The Las Vegas Raiders (6-8) head coach Antonio Pierce spoke moments ago after his team's historic blowout win over the Los Angeles Chargers
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00:00 talking to some players, Jeff included,
00:02 talking about how it takes a little gut sometimes
00:05 to go make that kind of a play
00:06 and be aggressive and greedy and make it.
00:09 But it also takes a coach who's willing to allow players
00:13 to have that kind of confidence to go make a play
00:15 that they see it and say, good win.
00:17 Where do you kind of fall on that
00:18 in terms of the confidence,
00:20 but also being careful of the improvement?
00:22 - Yeah, I always call it a business decision, right?
00:23 Make a good business decision.
00:25 But more importantly, it's film study.
00:26 I mean, that play's shown up,
00:29 been here two years now, that's been one of their staples.
00:31 Four by one, running back mostly in.
00:33 I mean, we're all calling it out,
00:34 screaming goal is next, try to do that.
00:36 But they didn't, and they stayed on track.
00:38 And sometimes as a player,
00:40 you have a knack and a feel for it,
00:42 and you never want to take that away from somebody
00:44 who knows that play,
00:45 that opportunity to anticipate, to make a play.
00:48 But again, I'm gonna go back to it,
00:49 it's an educated guess, it's not a random guess.
00:51 And I think that's good by our coaches.
00:53 And obviously, Jack Jones took advantage of an opportunity.
00:55 - Now that you are a coach,
00:57 when you see a player take that information,
00:59 digest it, and then go execute it,
01:01 how pleasing is that for you?
01:02 - Just smile, man, just smile.
01:03 I mean, I think our whole staff,
01:05 I mean, right away, we're calling it out,
01:06 it's in our headsets.
01:08 You're watching, you know that all the stuff we did
01:10 in walkthroughs, because when you walk through,
01:12 that's totally different than the real field.
01:14 But again, it's muscle memory, it's visually.
01:17 You know, a lot of guys learn in a lot of different ways,
01:19 and that's what you learn as a coach.
01:20 You know, some guys are film guys,
01:22 some guys are walkthrough guys,
01:23 some guys give me all the drawings.
01:25 But then every once in a while,
01:26 you get a guy that sees it all.
01:27 And Jack Jones is one of them.
01:28 We had quite a few players on our defense.
01:30 But again, I'm gonna go back to just our coaches.
01:32 I think that's a credit to those gentlemen,
01:34 you know, just getting it ready, getting him in.
01:36 He wasn't here the first time he played the Chargers,
01:38 and so obviously he paid attention
01:39 in the classroom to pay off.
01:41 - Coach, when you first got here,
01:42 Malcolm Coots was a special teams guy,
01:44 you know, buried deep in that rotation of Ed's wrestlers.
01:47 And now he's starting, he's doing what he's doing.
01:49 Can you just talk about the progression
01:50 that you've seen in him as a player and as a person
01:52 from when you got here to now?
01:54 - Again, there have been certain players
01:58 that you watch from afar, and you say,
02:00 "Man, if they just, if this happened and that happened,
02:03 "this may happen."
02:04 And I think Malcolm's a prime example.
02:07 Sometimes you try to put a player in a certain role
02:09 that doesn't fit him.
02:10 And I think we found that role for Malcolm.
02:13 We've adapted to the player,
02:15 because he's a legit guy that can turn a corner and burn,
02:18 and you can see the explosiveness.
02:19 I mean, that's, you know what you get on the other side,
02:22 on the left side of a 98, right?
02:24 But now when you see that coming from the other side
02:25 of 51 with nine with a push,
02:28 it's very promising and good to see.
02:31 But that's something that I saw personally,
02:33 and that's something that I want us to get to,
02:35 getting four DNs out there on the field.
02:37 Three DNs, Patrick Graham and Matt and Robbie
02:39 did a good job of, you know, executing, really working.
02:42 I think there was times, as I've been there,
02:44 that Malcolm, he did walk around with his head down
02:46 a little bit, you know, like, "Man, what's my role?
02:48 "Who am I?"
02:49 And yeah, especially in his grade,
02:50 we all gotta start somewhere, right?
02:51 And obviously he's done a good job there,
02:53 but more importantly, what he did yesterday was, wow.
02:55 You know, that's, you can do that from the left and the right.
02:57 There's no real problem.
02:58 - AP, some coaches take the approach of,
03:01 hey, this is a big game.
03:02 It's not only a rivalry, still in the hunt.
03:04 Others just try to minimize it, make it about one.
03:07 What's your philosophy?
