Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast on the Offense Making No Sense

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast delves into the anemic Raider Nation offense, and what it literally means.

Las Vegas Raiders QBs Aidan O'Connell, and Gardner Minshew / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders (2-6) are trying to regroup after a terrible start to the 2024 season, preparing to head to Cincinnati this weekend to take on the Bengals (3-5).

This team desperately needs something good to happen. Multiple key players are out due to injury, and the team struggles to stay afloat as the weather is the storm.

OC Luke Getsy's scripting of the early plays has worked, and the Raiders have come out on fire. 

However, once the script ended, Silver and Black proved they were not improvisers, and the creative and effective attacks have stalled.

Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast delves into the anemic Raider Nation offense, and what it literally means.

You can watch that podcast in its entirety below:

Early on, the creativity of play calling and the utilization of so many diverse and talented players has worked, with the Raiders holding the lead more than once.

Once the Raiders shoot out of the cannon, the offense essentially stalls, with the team appearing to inexplicitly abandon what is working and even repeatedly try to do what isn’t.

Yet again, the Raider Nation continues to be plagued by the tired mantra of the season: turnovers, execution, penalties, and, to be nice, questionable offensive play calling.

This Raiders team is desperate for an offensive identity. In the last two weeks they faced first and goal at the three and were unable to punch it in, and they faced first and goal last week and came away with no points.

They simply do not make the necessary offensive adjustments you see his coworker Patrick Graham make on the defensive side or any other successful coordinator on any side of the ball.

Raider Nation’s frustration is mounting.  They see what this offense can do, the early drives this and other weeks, so they know that this team can get it done.

But they don’t.

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

Q: I know that there were some things that you wanted to be about offensively this season, but just wondering, eight games in now, the body of work that you guys put together, are there some certainties that you feel are in place about this offense that you can comfortably say, ‘This is something that we can handle’?

 Coach Pierce: "No."

Q: How does that kind of shape some of the decisions that you make in a game-to-game situation? We talked about last week passing it down there on the goal line and this week running it.

Coach Pierce: "To be honest, to answer your question, we're still trying to find our identity, right? We want to run the football, we want to be physical up front and win the line of scrimmage. That didn't happen last night. We got knocked back in critical moments, not all the time, but in critical moments, especially when we were down there at the goal line. And then just really execution, just overall, from the for the team, from the coaching staff, everybody."

Q: Not only the run blocking with the offensive line but also the pre-snap penalties, what's your level of concern there?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I mean, first play you get called on three guys moving, right? Obviously with the cadence, that's got to be cleaned up. And a couple of them are on some younger players, right? Just got to sit there and hold your hat. Those guys, we're asking them to do a lot right now. Had a big challenge in front of Chris Jones, not an excuse, sit there until the ball is snapped."

Q: After watching the film, was there anything that stood out to you that maybe you didn't see from field level?

Coach Pierce: "No, I thought we were really competitive. I love the effort. I thought the physicality on the defense and special teams really stood out. I thought early on, our offense, again, came out, opened the drive scripted, went down there, was moving. As that went on, I thought there were opportunities there for us to make plays, and we're not executing at a high enough level. And when there are opportunities there, we're not making them, and that's really the bottom line."

Q: When you see the offense succeeding when it's scripted and kind of struggle a little bit when you get past the script, how do you address that?

Coach Pierce: "I think you've just always got to go back to the plays that are working, and there's nothing wrong with repeating plays. You see that from other teams. And again, I'm not saying we don't do that. Comes down to execution, right? And there's a lot of things that go into it, from protection to route running, to getting the ball off on time, all that stuff goes into play. We need all 11 on the same page."

Q: Did the Chiefs do anything in particular to take Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers out of the game when they were having early success?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, in the second half there was a lot more pressure. A lot more pressure in the second half. He just dialed it up and just kept bringing it consistently; left, right, up the middle. At that point, the quarterback is getting rid of the ball faster."

