Interim coach Antonio Pierce has guided the Las Vegas Raiders through nearly every conceivable scenario this season.
From a sluggish start to a late playoff push or an embarrassing shutout to a 63-point scoring outburst in just a matter of days, this first-time head coach has seen one common theme from his players.
They fight like Raiders and he intends to fight with them, no matter the circumstances.
So even after another mistake-prone, uneven performance Sunday sealed Las Vegas’ postseason fate, Pierce acknowledged the goal is simple:
Corrections need to be made before next week’s season finale against longtime rival Denver.
It’s very difficult when the Raiders play the Raiders, and we did that on both sides of the ball,” Pierce said after the 23-20 loss.
“We had opportunities on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 to keep drives alive. We had opportunities to get (the Colts) off the field, and we didn’t do enough of that.”
It was expected that this would be a physical battle, and the Colts came to play.
The return of right tackle Braden Smith gave the offensive line a massive boost.
They were able to control the line of scrimmage enough to put the game away.
There are still plenty of areas that need to be cleaned up, especially in third-and-long situations.
However, this was a big win and crucial bounce-back effort to give them a chance at making the playoffs next week.
