Raiders' Pierce Final Press Conference Before Dolphins

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce held his final press conference today before the team headed to Miami to take on the Dolphins.

MIAMI, Fla.--The Las Vegas Raiders (5-5) are headed to the tropical wonderland of Miami to take on the Dolphins (6-3) this weekend.

Interim Coach Antonio Pierce spoke for the last time before the team left to take on the Fish, and we have his entire press conference.

You can watch the entire video above.

Interim Head Coach Antonio Pierce 

Q: We saw that you released Jakob Johnson. What was the thought process behind that? 

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, obviously, Jak is very important to our team with the energy and the tempo and everything he's done. You know the way the league works, it's day-in-and-day-out. Things change, things come up, you've got to make decisions, tough roster decisions. We'll be fine there and then hopefully something works out in near future to get him back." 

Q: Cornerback Amik Robertson was at practice yesterday with limited capacity. Is there any optimism about his status this week? 

Antonio Pierce has rejuvenated the Las Vegas Raiders as they head to South Florida to take on the Miami Dolphins / Darrell Craig Harris, Raiders Today

Coach Pierce: "We're hoping so. We're about to have practice here in a second. We just had a walk through and meetings. We want to get him out there and see how he feels. If he can go through today, then obviously we'll play him. He's a good football player." 

Q: The same for tackle Kolton Miller as well? 

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, he'll do the same thing. Kolton went out there and did pretty good. We'll see if he can have another good day, a good back-to-back, and then we've got our guy back." 

Q: Over the last few weeks, defensive end Malcolm Koonce has been kind of taking that next step. Can you talk about how good your defense can be if he does take that leap? 

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, it will be really critical to the defense and to Maxx Crosby, right. Having someone on the other side who can make some plays, and you saw that last week. But he's a very dynamic, explosive player, who I think we figured out as a staff too, what he does well. Not trying to put him in a pigeonhole, but here's a guy who can really turn a corner and bend, great with his hands, and can finish around a quarterback. So, hopefully last week was just a little snippet of what's going to come forward." 

Q: You've been here for a couple of years now, and have seen guys like Nate Hobbs, Tre'von Moehrig and Divine Deablo, who made their transition to the new defense last year and maybe it didn't go well all the time. But there was patience with them and now they're turning it around. What does that kind of say about them and maybe the difficulty sometimes in transitioning from one defense to a new defense? 

Coach Pierce: "And then also those guys played as young players, right. All those rookies either started or played in multiple games, and then in year two I think they are all starters, right? But what you're seeing is just the physical development and not even just the mental development as far as the game slowing down for them. I'll start with [Divine] Deablo. He transitioned from safety to linebacker. Now he looks like a linebacker, he plays like linebacker, he moves like a linebacker, he talks like a linebacker. I think with Tre'von [Moehrig], the ball-hawking skills that we saw in college and everybody in the country saw, now has come to fruition for us as well. He's comfortable, a tough guy playing through injuries as well. And then Nate Hobbs, I mean he's different. He's different. You can put him in the slot, you can put him outside, you can do a lot of things with Nate. He's a great blitzer, great tackler, a very physical football player. That's a good nucleus to have there when you keep adding guys like Maxx [Crosby] and Robert Spillane with a mixture of some vets. It gives us a good opportunity to be a good defense going forward." 

Q: Speaking of Nate Hobbs, we were in the locker room yesterday and I was asking him about the challenge of taking on Miami with their speed and we talked about them having track speed and he said: "They're a football team, they're players." Is that the mindset and approach that you want those players to have that it's just another team, they dress the same way we do? 

Coach Pierce: "Different jersey colors, different location, different scenery, but they do put their pants on one leg at a time, just like us. They strap the helmets up just like us. And when we get there on Sunday, they have to play football, just like us, and will be fine, just like us." 

Q: Going back to Amik Robertson, something he's talked about is kind of his career journey of these have been a very confident player in high school and college and got to the NFL, and realized it was sort of a different level of talent that he was going up against, but he's sort of worked his way back up and now he's coming in and playing the best ball of his career. What have you seen in your two years being around him, in terms of his growth as a player? 

Coach Pierce: "First of all, he's extremely talented when the ball is in the air. I mean, I think we've seen that now on two plays this season where he just goes up and he's floating in air, high-pointing the ball. Probably one of the more physical defensive backs, as well. You always see him punch the ball, coming through making tackles. I don't want to call it the little man complex, but he walks around like he's 6-2, 220 sometimes, and he's very fearless. He's a smart football player. He has confidence, and I'm glad that he's finally having success on the field because that's what we see in practice, and then that's how you keep building on it. And obviously he got a little nicked up last week, we saw what happened. But to his credit, what's he doing? He's fighting to get back out there, and that's what kind of person he is." 

Q: How much does tackle Kolton Miller make that offensive line better, and how important will it be to get him back for the Dolphins game? 

Coach Pierce: "I mean obviously since I've been here and even watching Kolton [Miller] when he was in college, he's a guy who doesn't miss practice, doesn't miss plays, doesn't miss games, so it's very critical. I mean obviously he's a nucleus, he's a captain, he's a leader. He's one of the best left tackles in football, in my opinion. Obviously, when we have him, we're a better team. If we don't, it's the next man up mentality. But you could just see the way he's working this week that he wants to be out there. That game against the Giants, the way he played was like: 'Wow.' If we get that every week from him and then that carries over to rest of the offensive linemen, we're a good group up front." 

Q: The NFL is talking about maybe looking into the hip-drop tackle. As a former linebacker and somebody who has transitioned from a lot of different rules and techniques for tackling, do you have any thoughts on that? 

Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I think it's tough. It's no different when I played and Roy Williams had the horse-collar tackle and that got banned. And this is the same thing, you saw the injury last night. It’s happened to us as well. Old school or new school, it’s the right school. I'm always about facing the guy up, get yourself in the best position to face up a football player. When you jump on the side of him, we really don't teach that. We try to teach, same foot, same shoulder, and that’s what we work on every day. I think it was one of the situations that's tough because defenders most time you're chasing and you're coming from awkward positions. I think that is something that the league, the owners, everybody's got to talk about this offseason, because when you see good football players like that go down, that's not what we want.” 

Q: When you were playing, did you need some kind of speech before the game to get you to come out with your hair on fire? Is that kind of an approach that you take with your team as well? 

Coach Pierce: “No, I never minded it. I mean, obviously I played with [Michael] Strahan and Bruce Smith, LaVar Arrington, Jessie Armstead, and those are some guys who can really talk and knew how to talk and get you going, and Prime [Deion Sanders], as well. I was pretty much self-motivated, but it was always good to see your leaders, your best football players or captains, the guys in the trenches talk, that sets the tone a little different. We have that here, I mean, it's amazing the amount of guys who speak up and talk to the team. And the things that they say, AP says it my way, Tae [Davante Adams] says it his way, Josh Jacob says it his way, Spill [Robert Spillane] and Maxx [Crosby]. So, for us to have that chemistry and also that ability to speak to one another and speak freely and to demand out of each other, and demand from yourself and showcase that, that's huge. That's accountability."

The Silver and Black will head out on the road to South Beach to take on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST.

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