The Las Vegas Raiders have moved on from the previous era as head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler have been fired along with offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce has taken over as interim coach and his message is already rubbing off on team leaders like wide receiver Davante Adams.
Adams was one of the most vocal players on the Raiders throughout the season. While he never attacked the coaching staff and often put the blame on the players themselves, his frustrations were well-known.
Pierce has made it a point to get the Raiders back to just having some fun, something that Adams is in favor of. The receiver thanked the previous regime for trading for him, but admitted that it was time for some kind of change within the Raiders organization, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:
“Don’t get it confused,” Adams cautioned. “It’s not a celebration that we have a new coach and there’s been changes made. We, obviously, think it was time, one way or the other, it was time for some sort of change. Just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team a little bit. So, I think that’s kind of the mindset we’re having, just trying to have fun and enjoy our time in this building because I think as we speak to each other, it’s been too much of, this has just been feeling like work too much and not having enough fun.”
Adams went on to thank McDaniels and Ziegler for trading for him.
“As I’ve said countless times, I want to be a Raider,” Adams added. “So I want to try to make this work and do everything I can to keep it going now.”
Obviously, there must be a level of professionalism, desire and focus for any team to succeed, but it can’t be to the point where players aren’t happy and it sounds as if that is what happened with the Raiders. There needs to be some fun being had as well and Adams believes the team is getting back to that under Pierce.
The match between McDaniels and the Raiders simply didn’t work. The team was not progressing the way anyone wanted and a change had to be made. The Raiders chose to part ways and not wait for the end of the season to do so and now Adams will look to lead the charge as the team tries and turn things around.
