Raiders Coach Pierce Panthers Week

Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce spoke upon returning from Baltimore after the Raiders beat the Ravens at the start of Carolina Panthers week.

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

The Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) are back home in the heat of the desert to host the Carolina Panthers this weekend at the air-conditioned and comfortable confines of Allegiant Stadium.

The Raiders look to parlay their upset win this weekend over the Baltimore Ravens to a win streak with the lowly Panthers coming to town.

On Monday, Coach Antonio Pierce held his weekly press conference to disucss the win, and look ahead.

You can watch the entire oress conference below:

Below is the transcript of Antonio Pierce’s press conference on Monday.

Q: You’ve talked about Maxx Crosby continuing to grow as a leader and a player. What he did with Gardner Minshew after that interception, is that what you're talking about? Making people around him better when he was kind of poking him in his chest, talking about he got him.

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I mean, I think that was just a huge moment, not just for Maxx [Crosby], but for our team. A very adverse situation for us, sudden change, turnover. Most times you see bickering, guys running out there. Me and Maxx talked about that a lot, what's going to make him truly an elite player, an elite Raider of all-time is that leadership role. And I think that was huge by him, and then just the way we responded as a team defensively, and then obviously in the fourth quarter."

Q: Obviously a big win, now you face an opponent that's struggling at quarterback. How do you avoid a letdown? Is it that same leadership?

Coach Pierce: "Well, the Raiders got a lot of things that we need to correct. I mean, we got to win yesterday, but there's a lot of things in that first quarter that was ugly, and that first half that was ugly. And in that third quarter that was ugly, to be honest. So, I mean, we're not worried about the Panthers. We got to fix the Raiders."

Q: When you went for it on that fourth down, the first one, obviously you didn't get it, but it seemed like you had no doubt about going for it. What message do you think that sent to your offense?

Coach Pierce: "Well, we talked about it all week. Like I said prior, there's always moments that we talk about it as a staff and then I tell the team directly what I'm going to do and what my thought process is. And I told them when we get there, I'm looking for 17. And that's what we did. We came up short, but there was no hesitation. The offense knew, they were ready, and we executed. We just didn't finish."

Q: How do you get the run game going? How do you jump start that thing?

Coach Pierce: "Man, it's got start up front. It's got to start up front. I’m going to be honest and a coaching cliche here, but it starts with me. It starts with our coaches, our offensive line coach, our coordinator. That's poor, that's piss-poor, and it's not good enough. And our players are going to hear about it here in a second. We just can't do that. I mean, under two yards a carry, getting knocked back, third-and-short and not getting it. I mean, there hasto be an intent and a play style that we talked about, that we practice, that we've been preaching since day one, and it's not showing up on game day. So, obviously, if it's changes that need to be made, or scheme, everything's on the table."

Q: What are the challenges facing Andy Dalton?

Coach Pierce: "I don't know what happened there. Veteran quarterback, I mean, that's news to me. I was just in meetings, but I got to go back up to drawing boards. I wasn't prepared for that one."

Q: It's only been two games, but I imagine you and the staff are excited about what Brock Bowers has added to this offense and the ability to see what he can grow into through an 18-game season. What did you see yesterday, I know you mentioned him in the post-game, but big game for him, especially this early in his rookie season?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I think he's just growing. I mean, he really showed up in some critical moments for us. But what I love is the toughness, the physicality that he runs with, his play style down there, caught that ball in the third quarter and dragging the defender for a couple more yards to get us to the one-yard line. You just see that kind of energized our whole team and got him going. I think it's really huge. I talked about both of our tight ends Big Mike [Michael Mayer] and him, when we got 12 personnel in there, those are tough matchups. And when we get not just Brock [Bowers] going but get Big Mike [Michael Mayer] going, I think we'll be a really good offensive team."

Q: How good can this team be when you guys are playing complimentary football?

