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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN editor-in-chief
LAS VEGAS — Antonio Pierce rocked back and forth angrily for more than five minutes at the postgame podium as the Las Vegas Raiders coach searched for answers following his team’s stunning 36-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Pierce was sure of one thing: His team had failed to show up for its home opener – and he had taken it out on some players he wouldn’t name.
“As the game went on,” Pierce said, “I think some people definitely made business decisions. And we’ll make business decisions going forward, too.
“We got our asses kicked… I would have booed us too.”
Given what was on the table — a celebratory home opener after last week’s emotional win over the Baltimore Ravens, the winless Panthers having benched former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young in favor of 14-year veteran quarterback Andy Dalton and the Raiders’ offense seemingly catching up with the team’s opportunistic defense — this loss, to longtime observers, was comparable to several embarrassing defeats in recent memory.
From losing to the Indianapolis Colts and former high school coach Jeff Saturday in 2022 in his first NFL game at the helm — the fallout from which led to then-Raiders QB Derek Carr crying on the podium — to falling to Baker Mayfield two days after joining the Los Angeles Rams later that season to last season’s loss to the Chicago Bears, who started undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent at quarterback.
The difference? These Raiders were completely dominated by Dalton and the Panthers.
“We’ve got a lot of people that have to look in the mirror,” said Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, who was hampered by a sprained left ankle suffered in the Raiders’ penultimate game of the win at Baltimore and finished Sunday with three tackles and a pass deflection.
“Everybody has to keep improving. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a wake-up call, you know what I mean? We have to get better. Period. It’s that simple.”
The Raiders gave up 437 total yards to Dalton & Co., who also dominated the time of possession from 36:02 to 23:58. On offense, only 55 of Vegas’ 331 yards of offense came on the ground. And the Raiders trailed by as much as 33-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Raiders receiver Davante Adams appeared baffled by Pierce’s assertion that players were making “business decisions” late in games.
“I feel like I don’t know, it’s hard for me to pinpoint that,” said Adams, who had four receptions on nine targets for 40 yards. “I’m not sure.”
Crosby gave his opinion.
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of things. You have to watch the film,” he said. “It just wasn’t good enough. It was just a gut-wrenching loss. I mean, it sucks. We didn’t play our best football.”
Pierce, meanwhile, said there wasn’t much to be learned from replacing starting quarterback Gardner Minshew with Aidan O’Connell with 4:47 left and Las Vegas trailing 36-15.
“The game was a little out of control, and we had two quarterbacks that were battling it out,” Pierce said of the training camp competition Minshew ultimately won. “Let the other guy go out there and see what he can do for a little while.”
O’Connell led the Raiders on a 13-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, completing 9 of 12 passes for 82 yards, including an 8-yard TD to Tre Tucker, while another pass was nearly intercepted.
Minshew, meanwhile, passed for 214 yards on 18 of 28 attempts with a 13-yard TD pass to Jakobi Meyers and an interception.
“It’s a shame, obviously, especially at home,” O’Connell said. “We wanted to take another step and hopefully get a win here, but we’ll bounce back. The good thing about football is there’s always next week’s game.”
