Raiders' Defense Aims to Repeat "Winning Performance"
Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings was another case of the Las Vegas Raiders not playing complimentary football.
However, as hard as it was to watch Las Vegas' offense sputter down the field, the defensive side of the ball held up its end of the bargain and dominated the Vikings for nearly the entire game.
Interim Coach Antonio Pierce credited his defense with keeping the Raiders in the game for as long as possible.
"I thought the defense -- it was a winning performance," Pierce said. "I mean, whenever you get the numbers getting after the quarterback. I mean, you saw Tyree Wilson, name them, Robert Spillane, Maxx [Crosby], they're all flying, J-Rob [Janarius Robinson]. I mean, these guys, they let it loose when we thought we could take advantage of their offensive line in the passing game.
"I thought defensively, early on we got after [Justin] Jefferson. We wanted to be physical, and on first play, Jack Jones had an opportunity there. And then [Marcus] Epps put a big hit on him, and then obviously, we had to do a good job with the tight end (T.J. Hockenson) as the game went on.
The defensive side of the ball was the lone bright spot on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. They look to have a repeat performance against the Los Angeles Chargers.
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Pierce credited his defense with keeping the Raiders in the game for as long as possible and acknowledged how the special teams unit complimented the defense.
"But I thought the defense gave us an opportunity to win the game," Pierce said. "AJ [Cole] has been outstanding all year long, changing the field position. We've just got to be careful with certain things we do as far as maybe not out-kicking our coverage sometimes. He has such a good leg there, but it's a great weapon to have when you have a guy who can really flip the field."
The Raiders have to move past their loss to the Vikings on Sunday as the Los Angeles Chargers, who they've already lost to this season, come to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for Thursday Night Football.
"We're not even watching this game," Pierce said. "We're on to the Chargers for a divisional game at home, Thursday Night Football, and we're excited about it."
At the very least, the Raiders will get a chance to avenge their loss sooner rather than later. That also means a little bit more time to rest on the back end, as, after Thursday night, Las Vegas doesn't play another game for 11 days.
The Silver and Black will turn around quickly and host their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on Thursday, December 14, at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST.
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