HENDERSON, Nev. — Antonio Pierce is operating as if he will remain the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after a 4-13 season, though he had yet to meet with team owner Mark Davis and general manager Tom Telesco when he addressed reporters in his end-of-season news conference Monday.
“I haven’t been told anything different,” said Pierce, who was wearing a throwback Raiders Starter jacket at the podium.
Asked if he’d like his status “cleared up,” Pierce shrugged.
“It’s only coming from the outside,” he said of swirling speculation. It’s not inside the building. To me there’s nothing to clean up until I hear from inside the building.”
As such, Pierce said he did not anticipate making any changes to his staff in the wake of the team’s fewest wins since 2018. It was also the first time the Raiders were winless against AFC West opponents since 2006.
The Raiders endured a 10-game losing streak, their longest in-season skid since they began the 2014 season 0-10 and had the NFL’s worst rushing attack. But Las Vegas did have the league’s No. 10 total defense entering the season finale, a 34-20 loss to the playoff-bound Los Angeles Chargers.
Raiders players credited Pierce for keeping them focused during a trying season.
“Shout out to AP because he kept the guys motivated, even when you’re losing so many in a row,” said receiver Jakobi Meyers, who had his first career 1,000-yard season.
“That’s hard as a professional. That’s hard as a competitor, in general. AP just did a great job in keeping us going and understanding what the goal is at the end of the day.”
Rookie Brock Bowers, whose 112 catches were the third most by a tight end in NFL history, echoed Meyers’ words.
“I really liked AP as a coach,” said Bowers, who was selected for the Pro Bowl.
“I know decisions are made and it’s up to certain people and not us, so I don’t have any control over that. But I really liked playing for him and I thought he was a great coach.”
Added quarterback Aidan O’Connell: “He did a great job of [motivating], tried to speak to the guys that wanted to continue to fight.
“Guys continued to show up to work and do the right things and just tried to chip away.”
Pierce said he should have gone with his “gut” more this season and intimated he regretted not going with O’Connell at quarterback over Gardner Minshew to start the season.
“We’ve got to get better players,” Pierce said. “We’ve got to coach better. You’ve got to do a lot of things better when you only win four games.”