03:09 - Are you referring to the Chargers, I'm sorry?
03:10 - No, talking, we're looking ahead now to the Chiefs.
03:12 - Oh, the Chiefs.
03:13 Another heated rivalry, you know.
03:18 Again, I'll just talk about the two years I've been here.
03:19 We were up 17-nothing there, Monday night football.
03:22 14-nothing here in our stadium.
03:26 It's just one of those games, man,
03:27 like it's gonna be the same way.
03:29 You just, you can never count this team out.
03:30 We're gonna have to, we know this is gonna be a game
03:33 that we gotta do everything right for a full 60 minutes.
03:36 And you're playing against a Hall of Fame coach,
03:39 one of the probably best quarterback
03:41 in the National Football League.
03:43 And the defense is still playing lights out.
03:44 So for us, you know, what we did yesterday was great.
03:47 Just like we do when we lost.
03:49 Reset, boom, put that behind us and look in front of us
03:51 and understand the challenge that we have.
03:53 And play our kind of ball.
03:55 I think, you know, yesterday was,
03:57 that's what we wanna do.
03:58 We've done that twice now.
03:58 The Giants in this game, where all three phases
04:01 have contributed to a win.
04:02 And if we can continue to do that,
04:03 then we'll give ourselves a chance
04:04 to play well on Christmas Day.
04:06 - And Tony, when you mentioned the certainty that you get,
04:09 I mean, I like Max Prize,
04:10 I mean, Robert Spoiler, veterans.
04:12 But then conversely, Trey Tucker,
04:14 Zemir White, Bayer Munford over a left tackle,
04:16 Dylan Parham, can kinda go on and on
04:18 on some of the young players, Jack Jones,
04:20 that you got contributions from
04:22 and are getting contributions from.
04:23 How satisfying is that, not just for right now,
04:27 but maybe the future of this team?
04:28 - I think you have to, if you're a Raider fan
04:30 or you're within this building and you cover us,
04:32 you have to be excited.
04:33 All those first and second year players stepping up.
04:35 Rookie quarterback, rookie wide receiver, rookie tight end.
04:38 What about the first play with Big Mike, McClelland Mack?
04:42 Go watch that again.
04:43 You wanna talk about setting the tone?
04:45 That's setting the tone.
04:46 Second play, Trey Tucker up top.
04:48 All right, we didn't catch it,
04:49 but you can see what our mentality was.
04:51 And then all those guys on the other side of the ball.
04:52 I mean, go back to Malcolm Coons,
04:54 third year player, significant amount of time.
04:56 It's just promising, and most of the time
04:58 in the month of November, December,
04:59 they hit that wall, right?
05:00 We talk about the rookie wall, that youth wall.
05:03 I think our guys are getting better.
05:04 And I asked us to challenge our team
05:06 to play our best football in the month of December.
05:08 And we're getting there, we're getting there.
05:10 We're getting there, and it's good
05:11 to see them guys learning.
05:13 It also helps the older guys and not put so much weight
05:15 and tear on their legs at practice.
05:17 And that's what we're doing now, right?
05:18 And then he's gotten a ton of reps throughout the week.
05:20 And then on game day, we're seeing the benefits there.
05:23 - Coach, going back to Michael Merriott,
05:25 you mentioned that first play.
05:25 That was a hell of a block on Mac.
05:27 And you know, the tight end, Joe,
05:28 it's like about catching the ball and making plays.
05:30 But how important was that
05:32 to be a dominant blocker as well?
05:34 - First day I got up here,
05:35 I talked about physicality and toughness.
05:37 We can do all that, we scored 63-0, we scored 99-100.
05:40 But if you don't put a certain physicality
05:41 and toughness in a mindset, it doesn't matter.
05:44 You know, I told you, I wanted,
05:45 we wanted us as Raiders and our staff,
05:47 we wanted to look a certain way, sound a certain way,
05:50 feel a certain way, smell a certain way.
05:52 And that's what you saw the first play.
05:54 Because listen, that guy wrecked.
05:56 That guy, Kahlil McPryor, Hall of Famer,
05:57 he wrecked the first game that we played against.
05:59 Listen, we cannot do it.
06:01 Where's Walden?
06:03 Find him, where's Walden?
06:04 Over there, find him, find him.
06:06 And he has to fill us.
06:07 And again, great player.
06:09 But I really wanna give our hats off to Mike,
06:12 Jermaine, Monfort.
06:14 I thought they did an outstanding job
06:16 against a really good football team.
06:17 - You brought in some former coaches last week,
06:19 I guess, how'd they come about
06:20 and how'd they help you a lot last week
06:22 when it was at the practice game?
