Raiders-Chiefs: What they’re saying; Antonio Pierce’s inexperience hurts Las Vegas’ playoff hopes

Head coach made a few questionable decisions that ended up hurting the team

This Week 12 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs featured the biggest disparity in experience between two head coaches in the league, and it showed on the field as the Chiefs took down the Raiders 31-17.

Starting in 1999 with the Philadephia Eagles, Andy Reid has been an NFL head coach for nearly a quarter century and has been at his current post in Kansas City for the last 10 years. Meanwhile, Pierce has been on the job for about a month after becoming Las Vegas’ interim head coach when Josh McDaniels was fired.

While there’s plenty of blame to go around during the Raiders’ double-digit defeat, Pierce made a few questionable decisions that certainly didn’t help matters.

The first—and least significant—came in the first quarter when he decided to challenge that wide receiver Davante Adams had made the line to gain on a second down catch that set up a third and one for the Silver and Black. Pierce’s challenge was unsuccessful and while the Raiders did convert on third down, they were down one timeout which they could have used at the end of the half and played a role in another misstep the coach made.

With about a minute to go in the second quarter, Kansas City ran the ball on second down, and instead of using a timeout to give his offense time to respond before hitting the locker room, Pierce let the clock run and kept the one timeout he had in his back pocket. If he had another timeout to use, maybe he’d be more inclined to use one in that situation.

Also, a week after being aggressive on fourth down, the young head coach opted for a field goal on fourth and one that Daniel Carlson missed. The switch to being conservative was a clear sign that Pierce is still finding his identity as a head coach.

There were a few other questionable decisions by Pierce that, according to The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, likely prompted a meeting between Pierce and owner Mark Davis as below is a roundup of the post-game press conferences and posts/tweets from X/Twitter.

Pierce gives a quick recap of the game.

Pierce does get credit for getting the Raiders ready to play but, obviously, that wasn’t enough.

Cornerback Marcus Peters missed a tackle early in the game and watched from the sidelines for the majority of the contest.

Another questionable decision was a fourth-down call that sealed the team’s fate. Quarterback Aidan O’Connell is taking part of the blame, though.

Davante Adams feels Las Vegas beat itself tonight.

A meeting of the minds between two of the best running backs in franchise history; Marcus Allen and Josh Jacobs. Jacobs joined Allen as the organization’s only backs to have 1,000 yards from scrimmage or more in each of their first five NFL seasons.

Jacobs eclipsed the mark mentioned above on this beautiful 63-yard touchdown run.

Fairly accurate recap of Carlson’s missed kick.

Maxx Crosby talks about how healthy he was for today’s game. He played after not practicing all week and being ruled doubtful.

We’ll end with the most impressive play of the game, a hell of a catch by Jakobi Meyers.