Graney: Auditions over for Antonio Pierce, Aidan O’Connell
The auditions are over and, as Antonio Pierce says, the resumes are on the grass.
Whether his and rookie Aidan O’Connell’s are good enough to continue forward in their positions for the Raiders is unknown.
We’ll know soon enough.
The Raiders won a game Sunday that was a loss for their draft position. The Broncos just wouldn’t comply.
They weren’t any good, and the Raiders were in most every area of a 27-14 victory at Allegiant Stadium. It brought to close the nine games Pierce held as interim coach. He went 5-4 for an 8-9 team.
You can’t overstate the job Pierce did when it comes to changing the culture Josh McDaniels left behind before being fired. Can’t for a second discount picking things up in the middle of a season and having an entire team buy into your message. That’s important. That’s big. People want to play for him.
Elephant in the room
Pierce has the support of his players and some pretty important alumni who visited the cigar-smoke-filled locker room after the win. But so did Rich Bisaccia as interim coach in 2021. He didn’t get the full-time job. Owner Mark Davis went with McDaniels. We know how that turned out.
Pierce has earned the position, but there is also a large maze and blue elephant in the room.
Its name is Jim Harbaugh.
Look. He’s an itch you have to scratch. A call you have to make. Michigan plays for the national championship Monday, and Harbaugh will then unquestionably have multiple NFL suitors. The guy went 44-19-1 as coach of the 49ers and made a Super Bowl and three NFC championship games.
Harbaugh’s resume on the grass is sterling. If he actually emerges a serious option for the Raiders, Davis might have to choose between a proven winner at all levels and a coach who has won over a locker room in an incredibly impressive manner.
He’ll have to decide how much the latter means. How much the input of players should be taken into account. He just can’t miss this time.
Pierce can definitely improve at certain aspects of the job. He’d have to take a good, hard look at his staff. Changes are needed on offense. The Raiders have to get better there. He also might have to fend off others for the services of defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
“You talk about culture, you talk about foundation, you talk about your DNA, you talk about what you want it to look like,” Pierce said. “It has been a learning experience. You need live reps. You can mimic things in practice, but when that clock is ticking, everything goes a little bit faster … I didn’t get to where I am without knowing football.”
O’Connell didn’t get to where he was — the quarterback in these final nine games — without the support of Pierce and interim general manager Champ Kelly. O’Connell played like a rookie in countless moments and showed signs of improved play in others.
But he didn’t in any way lock up a claim to a future starting job. The Raiders need much better play at the most important position, be it from him or someone else.
“It’s obviously been a whirlwind,” O’Connell said. “We’ll see what happens in the future. It’s out of my control. I was super appreciative of the opportunity to play because not a lot of guys get it. I tried to make the most of it.”
So did Pierce. And now, decisions must be made. Difficult ones.
Davis is on the clock.
Fans love AP
It was following Sunday’s win that Pierce departed the field to chants from fans of “AP! AP! AP!” It wasn’t lost on him or his players.
“That melted my heart,” cornerback Jack Jones said. “That was love. All we want is for him to have the opportunity, and we can go from there.
“You see it. It’s night and day. I don’t even have to put it in words … We feel the difference. We know the difference. We can see the difference. It speaks for itself.”
We’ll know soon enough.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.
