The off-season coaching search should be as simple as possible for Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis.
In fact, that coaching search shouldn’t even exist.
Davis made a major miscalculation when he hired Josh McDaniels on January 31, 2022. McDaniels was the man in Davis’ mind to replace interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who excelled in that role following Jon Gruden’s retirement in disgrace. McDaniels turned out to be his own disaster in his own ways, and his November 1 departure could have had the Raiders completely unmoored.
But with linebackers coach Antonio Pierce promoted to interim head coach, this Raiders team has become an entirely different animal. That’s been especially true on defense. Through Week 9, the Raiders ranked 19th in Defensive DVOA. From Week 10 through last Monday’s 20-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders rank third in Defensive DVOA, behind only the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets.
The AP Effect is real, and it is spectacular.
The AP effect
From @RAIDERS_PR pic.twitter.com/zw1mTp1AoH— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) December 30, 2023
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the AP Effect is cornerback Jack Jones. The New England Patriots, who selected Jones in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, waived him in mid-November, and the Raiders swept him right up.
There’s some serious history there, as Jones played his high-school football at Long Beach Polytechnic. Who was Jones’ head coach there? Antonio Pierce. How much has that mattered? In four games with New England this season, Jones had allowed eight catches on 11 targets for 115 yards, 21 yards after the catch, 1 touchdown, no interceptions, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 136.6.
Since the Raiders got him, Jones has allowed 11 catches on 18 targets for 78 yards, 32 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 31.5.
Fellow Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs has said that Jones is a fanatic about studying tape, and that’s transferred to the rest of the group. Pierce acknowledged that, and brought it all back to their high school days.
“Yeah, when Jack was younger we had a lot of study hall at Long Beach Poly. Those office hours led into watching film the way Jack was as a player and person. So, he’s learned at a young age that film is important. He’s carried that into his now professional career. It’s good to see. You really want that with a lot of players. All of us should be a student of the game. This is our job, right? It’s your job to know it. It’s your job, it’s nobody else. I can tell you all the information, but it’s your job as a professional to go there and do what you need to do to get yourself ready and prepared to play, and he’s done that obviously in the last two or three weeks by his performance. That’s got to continue, but you’d like to see everybody doing it.
“If Nate [Hobbs] is talking with Jack, then I’ll say, ‘Jack, why are you not bringing Nate? Why are you not bringing Amik [Robertson]? Where’s the rest of the DBs, all the corners should be there.’ We should all be seeing the same thing, right? You know what this building is? It’s silver and black. We should all see the same colors. Don’t make up any other new colors and new schemes.”
Jones’ two interceptions with the Raiders haven’t just been interceptions; he’s had pick-sixes in two straight games against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15…
…and the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 16.
Making the most of what your players have to offer is one of the hallmarks of good coaching. Antonio Pierce has done that across the board, and that’s just one of many reasons the Raiders have no need for a coaching search at this point.
