The New York Giants will face the Las Vegas Raiders this Sunday afternoon in a game that just two days ago had few backstories.
But things have changed rapidly, as they can do in the NFL. The Raiders fired general manager Dave Ziegler and head Josh McDaniels after their Monday night loss to the Detroit Lions and replaced them with Champ Kelly and Antonio Pierce.
Yes, the same Antonio Pierce who was a staple on the Giants’ Super Bowl XLII championship team in 2007. Pierce played for the Giants from 2005-2009, serving as a defensive captain, and was a Pro Bowl selection in 2006.
Pierce was elevated from linebacker coach to interim head coach this week by the Raiders. He had been the team’s linebackers coach since the beginning of 2022. Before that, he served as a defensive assistant at his alma mater, Arizona State for four seasons.
Pierce’s first game comes ironically versus the Giants, the team for whom he had his greatest success as a player.
“How about that? Couldn’t write it up,” Pierce said at his introductory press conference.
“But it’s not Antonio Pierce versus the New York Giants. Las Vegas Raiders versus the Giants, coming to our house, a much-needed win for us. We’ve had two ugly losses. It’s time to change that.
“We’re in the second half of the season. It doesn’t matter what or who Antonio Pierce played for. It’s about the Las Vegas Raiders. Those players understand that. This is about them. It ain’t about me.”
Pierce was known for his leadership, tenacity and intelligence as a player, and hopes to pass that along to his players. He spoke about what led up to this moment. His promotion was a bit of a surprise, but he’s far from an overnight success.
“I’ve been fortunate. I played at a high level, went all the way back to my roots and coached at Long Beach Poly High School as a head coach there. I was at the New York Giants in 2017, then college for four years. I had opportunities to leave and go to other organizations. I decided not to,” he said.
“The short story, the matter of fact is I grew up in Compton, California. I was born a Raider. I was born with the Raiders rolling in the Coliseum in L.A. I was rolling with NWA, talking Straight Outta Compton, rocking Raider hats.
“So when the opportunity came to work with Josh and Pat Graham and Dave, I jumped on it. So that’s what set me up for this. I was born this way.”
There are very few people left in the Giants’ organization who were around when Pierce was in uniform but the ones that are here now are fully aware of who he is.
“Got a lot of respect for AP, again, I remember meeting with him down in his office, talking about Matt (free agent quarterback Matt Corral, who was working out at Long Beach) out in Cali and obviously know what he did here,” said Giants head coach Brian Daboll. “I’ve built a friendship with him along the way the last few years, but again our focus has got to be on the field, players and schemes and do the best job we can.”
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