Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis may not have a very difficult decision to make when it comes to deciding whether or not he should bring back Antonio Pierce as head coach.
Pierce took over on an interim basis after the Raiders fired Josh McDaniels in late October, and since he became coach, Las Vegas clearly had a spark.
Davis clearly took notice of that, saying he was “really excited” about how well the team played under Pierce’s direction.
“Yeah, I think the team really played well down the stretch, and I think going 4-2 in the division is really a positive for us,” Davis said, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “Obviously, that’s what we have to take care of first is the division. And we went into Kansas City, in a tough game, and beat them [20-14 on Christmas Day], and we took care of Denver here at home to end the season.”
The Raiders went 5-4 over their last nine games and ranked No. 1 in the NFL in scoring defense during that span. Plus, they not only defeated the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Christmas, but they also dropped 63 points on the Los Angeles Chargers in a 42-point drubbing a few weeks earlier.
While many want Las Vegas to merely remove the interim tag from Pierce and install him as head coach, doing so would violate the NFL’s Rooney Rule, so the Raiders will have to go through the process first.
“I have to go through the process of interviews, setting up interviews and then letting you know what we’re doing,” said Davis.
Davis added that he was not putting any sort of timeline on his decision.
It would be surprising if Las Vegas didn’t ultimately decide to retain Antonio Pierce, who the players have already endorsed.
The Raiders went 8-9 this season.
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