Against Vegas’ defense, Dalton became the first quarterback this season to have at least 300 yards passing and three completions in a game. The Raiders have allowed players like Chuba Hubbard and Diontae Johnson to have career games. After throwing for just 352 yards in their first two games, the Panthers threw for 437 against Vegas.
On the other side of the field, the Raiders fared no better, finishing 3 of 11 on third down and scoring just three times in 12 possessions. The running game, which Pierce rightly criticized, yielded just 55 yards on 16 carries. The game got so out of hand that Gardner Minshew was replaced by Aidan O’Connell in the fourth quarter.
Pierce was not impressed with Las Vegas’ performance overall, but had his strongest criticism of his club’s management.
“I think as the game went on, I don’t think it was the team that played,” Pierce said. “I think some individuals made business decisions, and we’ll make business decisions going forward.”
Asked what positives he could take from the loss, Pierce quickly replied: “Nothing.”
The Raiders locker room officials weren’t sure who Pierce was talking about, but agreed with their head coach that Sunday’s performance wasn’t enough.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that have to look in the mirror,” Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby told ESPN.com. “Everybody’s got to keep getting better. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a wake-up call, you know what I mean? We’ve got to be better. Period … it’s as simple as that.”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot of things. You have to watch the film. It just wasn’t good enough. It was just a crushing loss. I mean, s–t. We didn’t play our best football.”
The Raiders will be in similar company next Sunday, as they look to bounce back against the 1-2 Browns, who also suffered a surprising home loss in Week 3. Las Vegas will hope to deliver a better result for its fans – and get back to business – in Week 4.
“I think today was a bad day for all of us,” Pierce said. “Bad day for the Raiders.”
