After an upset win on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Las Vegas Raiders lost to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17.
The Raiders nearly came back in the fourth quarter but ultimately fell just short as they were beaten 23-20.
However, the loss shouldn’t affect the job that Antonio Pierce has done as interim head coach as Las Vegas looks rejuvenated on both sides of the field.
Through eight games since being interim, Pierce has gone 4-4 and offered an honest assessment of the job he’s done so far.
“I think each and every week you’ve learned something new about (me), I’ve learned something new about myself. But this is a game regardless of how much you’ve played or been in, there’s always something new that comes up that you have to adapt and adjust to. That’s been a good part of the process of growing. Understanding players, coaches, the dynamic to maintain that at a high level each and every week, to bring it each and every week. And what that takes and what it looks like, I think that’s something that I’m going to reflect on and hopefully get better as I go along.
“At the end of day, everything will be looked at by wins and losses, and I think that’s fair and that’s what this business is about. I said that at the very beginning, it’s production based, and it’s about wins and losses. But I do also think it’s about what do you build in the foundation? And I think for the most part in these eight or nine weeks, it’s been a solid foundation that we’ve built as a team and as an organization that we can look on and say, ‘Okay, those are things that went well and there’s some other things that we can do better.’ And that’s how I’ll look at it.”
While the record might not jump off the page, there’s no denying that Pierce has gotten the roster to compete much harder every week. The leap the team has made defensively under Pierce’s watch has been impressive, and Raiders owner Mark Davis must have taken notice.
It’s hard to say for certain whether or not Pierce has locked up the head coaching job in Las Vegas, but he has to be considered the front-runner after accomplishing what he has.
