Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider episode explores Gardner Minshew, Amari Gainer, Mark Davis, extensions, Brock Bowers’s health, and much more.
The final weekend before the NFL regular season officially begins is upon the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raider Nation is prepared for action.
The Silver and Black are prepared to travel to Los Angeles to play the Los Angeles Chargers next week after having an amazing offseason and preseason.
Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider episode explores Gardner Minshew, Amari Gainer, Mark Davis, extensions, Brock Bowers’s health, and much more.
Antonio Pierce, the Las Vegas Raiders Coach, spoke yesterday, and below is a transcript of everything he said.
Q: Brock Bowers has missed practice the last few weeks. Are you guys still comfortable that he’s going to be able to be out there on Sunday and start?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I feel really good about that to be honest. Just again, I’m going to go back to protecting the young guy. Sometimes you get in the league, you have got to be smart and sometimes you have got to protect them from themselves. So, that’s all it is.”
Q: How would you assess how the team feels right now?
Coach Pierce: “Are we talking physically, mentally, emotionally? All of the above? Okay, good. I think physically, we’re there. These guys had a lot – especially for our vets – they’ve had quite a few days off now. We’ve gotten after it the last few days. We had pads on yesterday. Pretty good day in pads. We’ll be smart because we’re getting closer. We’re 10 days from game day. But I think physically, we’re pretty good. I think we’ll be about as healthy as you could be for a team going into Week 1. Mentally, I think, these guys are still highly motivated and dialed into what we’re doing. I think our coordinators have done a really good job throughout OTAs, minicamp and then obviously training camp and preseason of just kind of spoon-feeding our guys, right? Getting them comfortable, building confidence, building trust within the scheme and the concepts that we’re running, and allowing guys to make plays. And now that will start to dial up even a little bit more. And I think emotionally, man, you have a bunch of guys that are highly motivated and want to go out there and play and put some good product on the field.”
Q: You’ve been part of putting a team together as an assistant coach, but as the head coach, now having looked at the big picture and the math of it all and how all those puzzle pieces fit, how wasthat process for you?
Coach Pierce: “It was good. I mean, [Tom] Telesco, again, a lot of experience there. Done it the last 11- plus years at another organization, but I think just sitting there with him, JoJo [Wooden], Champ [Kelly], and just kind of seeing the big picture things. I always use the word ‘Band Aid’, just not sitting there plugging things, and just really looking at the growth and development of our team and doing what’s best for the Raiders, not just now, but the immediate future, right? So, we know that it’s a ‘win now’ business, but I think it’s also important when you look at our team, you see a lot of youthful and energetic players there that have a lot of potential. It’s up to our coaches to unlock that and those players to keep going forward. But it was really easy and pretty seamless with [Tom] Telesco, to be honest with you. And I think, to the players’ credit, they went out there and competed. So, I mean, you guys allsaw what we saw in the preseason, and those guys were rewarded by being on the roster.”
Q: Talking about youthful guys with a lot of potential, can you talk about Amari Gainer? As a former NFL linebacker, can you evaluate his playstyle? And what advice do you give him with also being an undrafted linebacker?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, no. Listen, when he came in the door day one, it was like, ‘Wow, this is a pretty sucker here.’ He looks good and you saw the movement with him in college from Florida State to North Carolina, but there was always like, ‘Man, there’s more to him.’ And I think the best thing that happened for him was that last game, he went out there and played 90-plus snaps. 70-plus on defense and another 15 or so on special teams. And all you saw throughout the game, and we’ve been seeing it all preseason, is a guy just getting better and better. But more importantly, somebody that just was playing his heart out. And it meantsomething to him. Even to that last play where the 49ers were throwing the ball around, if you look at it, I mean, he’s on the ground three times, tackling people, and when the ball ends up at the two-yard line, he’sright there finishing it. So, I thought he did an excellent job. He’s put himself in position, not just at linebacker, but on special teams, to be one of the core guys for us. There’s still some development there at the linebacker position that will take place over the course of the season, but he gives us a lot of flexibility because of what he’s able to do both on the line of scrimmage, off the ball linebacker and special teams.”
Q: You guys signed Darnay Holmes yesterday. I know he used to play for Patrick Graham with the Giants. What did you see from him that made you guys want to bring him in?
Coach Pierce: “I’ll actually even go further than that, I’ve known Darnay [Holmes] since he was 13. I coached him on the 7-on-7 team when he was a freshman. I know his father, I know his family well, followed him throughout his career, spoke to him throughout this college process. So, Patrick [Graham] was very familiar with him. And you look through that 53-man roster, I know everybody saw our roster like, okay, you’re all set and done. But it’s always about getting better, and that was a great opportunity. We have Nate Hobbs there at the star nickel position and Darnay has played a lot of football. He’s been productive as well, so that gives us depth. He’s a really good special teams player and a good pro.”
