What they’re saying: Pierce, Raiders continue to make same mistakes

Twitter/X reacts to the Raiders’ ninth loss in a row

When Antonio Pierce took over as the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim head coach, he created a tradition of smoking victory cigars after every win. Now that Pierce has the full-time job in 2024, the Raiders haven’t lit up a stogie since the first month of the season.

The 28-13 Week 14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes it nine games in a row that the Raiders have dropped while the team and head coach have become a broken record this fall, repeating the same mistakes over and over.

Pierce’s game-management has been an issue all season and Sunday’s first instance came when he challenged a Tre Tucker sideline catch that wasn’t even close. On top of that, Las Vegas had opportunities to go for it on fourth and short on back-to-back drives and opted to punt both times.

The most egregious decision to punt came on the second fourth down. The Raiders were down by four and had just picked up eight yards on third and nine to set up fourth and one. Running back Sincere McCormick averaged 5.2 yards per rush on the afternoon and had converted a short yardage attempt earlier in the game, but Las Vegas punted the ball away instead of rolling the dice.

Granted, the Silver and Black were on their own 29-yard-line. However, with a 2-10 record, what did the team have to lose? Also, the Buccaneers marched right down the field on the following possession to take a two-score lead anyway, a poetic ending to a cowardly decision.

The other major theme that continued was the Raiders’ awful quarterback play. Aidan O’Connell was 11-19 for 104 yards and an interception in addition to a lost fumble before leaving the game early with an injury.

Combine all of that and you get a team that is 2-11 heading into the final four weeks of the campaign, leading to some frustrated posts on X/Twitter.

The challenge that wasn’t close…

Pierce talking about the team post-game.

More game management issues.

Sounds like O’Connell’s season might be over.

The play O’Connell got injured on should have been roughing the passer.

Six different starting quarterbacks since Derek Carr, yikes…

Raiders have the No. 1 pick with the Jaguars winning, will Shedeur Sanders be the seventh starter after Carr?

This was a sick play from Brock Bowers, though, and Bowers made some history today.

Great run from McCormick.