06:23 What do they mean for you guys?
06:25 - Just mentors, gentlemen who've been with me
06:26 since I was 22, 23 years old, know me well.
06:31 People that I, when I decided to get into coaching,
06:33 that I always, you know, said,
06:35 you know what, I'll take a little bit of this,
06:36 I'll take a little bit of that.
06:37 And their knowledge and wisdom
06:39 is beyond anything I can ever try to mimic,
06:43 make up, have in the building.
06:46 You're talking about 40 years of experience
06:48 between Coach Coughlin and Marvin Lewis.
06:51 They've seen it, they've done it.
06:52 They build programs and organizations from ground up.
06:55 They turn bad organizations to really good ones
06:57 and ones that's been winning programs.
07:00 So why not learn from them?
07:01 I'd be a fool not to use my resources.
07:03 - What does it say to you personally
07:06 that they dropped whatever they were doing
07:07 at the moment or not?
07:08 - It must be a lot of love.
07:09 I guess I wasn't such a hard head,
07:11 but I thought I was when I was a youngster.
07:13 I appreciate them.
07:14 Listen, man, it's, you know,
07:15 them gentlemen are up there a little bit in age,
07:17 travel, all that kind of stuff,
07:19 and just put the time and effort.
07:20 Listen, I can't thank them enough.
07:22 - You talked about last week,
07:23 you had to get to Tuesday to get past the loss.
07:28 How much better does it feel,
07:29 here you are just a few days later,
07:31 much different the next day?
07:32 - Yeah, you know, it's different,
07:34 but it's gonna be the same mentality.
07:35 You know, we'll wash this one out
07:37 and we gotta get ready for the fitness
07:39 and go champions.
07:40 You know, that's, gotta have that way.
07:43 That's one for us that we,
07:45 we want, we want that game.
07:46 We wanna play our best football.
07:49 We want the outcome to go the Raiders way.
07:51 - You talked to Bo about the dynamic
07:53 of having him upstairs,
07:54 and is that gonna be the case now,
07:56 moving forward with the rest of the season?
07:58 - Yeah, I would assume so.
07:59 It worked out pretty well for us,
08:00 so it ain't broke.
08:02 Don't try to fix it, leave it alone.
08:03 So, I thought Bo did an excellent job,
08:06 you know, in a short week,
08:07 overcoming everything.
08:08 I think he felt the same way I did.
08:10 It was a very humbling experience last Sunday.
08:14 I think we both learned from it,
08:16 and grew from it,
08:16 and obviously the outcome was much different
08:19 than what we wanted.
08:20 But I think it's something that we'll probably do
08:21 going forward, yes sir.
08:23 - So, I mean, whether the team has been trailing
08:25 or has a big lead,
08:26 the effort has been consistent,
08:28 you know, since you've taken over as interim head coach.
08:30 But as a coach, what goes into doing that
08:32 into the locker room?
08:33 Like, obviously everybody says get full effort,
08:35 but actually making sure that it's all real.
08:37 - Yeah, well, effort starts when you walk in this door.
08:39 You know, it's eight o'clock in the morning.
08:41 You know, what's your mindset
08:42 when you walk in this building?
08:42 Is it winning mentality?
08:43 Is it losers mentality?
08:44 Or just trying to get through the day?
08:46 It's not just effort, it's your mindset.
08:48 Again, since I've been in there,
08:49 when I've walked in,
08:50 I've talked about the mindset of our team.
08:52 Being mentally tough,
08:53 and not blinking,
08:54 looking, being resilient,
08:55 looking at things right in the eye.
08:57 Not worried about adversity.
08:59 And when you get to the grass, just work.
09:02 Bad play, work.
09:04 Good play, work.
09:05 Sit on the bench, work.
09:07 Everything we do is about working.
09:08 You got all the time to have the fun,
09:10 off the field,
09:10 what you see these guys do in the locker room.
09:12 But, it starts with your leaders too now.
09:14 Watch Max Crosby practice,
09:17 which we all know, right?
09:18 Watch Robert Spallini practice.
09:21 Watch how Josh Jacobs finishes runs.
09:23 Mike Mayer, you know what I mean?
09:24 Look at all these guys,
09:26 and what they do throughout the week.
09:28 And then that now is resonating
09:29 through the rest of our team.
09:31 And you get some young, fresh blood,
09:32 some guys that want the opportunity,
09:34 like a Malcolm Coons, right?
09:36 Nate Hobbs, Jack Jones, you know?
09:38 Zemir White.
