HENDERSON, Nev. — It’s homecoming week for the Las Vegas Raiders. That means you schedule a patsy, have a parade with some floats — or at least some parties — and enjoy an easy win.
That doesn’t mean Antonio Pierce and his guys are looking past the Carolina Panthers, as this is the NFL and the Raiders’ recent history is littered with ugly and embarrassing losses (Jeff Saturday just said hello.) But … the Panthers have been outscored 73-13 this season and are so bad, leader-less and desperate that they just benched the No. 1 pick from 2023 after two games.
It’s a rare opportunity for a decisive home-crowd advantage (as usually opposing fans flood the ticket market and the stands) and the Raiders coach has asked fans to all wear black at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
“We feel like we’re going to have a great showing, and we need to put up a great show,” Pierce said.
And scar-tissue-laden Raiders fans can exhale. His team is locked in, partially due to him yelling about how bad the offensive line and run game have been.
“To be honest, (Thursday), and you hear this a lot, (Thursday) was our best practice in a long time — offensively in a long, long time,” Pierce said. “It was really crisp, lot of energy, speed was up, guys were running around having fun. So, we need to carry that on into Sunday.”
The Raiders offense scored all of 16 points through the first game and a half of the season, and their running game is the worst in the NFL. And yet, here they are leading the league in explosive pass plays (20 or more yards) with nine, per the NFL.
“Didn’t see that one coming,” Pierce said. “But really credit to our guys. Gardner (Minshew) and our wide receivers, just when the opportunity is there to make plays, we’ve been making them. Good job playing pitch and catch, and really we left a lot more meat on the bone.”
Pierce will be happy to throw the ball around if that’s what it takes to win, but he still feels like running the ball will be a key to success.
“We expected the opposite, we expected more explosive running plays,” Pierce said. “And it’s still the first course of the season. You see it throughout the National Football League, a lot of teams struggling offensively and trying to find their identity and their way. And I think we’re one of those teams.”
The Panthers have the second-worst run defense in the NFL, so Zamir White could very well be the prom king of homecoming week.
Andy Dalton takes over for benched Bryce Young for Carolina, and the Raiders know the 36-year-old veteran well. He is 3-0 as a starter against the Raiders, most recently in 2022 with the New Orleans Saints, and was coached for a long time by former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, now a Raiders assistant.
“(Dalton’s) seen everything,” Pierce said. “He seems like wherever he goes, he finds a way and gets that team going at some point. So, you’re looking at a veteran savvy leader there.”
Lewis has some notes.
“It’s been very useful to talk to him, like pick his brain,” Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said Thursday. “Like, ‘What are some of his favorite plays?’ Because you think a veteran quarterback is going to have a little say in what he wants to run for third down, two-minute, things of that nature, red area. So, ‘Were there any go-to plays he had? What did he struggle with?’”
While Dalton will have more success than Young did finding receivers (the bar is not high), he will have a harder time eluding Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins and Tyree Wilson (he is back from a knee injury this week) than the more nimble Young did.
Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations & everything you need to know to win your fantasy football league.
Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations.
Tight end Brock Bowers took a rare loss Friday at practice in the weekly rookie dance-off, but his moves on the field continue to draw raves. He is the first tight in NFL history to have five catches and 50 yards in each of his first two games. And future Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski told the “Up & Adams Show” on Tuesday that Bowers is a winner.
the HIGHEST praise for @Raiders rookie Brock Bowers. Wow. @brockbowers17 @RobGronkowski @tae15adams pic.twitter.com/jDuUntgb3u
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) September 17, 2024
“The guy is a playmaker whenever the ball is thrown to him, (and) I love his explosiveness after the catch,” Gronkowski said. “I feel like he’s on track to be better than myself.”
Bowers was flattered.
“That was pretty sweet hearing him say that,” Bowers told reporters Wednesday. “I always looked up to him when I was little, watching him when I was growing up. I mean … you want to be like him, so it’s pretty cool hearing that.”
Pierce doesn’t have to worry about it going to Bowers’ head.
“That’s a hell of a compliment,” Pierce said. “He’s got a long way to go. It’s two games. He’s a good football player, and I think the best thing about Brock, he’s so humble.”
Bowers is very quiet, and Davante Adams was asked how he was able to finally break the ice with the rookie.
“We’re still skating,” Adams said, smiling. “I don’t know if it’s ever been fully broken. But yeah, you can see he’s starting to express himself a little bit more, whether it’s after the first downs or talking to guys a little bit more. He’s opening up a lot more than I anticipated at this point.”
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
Crosby went viral for his pep talk to Minshew on the sideline after Minshew’s interception early against the Baltimore Ravens. Pierce thought it was important for the quarterback to hear it from a teammate rather than a coach.
Send this to someone who’s got your back 🤞 #MondayMotivaton pic.twitter.com/eSg7fgURZ4
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 16, 2024
“I can go up to Gardner and give him a pep talk too, but it’s different when it comes from Maxx Crosby, right?” Pierce said. “It’s different when it comes from a Robert Spillane. Like I said, that is just showing the togetherness of our team.
“(It’s) everything that we worked on in training camp and the offseason, building that bond, building that closeness with one another. ‘Hey, I got your back.’ Bad play, ‘OK, cool. I got you.’ … I think it’s really telling when the leader of our team just steps up like that all on his own, grabs the quarterback — which you don’t see much — a defensive player interacting with a quarterback after a negative play, and to have that kind of response.”
What did Crosby tell Minshew? And take the expletive outs.
“He grabbed me,” Minshew said, “and just said, ‘Hey, we got your back, dude. We need that Washington State Gardner. We need that.’ And I was like, ‘Man, you’re right, dude. Let me see if I can go whip that up real quick.’ But no man, that dude is a great leader. He does it the right way, man, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have him on our team.”
There is a decent chance Minshew didn’t need the pep talk, but we’ll never know.
“Gardner is that kind of guy, he’s been through it and done it,” offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said. “He’s lived the highs and lows and stuff, and he’s just always kind of come out of it the right way. And I think it’s a credit to him, as much as anything, just being grounded, being tough-minded to be able to … not go get crazy with the highs, and (not) dwell on the lows.”
Pierce said he didn’t have quite the same kind of pep talk with Eli Manning back in his playing days with the New York Giants.
“He threw (three pick sixes) in one game against Minnesota,” Pierce said. “I looked at him and said, ‘We’re good,’ and he looked at me and said, ‘Yeah.’ I (told myself) that this dude is good, he’s got a poker face all day and I can’t even fool with him.
“Maxx is trying to become an all-time greatest Raider, and he’s got more to go, but it’s going to start with leadership and him speaking up because his voice carries a lot of weight. Obviously, his play does everything for us and his energy, but just to see that and see our guys really hold each other accountable I think it was really critical at a moment for us when we needed it.”
(Photo of Gardner Minshew: Michael Owens / Getty Images)