Q: For those guys you justsigned this week, how much ramp up time do you think that they need before they’re going to be effective for you out there on Sundays?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I think that’s all still to be seen and watched. I guess in practice it’ll be a good opportunity to go out there and see them. It’ll be dialed back a little bit, but more importantly we got to get them up to speed with just our scheme, how we do things here as a Raider. But they have skill sets that obviously when you make claims, you see something, right? I don’t think we made claims to put guys on the bench. So, obviously, we see something where they can help us. When is it? Is it immediate future, is it Week 1, Week 4, I don’t know. We’re not going to rush them out there and do it because it’s going to look bad on us and them. But I think it’s more important just to get them up to speed of how we do things.”
Q: You look at Darnay Holmes and he’s played all over the field in his career. Does that kind of seamlessly fit into what you’re looking for from that backup cornerback position?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, position flex. I mean, that’s key for us, right? Really, the only guy we got that can go inside-outside or outside-inside is Nate Hobbs. So, when you can add another player like that, Isaiah PolaMao does it as well from a safety position. You see him a little bit at the nickel position, you’ve seen that obviously in the preseason. So, just the more flexibility you can get, the better it is for our team. It makes us a better overall unit.”
Q: Thomas Harper was a guy that also played all over the field at Notre Dame. He also played for Al Golden, who kind of runs an NFL defense there in South Bend. What kind of flexibility does he bring to the table?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I like his play style. What I saw on film was a guy with a burst, aggressiveness, kind of controlling the back end as a young player. I watched him in college. You just saw a guy each and every week get better in the preseason. And again, whatever you can do to keep building depth in every room, especially in the secondary for us, is critical. But he does have a skill set to play both safety and nickel position.”
Q: What’s the biggest challenge as a coach during these two weeks between games?
Coach Pierce: “Too much time overthinking it, trying to throw the whole playbook and creating scenarios, and chasing ghosts. Chasing waterfalls is what I like to tell our guys, but that won’t be the case with us. Less is more.”
Q: Last year, when you took over, there were some players who really took a step up, like Malcolm Koonce for example. I’m wondering this year; do you have that eye on a player who you think is just going to take that extra leap that probably didn’t start off too well last year?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I don’t want to set the stage too high for him, but I think he’s already done it. Tre Tucker. I think you saw it in the preseason, we saw it in OTAs, in minicamp. He’s just been Steady Eddy. And then he got to the preseason, and he did exactly what we’ve been seeing in practice. If he can continue that, that’s going to help us big time because obviously he can run by a lot of corners and safeties in this league. We know what we’re going to get with Davante [Adams] and Brock [Bowers] and Big Mike [Michael Mayer] and Jakobi [Meyers]. We know what we’re going to get with the rest of our skill players, but I think, man, when you got a guy that runs a 4.2 and create those explosive plays, that makes those DBs back up a little bit more. You’re going to play him a little differently than you play everybody else.”
Q: He also showed in special teams that he can return, but now you also have Tyreek McAllister. So, how does that dynamic work?
Coach Pierce: “Two’s good. One is cool. Two’s better. I mean, to be honest, [Tyreik] McAllister’s role on offense is still to be determined, but we know what he can do. We’ve all seen that, and he did that even as a kickoff returner. So, I think he’s going to do a really good job. Our staff is doing a really good job, especially Tom McMahon, of finding the right spot to put these gentlemen in. And we got to be smart, right? Tre Tucker is one of our starting receivers, so McAllister has a role. I don’t know, is it this guy this week? Is it that guy? Is it the hot hand? But I think both guys have done an outstanding job now in the return game. I think we’ve seen that both as punt returners, and McAllister punt return and kickoff return.”
Q: You’ve praised Gardner’s personality and free spirit ever since the first moment he came in here, but now you’ve gotten more time to know him over the full summer. Anything surprise you about him? Or just what stands out about getting to know him?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, he’s a football junkie. We always talk about Maxx [Crosby] and Christian [Wilkins] about being the first guys in the building, but he’s not too far behind. And he stays late, and he’s done a lot of things without a lot of hype and things that we talk about throughout the building that’s starting to show up a little bit. And I think our team is really taking notice of that. And obviously, since we’ve named him the starting quarterback, he’s kind of taken on that role with our skill position players and our O-line. So, it’s been good to see in the building.”
Q: You talked about that time between games where players have a have a couple days off for the first time really in training camp. What do you want to see from them? Do you want them to get away from football or want them to keep focusing on it? What is your message this week?
