Does Antonio Pierce have an accountability problem with his roster?
The Las Vegas Raiders can’t stay out of news when it comes to negativity even on their bye week.
Over the weekend, there was a report from CBS Sports reporter Jonathan Jones which stated the Raiders’ players and coaches held an intense team meeting the day after they fell to 2-7 on the season and before breaking for the bye week.
Here is a snippet of Jones’ report:
After Monday’s coaches meeting, the team met with the staff and the floor was open for anyone to speak their mind. According to sources present, a few themes emerged. Players had issues with the schedule not being efficient. There was a lack of organization and “wasting time,” and there was a “lack of discipline and accountability.”
One source described the meeting as ending “uncomfortably for all parties.” But, to be sure, this meeting was nothing like one between the players and head coach from almost exactly a year ago.
If you would have told me the Raiders players would have these types of concerns in January when the roster pushed hard for Pierce to be promoted from the interim coach to the full-time leader, I would have been floored.
But things haven’t gone well this season and there have been signs that Pierce doesn’t have the grasp on this roster that he appeared to have when he spent the final nine games of last season as the interim head coach after replacing the fired Josh McDaniels.
The concerns Jones detailed are concerning and frankly, damning of Pierce and his staff if true. If players feel the coaching staff isn’t spending time wisely and is “wasting time” that is a major issue.
While Pierce is a green head coach., he has had former NFL head coaches Marvin Lewis and Joe Philbin around all season and he his former Super Bowl winning coach Tom Coughlin is a close advisor to Pierce. Also, former NFL head coach Norv Turner is joining the staff as well
These shouldn’t be problems.
The truth is, if this meeting doesn’t do anything to change the way the coaching staff and roster communicates and work together and the losing continues, it could be tough for Pierce to get passed.
Last year, Raiders’ owner Mark Davis listened to players when they complained about McDaniels. It will be interesting to see who Davis handled this unexpected unrest about Pierce, especially after he gave the players what they wanted when he promoted Pierce earlier this year.
Replacing a head coach after one full season is unusual and not ideal. But Pierce’s entire calling card was his relationship with the players. If that is already frayed and the results on the field or poor, what’s the point of continuing.
So, this report sheds on light on a bigger issue in the building and if the team doesn’t show improvement in the final eight games, perhaps it will lead to a major change come January.
