The Las Vegas Raiders wasted no time getting their bye week started following another disappointing loss to the Cincinnati Bengals making it five in a row. That same night they fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello, and offensive line coach James Cregg. That was just the start of a long bye week where the Raiders need to do some major introspection on how to salvage this disaster of a season.
The Raiders Bye Week Brush Ups
Mass Firings
As mentioned before, the offense is going through a makeover this week by moving on from Getsy, Scangerello, and James Cregg. The offensive scheming, the quarterback, and the offensive line have been the most disappointing parts of the team this season. Last year, getting rid of the offensive coordinator and head coach Josh McDaniels led to better things for the team and hopefully, it’s the same this year. The Raiders are currently last in rushing offense and bottom six in offense overall. There have been many instances this season where the defense has allowed the offense the opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter. The reason for this is mostly that the offense starts okay then goes completely downhill from there unable to make it to the red zone whatsoever at times.
Scott Turner was promoted to interim offensive coordinator and his father, former three-time NFL head coach Norv Turner was also brought in as an offensive advisor to assist in the offensive revamp. While no formal replacement was named for Scangerello, long-time NFL coach Joe Philbin will be filling in for Cregg as the offensive line coach. The Raiders and Head Coach Antonio Pierce have a real chance to show in week 11 against the Dolphins that their shortcomings were due to the people fired at the end of week 9.
Another Open-Floor Meeting?
On Monday following their loss, the Raider team and staff came together for yet another meeting where both staff and players could voice their opinions. Unlike last year, this meeting’s sentiment was much more positive than the team meeting that directly led to McDaniels’s firing. Similar to Pierce’s preaching of accountability from players it seems the team feels the same way about its coaching staff. It seems time for Pierce to take accountability as head coach for setting his team up to fail by empowering Getsy, Scangerello, and Cregg. Given the sentiments from this meeting, the players still believe in Pierce and want to help him fix his shortcomings. Come Monday Week 11 we will see if this meeting along with the offensive firings get the team back on track.
Scott and Norv Turner
Father and Son offensive coordinator veterans Norv and Scott Turner are going to be taking over the offense for the Raiders remaining games this season. Scott Turner has a legitimate chance to prove he can be an offensive coordinator again in the NFL after his stints in Washington and Carolina. His very experienced father Norv will advise and help with the quarterbacks. Norv Turner made his name leveraging his development of Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman into a head coaching job. With the valuable experience of his father and Joe Philbin, Scott Turner has a real chance to succeed. In terms of hitting the reset button mid-season, the Raiders could have done a lot worse with their new hires. It is obvious however that they are still committed to winning games in the remainder of the season.
Antonio Pierce On The Hotseat
Now that the problem is seemingly out of the building with Getsy and others the attention now turns to the head coach Pierce. If the Raiders continue to lose games in embarrassing fashion and the offense is helpless, there’s a very high chance Pierce could be let go. It also makes sense that if they can look better Pierce will be able to keep building this team. Three players from this year’s draft are all starting and playing well which speaks to the validity of this regime. Not only that, but the players still rally behind Pierce and the defense especially plays hard when given the opportunity. Some fans have been calling for Pierce’s head for the better part of the season, but win or lose he deserves a full season to show that the team will improve. Given he wasn’t ousted along with Getsy, it seems they don’t think Pierce is the problem. The Raiders have to improve this season, or the team won’t take the chance on him developing one of the talented quarterbacks headlining the 2025 draft.
JPJ is the future at Center
A Raider team that has been plagued by injury all season, lost two backup offensive linemen and longtime starter Kolton Miller in their week 9 game. They were already missing starting center Andre James who was injured against the Chiefs a week prior. If there was a silver lining to all this it’s that Jackson Powers-Johnson may have solidified him as the center going forward. He ended up having far and away the best overall Pro Football Focus grade for an offensive lineman in week nine in his first start at center. He set the tone for the run game and could be one of the catalysts for improving the Raider’s awful rushing offense. Former starter Andre James has been disappointing this season after having a breakout 2023. His decline in play has been noticeable and isn’t good enough to justify replacing Powers-Johnson at center. Offensive Guards Dylan Parham and Jordan Meredith have now proven to be the best that the Raiders have at that position by far. Now it looks like the Raiders found their interior offensive line with Powers-Johnson at center, and Meredith and Parham at the guard positions.
The Raiders bye week could not have come at a more pivotal time in their season. The season may be over from a competitive standpoint, but the staff needs to prove its worth before they are run out of Vegas. Given how last year went it’s not out of the question that Antonio Pierce can do better in the second half of the season. Unfortunately for Raider fans, it is highly unlikely that will happen. As of today, it looks like the second half of the season will be flooded with speculation on whether they should draft Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders with the top pick.
Main Image: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