09:39 And all of a sudden you get
09:40 what you're getting on the field.
09:42 My adult, I'm talking about that today.
09:43 Listen, I said it again.
09:44 Win, lose, or draw,
09:46 fellas gotta look right.
09:47 They gotta sound right.
09:48 They gotta smell right.
09:50 And as long as we do that,
09:51 we'll have a chance.
09:52 - Antonio, DJ Turner was a guy
09:54 that kinda had to work his way back
09:55 on the roster,
09:56 and figure out a way to get on the roster.
09:58 Special teams is obviously his ticket.
10:01 It feels like he's embraced that.
10:03 And he had a great game yesterday.
10:05 What kind of message is that
10:07 to some younger players out there
10:08 that are trying to find their way
10:10 in their careers?
10:10 - Yeah, listen, everybody's not gonna be
10:11 the highest paid wide receiver,
10:13 or the starting center,
10:14 or the starting quarterback.
10:15 Wish a roll, embrace your roll,
10:17 love your roll.
10:18 And we got about five or six players
10:20 that they're distributing special teams.
10:22 Curtis Bolden's another one.
10:23 Brandon Bolden, now,
10:24 he got a touchdown yesterday,
10:24 but he's been here.
10:25 Amir, same deal.
10:26 Like, those guys have done an outstanding job
10:29 for us on special teams.
10:30 And to watch what DJ was able to do,
10:32 I thought a big turning point in the game as well.
10:34 Another turnover, another field position.
10:35 All three units contributed yesterday.
10:38 And it was just good to see those guys fly around.
10:40 They challenged me a couple weeks ago
10:42 and said, "Man, we're tired of kicking the ball
10:43 "out of bounds."
10:44 Or excuse me, for touchbacks.
10:45 We're tired of having to outfield a catch.
10:47 We want to cover.
10:48 You want to cover.
10:49 So we want to run a hit.
10:50 All right, let's go run a hit.
10:51 And that's what these guys have been doing.
10:52 And that's fun to watch.
10:53 That's a mentality.
10:54 I think it takes its toll,
10:55 especially in the game now
10:56 where everything is kind of like,
10:58 ooh, you know, don't want to hit nobody.
10:59 And we got guys that want to go down there
11:01 and kind of pound and hit them in the face.
11:02 Yes, sir.
11:03 - Going back to Sean's question about effort.
11:05 You know, when a team is up at half a lot,
11:07 like you guys were yesterday,
11:09 how challenging is it to keep a team fired up
11:11 to come out of the locker room,
11:12 like you mentioned, keep your foot on the gas pedal?
11:14 - Yeah, and I know some of the results
11:15 haven't been the way we wanted in the second half,
11:17 but I still think our purpose has been there.
11:20 And the last few weeks,
11:20 I really put more of an effort and energy in myself
11:23 and what I deliver and what our coordinators
11:25 were delivering to our players and the message.
11:27 And again, you might see different things
11:28 that we do at halftime to get going again,
11:29 get our juices flowing.
11:31 It's working.
11:32 We feel good about it.
11:32 I feel good about it.
11:34 But the message is clear, man.
11:35 We get paid to play for 60 minutes.
11:37 I got them the first 30,
11:38 and these look like the last 30, regardless of the outcome.
11:40 And as long as we do that, Sean's important.
11:43 Like, that's what we wanted to look like, man.
11:45 Like, love the game.
11:46 Be excited to go,
11:47 because we're gonna guarantee three more, right?
11:49 And then we're gonna have a long off season,
11:50 or guess what?
11:51 We might get a ticket to the dance, right?
11:53 And we wanna hopefully have a chance to play in the dance.
11:56 - You mentioned that last night,
11:57 that Jack Jones, when he plays in high school and college,
12:00 talk about him when the aircraft plays,
12:02 or just impact plays in general?
12:03 - Impact plays.
12:06 He's always been a wild card.
12:07 'Cause sometimes hit or miss, good or bad,
12:10 but he's a very good football player.
12:13 Football means a lot to Jack.
12:14 Football is a way for him to get out of the hood,
12:16 to be honest, where he came from.
12:18 He used those resources to benefit his life, his family.
12:23 Went to school, went to ASU, got a degree.
12:27 There was a father, good man, been in some trouble.
12:30 Kid doesn't just smile.
12:32 Everybody that see him, he's smiling.
12:34 He loves football.
12:35 Can't have enough of those guys around.
12:36 They love football.
12:37 - That good?
12:40 - Yes. - All right.
12:41 - Thanks, JP, appreciate it.
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