Antonio Pierce delays decision on new offensive coordinator

The morning after firing three key offensive coaches, Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said he needs time to evaluate his offense.

Pierce did not name a replacement for offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, fired late Sunday after the Raiders lost their fifth straight game, a 41-24 defeat at Cincinnati. He also did not name replacements for offensive line coach James Cregg and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello, who also were fired.

“I’ll use the next 24 to 48 hours to sit down with the staff and figure out who’s going to call the offense going forward,” Pierce, whose 2-7 team has a bye this week, said Monday.

Pierce also said he has not made a decision on his starting quarterback for the Raiders’ next game, Nov. 17 at the Miami Dolphins. Gardner Minshew was benched in favor of Desmond Ridder in the third quarter of Sunday’s game.

One likely candidate to run the offense is passing game coordinator Scott Turner, a former UNLV quarterback and son of longtime NFL coach Norv Turner.

Scott Turner, 42, has been in coaching for 19 years and spent three seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders from 2020 to 2023. He was hired by then-Raiders coach Josh McDaniels in 2023 to oversee the club’s passing game.

Turner’s offenses in Washington averaged 20.9 points per game in 2020, 19.7 in 2021 and 18.9 in 2022. Nine quarterbacks got starts in his three seasons.

Another possibility is Raiders senior offensive assistant Joe Philbin, a longtime NFL coach who has experience as a head coach and offensive coordinator.

Pierce did not rule out going outside the building to fill vacancies.

“A lot of that stuff, I’m gonna look at the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said.

Pierce’s decision

Pierce said he was not pressured by anyone in the organization to make changes.

“One hundred percent my decision,” he said.

The decision comes less than a week after Pierce gave Getsy a vote of confidence by saying he was content with him as the play-caller.

But that changed after Pierce watched the Raiders struggle again against the Bengals. After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive for the fourth time in five games, the Raiders again struggled to maintain any consistency. The offense didn’t reach the end zone again until 41 seconds remained.

“It just wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go or look the way I wanted it to look,” Pierce said.

Since taking over the Raiders a year ago, Pierce has stressed the importance of being a physical team that wins the line of scrimmage, successfully runs the ball and uses the run threat to enhance the passing game.

Even with mediocre quarterback play from Minshew and Aidan O’Connell, Pierce believed his team was capable of having a good running offense.

That has not been the case, though. The Raiders are the NFL’s second-worst run team behind only the Dallas Cowboys. They are averaging the seventh-fewest points at 18.7 as a result.

“Some of it is shocking, because I think when we left training camp, we felt really good about this group and our team,” Pierce said. “Obviously, we did get hit with injuries, but that’s no excuse because every team in the league is dealing with that as well.”

Getsy, Cregg and Scangarello became the obvious fall guys for those failures, but Pierce understands the problems are widespread.

“We’ve had enough opportunities to punch the ball in and to give our team an opportunity to win games, and we haven’t done that,” he said. “And that’s a combination of everything … play-caller to the play of our players to execution to details to the confidence that we’re playing with.”

Offensive identity

Pierce wants his offensive coordinator to establish an identity that fits his vision.

“Us looking right, sounding right, matching the philosophy and idea of what I preach,” he said. “Physicality, the ability to run the ball, taking shots down the field. Protecting the ball, first and foremost. Disciplined upfront.”

But Pierce also said he will be flexible in allowing the new play-caller to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

“We got to do what’s best and gives us the best opportunity to win,” he said. “Whether that’s throwing the ball 60 times, that’s fine. If it’s running it 60 times, that’s fine. But we’ve got to find a balance and an identity on offense.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.