The Las Vegas Raiders waited until 10:00 p.m. ET local time on Tuesday to drop bombshell news. Owner Mark Davis announced that he has fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler eight games into the season and less than two years after the two were hired. The move wasn't necessarily surprising. Rather, it was the timing.
With McDaniels out, the team promoted linebackers coach Antonio Pierce as their interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Additionally, Champ Bailey was promoted from assistant general manager to fulfill Ziegler's duties. Oh, and the team fired offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi on Wednesday morning as well.
Even with all of that dysfunction, the Raiders are still favored by Caesar's Sportsbook (h/t ESPN's Jordan Raanan) to defeat their Week 9 opponent, the New York Giants, in their Week 9 matchup this Sunday.
Lost in the coaching and front office turnover, Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Journal Review reports that the Raiders are expected to start rookie Aidan O'Connell in Week 9 over Jimmy Garoppolo.
Despite mass firings, Raiders still favored to beat Giants in Week 9
It goes to show just how poorly the Giants' season has gone that even with a first-time head coach making his debut for the Raiders, they are still projected to lose. The Giants made it to the playoffs last year in Brian Daboll's first year as head coach, finishing the season with a 9-6-1 record, and picked up a playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Round.
Yet, this season, the team is 2-6. Quarterback Daniel Jones missed the past three games after suffering a neck injury in Week 5. Left tackle Andrew Thomas has been sidelined since after their Week 1 game against the Dallas Cowboys due to a hamstring injury. The offensive line struggled mightily throughout the year. While the defense has improved vastly in recent weeks, they were unable to hold back the New York Jets with 24 seconds left to avoid overtime this past Sunday. Instead losing 13-10 in extra time.
Now, they are set to face off against a Raiders team that has begun the process of cleaning house on the coaching staff and front office. The Giants are familiar with Pierce, as he was their former linebacker from 2005 until 2009, a team captain, and a pivotal player in the team's run to a Super Bowl 42 victory during the 2007 season. While this does present itself as a potential Jeff Saturday situation, as in a team losing to a first-time head coach, Pierce actually had a coaching background in the NFL and college upon his promotion.
From 2018 until 2021, Pierce was a member of the Arizona State Sun Devils coaching staff under Herm Edwards. Pierce served a variety of roles, including linebackers coach, defensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator, and associate head coach. However, Pierce resigned after the 2021 season as he was subject to an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations.
Pierce joined McDaniels' coaching staff last season and is now tasked with replacing him for the remainder of this season. It could potentially be a tryout for Pierce for the full-time position, especially if they play well.