The energy surrounding the Las Vegas Raiders has been completely different since the team fired head coach Josh McDaniels, GM Dave Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce took over as interim coach and the results in the first game were extremely promising and had former Raiders great Tim Brown excited.
Granted this contest was against the New York Giants, one of the worst teams in the NFL, but the Raiders still put forth its best performance of the season. The offense eclipsed the 20-point mark and didn’t turn the ball over for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the defense held the Giants under 300 total yards and forced a pair of turnovers in Pierce’s debut.
The end result was a win and some optimism surrounding the franchise and Brown made sure to shout out Pierce after the game. The Hall of Famer and Raiders legend took to social media to credit Pierce for getting the team to play with energy and life:
@Raiders Love it!! Congrats, Coach @AntonioPierce! I know they all won’t be like this, but good to see the boys playing with life!!
— Tim Brown (@81TimBrown) November 6, 2023
Many Raiders greats have been hoping to see a turnaround for the franchise for some time now and this was one of the most promising performances of the past two seasons. Rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell was solid and running back Josh Jacobs had a season-high in rushing yards plus a pair of touchdowns on the day.
Brown has been one of the more outspoken Raiders legends in recent times, having no problem calling out the previous regime. Prior to the season, he spoke about his desire to see McDaniels prove what he is capable of as a head coach and would be his biggest supporter if he did so, but that wasn’t the case.
Now the team is under the helm of Antonio Pierce and the early results are positive. Many on the team have already spoken about the improved energy overall and feeling like there was a weight lifted and they can get back to having fun as football should be.
Whether or not Pierce will take over the job permanently is unknown, but he has the opportunity to prove he is worthy of that. If things continue on a good path he will certainly have one big supporter in one of the greatest Raiders of all time in Tim Brown.
