look, that's a good quarterback. That was going to happen. But I thought the rush integrity, the coordination, the pressure, I thought Tre’Von Moehrig did a hell of a job by the line scrimmage. Some pressures that he brought really helped us there. Diablo looked lightning fast, and that was good to see with him. He flashed. So, really, really pleased with what we did as far as rushing the passer in our passing game.”  

Q: It seemed like the energy Divine Deablo brought, especially in the first half, was good for the team to get him back out there. What did you see from him?

Coach Pierce: “I thought the energy was good in the first half from our entire team, to be honest, even with the mistakes that happened late in the second quarter. I thought the guys effort was there. The energy, the tackling wasreally key early on in the game, you saw a lot of Raiders around them. There were some big gentlemen there on the other side that you got to get to their legs quickly and get them down. But I thought Deablo, like we alwaystalked about, moved like a linebacker. Really good job in the coverage on the interception. You watch him, he's reading the quarterback, shuffle, shuffle, and then makes a little burst there, and he makes a hell of a play on the ball.”

Q: Jakorian Bennett went in and out quite a bit. Was that part of like the game plan? Did you guys see something that you thought you could take advantage of?

Coach Pierce: "Oh no. It was just personnel. It was just personnel groupings."

Q: Speaking of personnel, and on the very first drive, you guys moved the ball 10 plays, 70 yards. Alexander Mattison had over half of those yards. Second drive, he's out of the game. We asked Alex after the game if he was healthy. He said yes. What explanation did Luke Getsy give to you for why Alex was not in the game on the second drive? Coach Pierce: "I mean, I think we always try to keep guys fresh. I don't think it was on purpose or anything of that nature. And obviously, Alex [Alexander Mattison] has been really a bright spot for us running the ball. If you just go back to Week 1, I think all our touchdowns mostly are from him at the running back position. He's done a hell of a job catching ball out of the backfield, protection. I think that was just the flow of the game. Yeah, when you look back at it, like, 'Man, what's going on?' But obviously he's a big factor and a big piece of our offense, and we got to obviously do a better job just keeping him in the flow of the game because after that, it's easy to point to that as one of the reasons why."

Q: At the beginning of the season, Jonah Laulu was a guy that you guys picked up. Saw him at the local pro day and was able to pick him up. I believe he had a half a sack or a sack yesterday. Can you just talk about the progression you see from him since he's been in the building?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I think each and every week, just giving him more and more reps. Obviously he's playing a lot more now with the injury to Christian [Wilkins] but getting him out there on early downs. I thought he did a good job. He had two pressures yesterday that we counted for. I think he's doing a good job playing within our scheme, playing with his hands. He's going to be a good player down the road. These are good reps for him going down, especially for the future of us."

Q: Your messaging has been consistent, that you guys are focused on the field and what's going on. The team has said the same thing. The players said that they're focused on the field. But the last two weeks with the Davante Adams situation going on, the performances haven't been there on Sunday. Do you think there is distraction going on?

Coach Pierce: "No, I think it's just production. Guys got to produce. We still got 11 guys out there. Still got some good football players. Now, yesterday, we were down a little bit with Jakobi [Meyers]. That one hurt, but I thought Brock [Bowers] stepped up, and he's been a bright spot for us each and every week. And we just need some of these other core guys. Look, some of these guys, to their credit, was just on the practice squad and getting them opportunities and you got to make the most of it. You always want those opportunities. We got to be detailed. And when they come, you make the most of them."  

Q: When it comes to Brock Bowers, has he been more than advertised? Obviously taking him 13th overall, you're expecting a lot out of that guy. But in terms of what he's been able to produce, has that been a surprise? Or how big of a surprise is it?

Coach Pierce: "I don't think it's a surprise. Everything you saw on film, it's now in the National Football League, and it's for the Raiders. I mean, hell of a job even on that penalty, right? On the holding call, one hand catch. The YAC. I mean the things that we're able to do with him, it makes tough matchups. You can see now teams are trying to change up ways that they're defending him. I think with Brock though, what I love first and foremost, if you just watch the running game, just watch him finish guys down the field and out of bounds. There's a clip with him and TJ Watt and the way he finished that. I mean, that's what makes him unique because we know how special he is in the passing game, but to then go out there and have that effort in the run game. That's legit."

Q: Watching the film, it really looked like DJ Glaze had a very good game. I'm not calling him Anthony Muñoz, but for a rookie, how pleased are you with his performance?

