Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce didn’t back down from Sunday’s postgame comment that some of his Raiders players “made business decisions” and he might be making one himself at quarterback.
Pierce indicated he sidelined Gardner Minshew and brought in backup Aidan O’Connell late in Sunday’s 36-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers because the game was out of hand, but Monday indicated he was looking for a “spark.”
“You look at how the game went, we were down by two scores or so, we let Aidan come in and see what he could do with the offense,” Pierce said. “We’re just trying to look for a spark.”
Pierce was then asked if Minshew is still his guy at quarterback.
“I think we’ve got to get with the players and just evaluate everything from yesterday first,” Pierce said.
Minshew completed 18 of his 28 passes for 214 yards, a garbage-time touchdown and an interception. O’Connell came in after Minshew threw the interception and was 9 of 12 for 82 yards and a garbage-time TD of his own on his one possession. Minshew, who beat out O’Connell in a training camp competition, led the league in completion percentage and explosive pass plays coming into the Panthers game, but Las Vegas only had seven points and trailed 33-7 early in the fourth quarter.
When asked what he thought of Minshew’s performance after watching the game film, Pierce said, “I thought we did some good things, but the problem is when you don’t win on early downs, these longer third downs are not in the best interest of our offense or Gardner.”
The Raiders finished with 55 rushing yards Sunday (as fans booed the last several handoffs), and have now had 55 or fewer yards rushing in three straight games for the first time in franchise history.
As far as his comments Sunday that players made “business decisions” rather than go all out, Pierce said he wouldn’t go into more until he met with players Monday.
Pierce neither walked back the comment nor regretted it, “I don’t bite my tongue,” he said.
He had said he may need to make some business decisions now, and when asked whether that could be personnel for scheme, Pierce said, “Whatever it takes to win.”
Required reading
- Raiders’ recipe for disaster: How Las Vegas was embarrassed in loss to Panthers
- Antonio Pierce says some Raiders made ‘business decisions’ in embarrassing loss to Panthers
(Photo: Louis Grasse / Getty Images)