Coach Pierce: "Fourth quarter is what it needs to look like for all four quarters. We talked about it, we preached it, but I'm glad it did show up in a critical moment, in a critical situation in the game. Really, hats off to our special teams. Daniel Carlson going four-for-four was a difference, right? His kickoffs giving us an opportunity to pin those guys back twice inside the 25, that was huge for us. Our punt team, again, has been outstanding. And when you look at our offense, when it came down to it, 15 [Gardner Minshew II], 17 [Davante Adams], 89 [Brock Bowers] started making plays. And I love how Zamir [White] finished the game. I know the carries are not there, the yards are not there. But just watch Zamir in pass pro, watch Zamir blocking. The physicality is there with a lot of our guys and our play style is there. And again, defensively between Maxx [Crosby] Christian [Wilkins], Spill [Robert Spillane], I mean, they gave us everything they had for 60 minutes until obviously the last play the game. And it was just good to watch. We talked about it at halftime, being a four-quarter team, having that hard hat mentality, and really just putting a bow on it and finishing. It's nothing like it. And it's a little scary when you got Lamar [Jackson] running down the pipe down the middle of the field, but you see everybody that's screaming there to get there and get him on the ground."

Q: You mentioned all week about the cage defense for Lamar Jackson. How proud were you that your team was able to go out there and execute it because he’s so tough?

Coach Pierce: "No, we did. I mean, listen, between that and keeping him in a pocket. There were a couple times you did hold your breath because again a very dynamic player. But that's hard to do for 60 minutes, right? You can't really praise our guys enough, our coaching staff for preaching it each and every week. And really our players buying into it. Because it's easy to run up the field and, 'Oh, I got a sack.' I mean, it happened one time in the game with Maxx [Crosby], right? One time he burnt the corner, boom, but he got him on the ground. The rest of time, no. Guys did a great job staying even up field shoulder and then retracing back. And then more importantly, when he wastrying to make those underneath throws, getting our hands up. We had a couple tipped balls and batted balls, that frustrates the quarterback more than just getting him on the ground."

Q: Do you have any updates on Divine Deablo and Jackson Powers-Johnson?

Coach Pierce: "I don't have that yet. We're still going through our deal with the medical staff."

Q: How do you keep Zamir White's head in it? Obviously, there's been some struggles in the run game, but how do you keep his confidence high?

Coach Pierce: "I'm going to keep pumping him up. Our goal is to get 20-plus touches with him. That was a goal this week, didn't happen. That is going to be a goal this week and every week while he isthe starting running back and I'm here. It isn’t Zamir [White]. We got to start up front. The big boys up front got to block. Bottom line. They know it. We are going to talk about it here in a few minutes."

Q: Do you feel like Kolton Miller is starting to round into shape after missing training camp? Is that why there were slow struggles?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, I think it's tough. I don't care how many years you've been in the league. If you miss all of the offseason, minicamp, training camp, and then you come back Week 1 and here you go. You got to knock offsome rust, let's be honest. I think he's seeing that; he's doing that. He's a pro, he understands, he's one of our team leaders. We play well when our O-line and Kolton Miller is playing well.”

Q: Speaking about that offensive line, going with Andrus Peat at that left guard position. Can you just talk about that change and how you thought he did?

Coach Pierce: "Yeah, just like I talked about. But we made the change back to Cody [Whitehair] in the second half. So, we are going to play the guys that give us the best chance to win. We thought early on in the game, Peat being a big, massive man against two very good interior D-linemen would be good, and as the game flow went on, we went back to Cody [Whitehair] and we played some really good football in the second half for our offense.”

Q: Jakorian Bennett had a big pass breakup down the sideline, and then Jack Jones had a big one on Isaiah Likely near the end of the game. What have you seen from that back end of the defense and playing alongside the rush to help contain Lamar Jackson?

Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I think the confidence is growing. The more and more you can make plays with the ball in the air the better. I love where JB [Jakorian Bennett] has gotten to. He was kind of a grabby player last year getting some penalties uncalled for, and now he's just trusting his technique. Obviously, he can run with everybody, 4.2-4.3 speed there. But just the ability to play the ball down the field. Each and every time he makes a play that's more confidence for us. And obviously with Jack Jones, confidence is not an issue. It’s just staying with technique and staying within the scheme.”

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