Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast on Youth Being Served in Raider Nation

Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast deals with the issue of youth being served in the Raider Nation.

Brock Bowers and Some of His Las Vegas Raiders Teammates / 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.

The Silver and Black are not good enough to head to Los Angeles and beat the Rams and themselves.

That is why player execution and tremendous leadership from the coaching staff are critical to the win.

Our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast deals with the issue of youth being served in the Raider Nation.

You can watch that podcast in its entirety below:

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

Q: Obviously, you got some guys that are working through some injuries. I was curious about Thayer Munford Jr., and with Dylan Parham dealing with what he's dealing with, is there a possibility that we can see one of those two at guard, because they've had guard experience in their past?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, well, I think really, with our situation, we're fortunate with [Thayer] Munford because he's played in a lot of positions, right? He's been left tackle, right tackle, he's been at guard, he's been a tight end as well as an extra O-lineman. So, we'll see how that goes. But you talk about DJ [Glaze], he's been playing well, Jackson [Powers-Johnson], I like the energy he brings. So, I think as we're going through today and go into tomorrow, we'll just try to come up with the best five. But I thought Jordan Meredith did a really good job filling in, and he was ready to play the week before when Jackson [Powers[1]Johnson] was a little banged up. So, feel really good about those six gentlemen."

Q: What is Dylan Parham's status right now?

Coach Pierce: "He will be out for the game."

Q: Is there a long-term concern for Dylan Parham?

Coach Pierce: "No."

Q: Kolton Miller and I were talking yesterday, and he talked about how the team isn't good enough to beat themselves and the other team, but they're good enough to beat anyone on the schedule. As a motivator, how do you get the guys to look in the mirror?

Coach Pierce: "Right, well, some of the stuff is self-inflicted. When you have pre and post snap penalties, you don't give yourself a chance. And then the turnovers, right? We talked about that. Those are two things I think we really, truly can harp on and really dig down and fix those things. The execution, the details, that’s a body of work, that takes an amount of focus from the players throughout the week, coaches putting the guys in position to make plays, and at the end of the day, like I always say, 'It comes down to a want to,' right? Because especially in our last two games, we've come out the gates very strong, which we changed. And in that second quarter, again, we felt some kind of adversity and that game hasn't gone the way we wanted in the second half. And that's something we really stressed about this week, the second quarter, and then starting at third quarterfast. So, the thingsthat we're doing today, we're excited about doing it, and hopefully put it on paper and on the grass come Sunday."

Q: How do you build mental toughness in a team to get them to be able to overcome adversity?

Coach Pierce: "Consistency. Steady with the message. I mean, I know it gets old, it gets cliche, but the things we talked about from OTAs, training camp, into the season, showing examples now because now we have real life examples from the game. And just when you look at the rest of the league, because everybody's dealing with injuries. You saw last night in the game on Thursday night football, you see it throughout the team that we're facing this week and what they're dealing with. So, everybody deals with adversity, everybody deals with injuries. Just how do you handle it? And it is true, right? We got 53 guys, plus the 16, luckily for us, 17 guys on the practice squad. So, you’re talking about 70 players that at any given time can play in the game. And you got to be ready, you got to be mentally sharp, and the focus we talked about there. And then just try not to fix everything, but just fix that one thing. I thought Robbie Leonard did a good job of expressing that today to our team. He spoke and he just talked about there's a lot of things going on, but just fix the one thing that you can control.”  

Q: Even with Davante Adams, you guys were the third youngest team in the NFL. This is a very young team, and not to make any excuses or anything like that, but do you think that plays into a little bit in terms of how guys respond to certain things that happen on the field?

Coach Pierce: "Definitely, experience is everything. Experience is everything. And I think at least for what we built with our coaching staff, with the experience we got there, the former players that's on our staff, those are reasons that them gentlemen are here, right? To breed confidence, to constantly talk, encourage, remind these guys. I'll tell you what I did right now on our team meeting on Wednesday, I looked right at the Ameer [Abdullah], I looked right at Dylan [Laube], said, ‘Man, you good?’ They said, ‘yeah.’ I said, ‘I'm good too.’ We'll move on, right, because I need them gentlemen later on, and maybe even need them even this week. So, it's not sitting here and pointing blame. We're going to make mistakes. I'm making mistakesin the games. We all are. Nobody's playing a perfect game. It's an imperfect game. But I think when you have younger players, you have to make them understand that you're not going to be perfect. It's the lessons of the game of football. We just can't repeat them. And I think the only thing that frustrates all of us is when we repeat the same mistakes."

Q: You mentioned Dylan Laube. How do you balance that line between accountability and not wanting to let a guy just go into a shell at that point?

Coach Pierce: "Well, we can't. We're going to use him. We're going to use him again at some point. We drafted him, and when we drafted him, we had a belief that at some point he'll help us this season. He just happens on his first carry, he fumbles the ball, and I know he feels down. We all feel bad, and we saw the outcome of the game. But I think more importantly, it's just understanding. Again, I think this what helps me as a former player, that you're not going to be perfect. There's going to be mistakes, but you got to learn from them. When we do these ball security drills, you got to take them serious. And then we get in the game, it's life or death now with the football. That's our bloodline, right, that's how we get paid based on that football. So, just making him understand it, but more importantly, the reinsurance that I believe in him. And we drafted him to be a Raider, and we expect him to be a Raider and make Raider plays."

