It’s the dawn of a new era in Sin City, and Las Vegas Raiders’ players are loving every second of it.
They looked ecstatic to know that Josh McDaniels had been relieved of his duties, and they all seemed willing to run through a wall for interim HC Antonio Pierce.
Notably, it didn’t take long before the rest of the world could understand why.
In his latest press conference, Pierce explained why he allowed practice squad players to be on the sidelines during their game vs. the New York Giants, which isn’t common at the NFL level (via Dov Kleiman).
Pierce stated that practice squad players bust their tails to get the team ready for games, and they’re always there in the meetings and putting in the same work as the active roster, so he believes they’ve earned the right to be there.
I love this: Practice squad players usually are not on the sideline for games. #Raiders HC Antonio Pierce changed that and made sure they were for his first game as head coach.
His explanation tells you all you need to know about why the players are all in for him.
This is a… pic.twitter.com/UQxdwBtWgG
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 7, 2023
He added that he doesn’t want them to be practice squad players for long, so he thought that having them there would motivate them to push even further and get a shot at the active roster at some point.
That’s a major contrast from McDaniels, whom the players reportedly confronted in a meeting to urge him to change his ways, his overcorrections, and scapegoating them about issues with play-calling.
They responded in a big way by putting up 30 points on the Giants.
And now, it’s easy to realize why they were so high on him and so motivated to help him find success in charge of the organization.
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