The players on the 2023 Raiders felt an immediate difference when head coach Josh McDaniels was fired and Antonio Pierce took over as the interim head coach.
Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell and receiver Jakobi Meyers joined PFT Live from the Super Bowl Media Center and detailed the frustrations the team felt early in the season, and how much changed when Pierce ran the show.
“It didn’t feel right,” Meyers said. “Once we got on the same page, it was night and day.”
Meyers said players appreciate playing for a coach like Pierce.
“It’s fun. He really let us be ourselves,” Meyers said. “Guys can go out there and enjoy the game a little more.”
O’Connell said it was clear from the first time Pierce addressed the team as head coach that things would be different.
“I knew from there, this guy is a leader of men and could command a room,” O’Connell said.
Several Raiders players endorsed Pierce becoming the permanent head coach, and Meyers and O’Connell are pleased that Raiders owner Mark Davis listened to his players and stuck with Pierce.