Coach Pierce: “Well, our vets are kind of used to it. Like I said, they just had four days off. They didn’t play in the game. So, if you go back, that’s Friday, Saturday, Sunday. They come on Monday for a little bit, so they had four days there. Practice three days and another four days off. Like I said, we should be fresh. What I expect for them is what we talk about. It’s 10 days before the game, and this is an important game for us. We want to get off to a fast start. We’re on the road against a divisional foe. We can take time off later down the road, not right now. So, they’ll be in the building. I expect them in the building.”
Q: Is there still a window open for Jackson Powers-Johnson to get on the field on Sunday against the Chargers?
Coach Pierce: “I think that’s still to be seen. Four practices or five, so got to get him in football shape.” Las Vegas Raiders Transcript 8.29.24
Q: What have you seen from him?
Coach Pierce: “Powerful. Everything we saw in the draft, everything we saw when we were scouting and looking at him on film. I mean, he’s powerful, strong, tough, good personality, fits that room. Kind of lightens that room up. It’s good to see that part. I think he’s coming out of his shell even more. You know, it’s hard and difficult when you’re not around your teammates. You’re not there in the trenches with them but having him at practice has been a plus. I mean, we talked about the depth of our O-line. I thought that was a weakness last year for us. I think it’s a strength for us and I feel really good about the guys that’s backing up some of our starters.”
Q: Has the team named the captains?
Coach Pierce: “We haven’t named captains, that’ll be next week.”
Q: What about the running backs and ramping them up and getting them ready for the Chargers? Isthat kind of an emphasis right now?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, that’s why we had pads on yesterday to kind of get after it a little bit. Again, when you’ve got a quarterback battle, it kind of makes it tough to do other things. But I thought we picked and chose our days in training camp, but that’s going to be an important part of our game, not because AP likes to run the ball, no because running the ball is effective for us as well, and that opens up play pass and everything for our wide receivers and our offense. I like, what we’ve been seeing with our running backs. I think Zamir [White] has his legs underneath them. I mean, big, powerful man and bigger than he was last year, more explosive, faster it looks like. And then Alex Mattison, Dylan [Laube], all those guys, Ameer [Abdullah], they’ve all kind of got a role within the offense. But to be honest, early downs, a lot of number three, that’s what I expect to see.”
Q: You guys shuffled at defensive tackle a little bit signing Jonah Laulu from the Colts and releasing Byron Young. What went into that decision?
Coach Pierce: “Jonah [Laulu] was here at our local pro day, and I liked him. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get a chance to draft him, but you watch, you just look at your roster, you look at everybody else, you look at the waiver wire, and you make a decision. And we felt Jonah gives us some more depth and a little bit more juice in the D-line room.”
Q: What are you expecting from Divine Deablo and Robert Spillane this season?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I love linebackers, right? Love linebackers. The same thing man, I thought last year big growth with those two guys, career year for both players, right? And they’ve got to take it up to another notch. At the end of the day, our defense runs through our linebackers. I know a lot of talk is about Maxx Crosby and our D-line, but listen the brains of the operation is Robert Spillane, okay? And [Divine] Deablo, now in year four playing linebacker, looks like a linebacker, moves like a linebacker, talks like a linebacker, and he understands this is a big year for him. Everybody is expecting big things for him. But the good part about it, they don’t have to do it by themselves. They’ve got a good front in front of them, the calls come in, they can communicate. What I love to see by them two guys is just their ownership now. Like it’s clear cut about who’s running the show on our defense, and it’s our linebackers.”
Q: To that point, Spillane had a career high in interceptions last year, just seemed like that was an area of his game that took a step forward. Why do you think that is, and are you expecting more of the same this season?
Coach Pierce: “Yeah, a little biased comment here, I was his linebacker coach too. No, but literally, that was one of the things that we talked about when we signed him, was working on that. And really all offseason, myself, him and the rest of linebackers, we worked on a lot of just being twitchy, vision on the quarterback, just not wasting steps, being more efficient in our movement, and I think that’s what you really saw from Spill. He sees it, he believes it, he runs the line, and two of those interceptions came on just that, seeing, believing and running the line. Most of the time these quarterbacks, there’s a little hitch right there and if you can catch him, you can make a play. But I think he really put an emphasis on that, because he wanted to be a complete linebacker. He’s a run-stop guy, he’s an early down guy, and he didn’t like that. I didn’t like that for him either. And that was something we worked on the entire offseason, and credit to him, it showed up in the games.”
Q: What’s the next step for him [Robert Spillane]?
Coach Pierce: “Repeating it. Repeating, consistency, just like our team.”