 Q: Your offensive line has had some moving parts. That's probably not a good recipe when you're dealing with that kind of pressure from a communication standpoint. Was that any sort of an issue in terms of picking up those blitz packages and those pressure packages?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah. I mean, a few, but again, man, I mean, we repped it. We know the Chiefs. I know Spags [Steve Spagnuolo]. We knew what to expect, going out there, hearing the call and then doing what you're asked to do."

Q: Offensively, not being on top of those details is a big issue. I'm sure you guys bring it up throughout the week leading up to the game. Why do you think that's not necessarily carrying over on game days?

Coach Pierce: "It's a good question. Obviously, if we had the answer, I probably wouldn't be asked that question. It's just something we got to keep working on and pounding on."

Q: How did you guys come out of the game injury-wise?

Coach Pierce: "I don't have that update yet."

Q: The fact that you say that you're still trying to find the identity, how surprising is that to you eight games into the season and after what you guys were able to pull off at the end of the season last year?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, last year's team, last season is last year. Different mentality, different group of players, staff is different as well. I think there is a learning curve. I don't think any team that's in the National Football League with a new offensive coordinator and quarterback are just sitting there gelling right now. But if you just talk about us, I want to run the ball, man. I want to be physical. I want to be able to throw the ball down the field and have shots. But all that has to be tied in to down and distance, play calling, execution. It's everybody involved. And there's times and there's good flashes. Again, look at the first drive, down four games in a row, opening possession we go down there. So, it's there for the taking. Just doing it each and every drive, straining to be focused and detailed each and every snap."

Q: How fine is that line then between design and desire?

Coach Pierce: "Probably be a mixture of both. I'm not going to get into the thing about questioning the play calling. Nobody calls a play for it to fail, right? And there's got to be a level of execution and attention to detail that needs to be served on every play."

Q: Is there a point where you see that you can't run the ball a lot this year, like let’s do something else?

Coach Pierce: "Oh, no, we’ve got to run the ball. Can't do that. We can't sit there and throw the ball 50 times, 40 times. We haven't been successful doing it. So, we'll keep pounding again. On Wednesday we'll get back out there on early downs and figure out a way to run the ball, right? We try to have different packages. We put [Thayer] Munford in there at tight end a bunch and tried to get him in there. Just get bigger on these guys, just whatever it takes to win the line of scrimmage."

Q: The play where he was out wide though, how does that work?

Coach Pierce: "Design play. Ate up a corner on that one."

Q: If you go back to the end of the first half against the Rams, you guys were aggressive in two turnovers that resulted in 14 points, including a fumble that got returned for a touchdown. Was any of that kind of in your mind of that's what you did last week, it didn't work, so be a little bit more careful with the ball last night?

Coach Pierce: "No, last night really just had to do with time. It was a lot of time on the clock with two time outs for Kansas City. They are one of the best in the game. And if was going to do anything it was to limit them to the least amount of time possible to go down the field."

Q: You always talk about the culture and these guys being there for each other. But when you're on a four game losing streak, how difficult is that to keep everybody in the locker room together and not point fingers?

Coach Pierce: "No, they were good. I mean, they were good for what you could be good for after a loss, if that makes sense, right? There was no pointing fingers. Get back to work. Like I told the guys today, man, we got to do this for another nine weeks and that's what we signed up for. So, it's not easy, it's tough. Don't like it. Wish it was easier. Wish we could come here with a smile and give you all the right answers, but we're still searching for the answers, and that's our job."

Q: While you’re trying to get the offense rolling, you had a couple of really big games where your rookies really played well. What's the message you give them to kind of get them back on track?

Coach Pierce: "I mean, we’re playing with a lot of young guys. I mean, you look out there's a lot of young guys. But I think that's the whole part that makes coaching fun, just seeing the development of those players. Again, I think you're talking about Jackson Powers [Johnson]. I mean, he played left guard, and we had an injury, and he went right in there at center and didn't blink. So, I mean, the things that some of these younger players are doing, Brock [Bowers] the season that he's having, D-Cam [Decamerion Richardson] now is starting to come along. We got some young guys who hopefully on the back end of the season can really help us even more."

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