Coach Pierce: "[TJ] Watt is a special player. And we've now seen DJ [Glaze] in there for three weeks in a row now, and I don't think he's given up a sack. I know he had penalties last week, but to watch what he did in the passing game, especially against Watt. We've talked about him even when he was going against Maxx [Crosby] and these guys in training camp, his ability to stay in front of people and use his hands. I mean, he's really light on his feet, really good athlete. And now, yeah, did we chip and do some things to help, of course. He's a rookie going against an All-Pro, one of the best in the game. But I thought throughout the body of work was really, I mean, he has a bright future for us if he can keep that going."

Q: Anymore takeaways when you look back at the Ameer Abdullah challenge situation?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things. It's going fast, momentum is on our side. They're subbing. Guys are out, down. The play just happened so fast. Yeah, when you look at it in retrospect, because of what happened the next play, yeah, you want to throw the challenge flag. But didn't do it, so I can't live off that world."

Q: What'd you think of Aidan O'Connell's performance with his first start?

Coach Pierce: "I thought he got off to a fast start. Quick, got the ball out his hands. We wanted to take some more shots down the field. That didn't happen. We only took one down the field. Wanted more. The interception at the end, third-and-18, he was trying to make a play, but just be smart still with the football. We don't want that to show up on the stat sheet. But I thought he stayed in the pocket an he gave us a chance, and Aidan [O'Connell] was Aidan. Like, that's what we expected. Nothing more, nothing less." Q: Last couple weeks, have you guys been putting more like a concerted effort on scripting or just planning real quick first opening drives offensively?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, that first drive was scripted. I thought Luke [Getsy] and those guys did a hell of a job. I think you obviously got to make adjustments, right? And they started to make adjustments as well. But yes, that's been a key for us offensively. Having that script, getting guys comfortable, especially the quarterbacks and receivers knowing what's coming, what to expect. You can walk through that 1000 times. And the good thing is, we put it on paper. What we're struggling with right now is in the second quarter, right? Something's going on late in the second quarter, either turnover or bad play on defense, and we're not going into the half the way we want to."  

Q: How do you stop that from snowballing? Because that's what it seemed like it was yesterday.

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, well, I willsay this, even after the fumble, they scored a touchdown and then go back to the block punt. I think the defense does a good job responding. We're fighting. We got an interception and there was a penalty there that took it back. Guys are battling their asses off, right? They're battling. They're not blinking, they're not flinching. You hear it on the sideline. They're like, AP [Antonio Pierce], we got it. They're telling each other they got it. It's just you can't have those kinds of plays, man. Look, you can't turn the ball over and you cannot have penalties. That's just the easiest way to lose a football game, and we're doing that."

Q: Offensively, is it more of a scheme thing, is it a play call thing, is it execution? When you're on the script, everything is nice and it's humming. And when you get off script, it seems like this just kind of go sideways. What's going on there you think?

Coach Pierce: "I think it's both. I'm not going to put it on players, I'm not going to put it on coaches. It's both. It's hand in hand, right? Because there's a play call that's called in, and it's not always the best play call. It doesn't matter, but it's up to the players to make it the best play call, and vice versa, right? So, I think as we go in here and I talk to the team, being detailed, doing your job to your best ability, straining, finishing it. And obviously as a coach and a coordinator, putting your guysin position to make plays. That's what you get paid to do. And we've obviously got to find a better way of getting the ball into our playmakers' hands and being more creative. Let's go back to just a couple weeks ago when we needed some explosive runs, we found creative ways to do that. So, whatever we've got to do as we're battling with guys in and out the lineup, to be creative and to create explosive plays, we've got to do it throughout the course of the game."

Q: You mentioned that blocked punt. Was that a miscommunication on the line?

Coach Pierce: "Yes, communication error."

Q: Going back to Brock Bowers, is that the next step in his development, when teams are focused on him as the primary guy but he still has the ability to make plays? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I mean, you still don't want to force it though, right? There are three other guys there, like I said. Just other guys stepping up. At the end of the day, look, we're not going to ever not go to Brock. Right now, even when he's covered, he's open. That's how I look at it. Throw him the rock, big hands, big mitts, he catches everything around him. So, don't force it, be smart. And then, obviously, if there's something else that's available, take those plays as well. I think it's going to be just really key when we start getting our guys back and we get healthy, that should really help us as well."  

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