Q: When you look at a guy like Jakobi Meyers, whether he's on the field Sunday or not. Despite whatever he can do on the field now, how would you say as a leader how much he means to the receivers in that room?

Coach Pierce: "We just talked about being one of the young teams and losing a 32-year-old receiver. Now we've got a gentleman who's in his mid to late 20s. I think Jakobi [Meyers] though, when you watch him, you really don't need to hear him speak, just watch the body of work. Watch how he goes about practice, the meeting rooms, attentive, taking notes, doing everything we ask. Like I said, from run block and receiving, rushing, throwing the football, whatever it may be Jakobi does it, and he does it with a smile. He loves the game of football. He loves the physicality of the game. And I think that's really good. Obviously, when you lose a player like we talked about, the next man has to step up, and not even that we needed somebody to leave the building, but Jakobi has always been that presence. You feel Jakobi when he's around you."

Q: How's his ankle? What's the update with him?

Coach Pierce: "He's doubtful for right now."

Q: Is he practicing today?

Coach Pierce: "No, he'll be off to the side."

Q: What do you think of Tre Tucker then kind of having to be the lead receiver in practice and potentially game day. How do you think he's handling that? What do you expect from him?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, well last week was a big week for us, and we just didn't get the touches to him. Shame on us. But hopefully that's not the case this week, obviously with Brock [Bowers] being there and being a big focus of our offense. The ability that Tre gives you, and we've seen it now in the preseason and at certain times throughout the year, the big play ability. If it's not special teams, it's on reverses, it's shots down the field. We've got to find ways to get him the ball by all means necessary. And the thing about Tre, he's getting closer and closer to really you can see the look in his eyesjust for the opportunity."

Q: Obviously you guys are missing Christian Wilkins right there in the middle. But logistically, how do you guys stop the running game from the Rams?

Coach Pierce: "I think with the Rams, I talked about it earlier this week, but when you look at [Kyren] Williams and what they do up front, very powerful runner. Not the biggest guy, but man he runs behind his pads. He runs like a big boy. So, for us, I think the most important thing when you're playing defense line, hand placement, pad level, your eyes. And before you make a tackle, you've got to whoop that man's tail in front of you and beat him. And if you're asked to do something for the linebackers and hold them off, do the same. But I think the way our defense is built, especially when we've got John Jenkins in there, Adam Butler, a lot of this stuff we like to funnel between our tackles and our linebacker, right? Our middle linebacker, Robert Spillane. So, just doing your job, again, not trying to replace Christian Wilkins on the stat sheet, but just more so doing your job and doing the technique that we ask you to do."

Q: When the Rams do have Cooper Kupp, they tend to throw to him a lot, and when they don't, they spread it around a lot. I mean, how differentis preparing for if he'sthere and if he's not for how different their ball distribution is?

Coach Pierce: "First, we have the ultimate respect for Cooper [Kupp]. I mean, just going against him last year in training camp, seeing him work each and every day in practice, and then you watch the body of work that he's put into the league since he's played. Ultimate Pro. Obviously an X-factor in the game. But they do got a pretty good quarterback that knows how to sling it and throw that ball and disperse it to the right players, and they got a lot of speed at wide receivers. So, at the end of the day you look at the concepts, and each and every week [Sean] McVay does a good job of changing how he attacks a defense, and I think we'll see that within the first quarter or so." Las Vegas Raiders Transcript 10.18.24

Q: Obviously you grew up in LA a Raider fan, but there was another team down in Orange County, the Rams. Did you ever pay attention to them or what was that dynamic?

Coach Pierce: "No, I didn't. It's too far away, and it was no disrespect. I'll be honest, I did with Eric Dickerson because I wanted to play running back when I was younger. Eric Dickerson, Jerome Bettis. And they had that one year, I can't remember, was either '88 or '89 with Flipper Anderson, and they were just rolling at the quarterback – Jim Everett, they rolled. But, man, I'm not going to lie, I always bled Silver and Black. But more importantly, it was always that rivalry, though, right? It was kind of like, if you grew up in LA, you're Lakers or you're Clippers; you're Ducks or you're Kings, you know what I mean? And for me, I was a Raider over the Rams. But I thought the Rams, for what they were doing in LA, at that time when I was growing up, they had some winning teams. I mean, they did a good job until they left in I think ‘95 or '96."

Q: How critical is it just to stop the bleeding and get some confidence back in that room and to get a win. I know they're all big, but for that specific reason?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, a lot of frustration in the building, right? Because the last two weeks, I think we’ve seen wins and opportunity slip away in front of our hands by our own fault, right? And I think as we talked throughout this week, if you go and look at the opponent, and you look at yourself and say, 'Okay, why are these things happening and how do we fix them?' But more importantly, why when we have a lead or we have an opportunity to put our foot on somebody's throat, why are we not doing it? And again, I have to do a better job of getting our guys going for 60 minutes. Obviously, we're coming out of the gate strong. But not even that, along with the coordinators, and the players have to have that want to and that desire, right? And like we said, man, just squeezing everything that we've got out of ourselves, to make sure we come away with a victory'".