Raiders' Coach Antonio Pierce Chiefs Week

The Las Vegas Raiders (6-8) are set to take on the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs (9-5) tomorrow, Christmas Day at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs want to fend off theorizing Silver and Black and their InterimHead Coach, Antonio Pierce.

The Raiders want to keep their NFL Playoff dreams alive and deliver a body punch to their arch-AFC West rivals. The game is sure to be a slugfest.

Above, you can watch Pierece's entire press conference, and you can read the transcript below:

Interim Head Coach Antonio Pierce

Q: How has the week been? Coach Pierce: "Very good. Chiefs week, seeing a lot of red. Excited. Bigger week, good focus by our team. Obviously, the energy, the purpose, the focus is there. Execution, we're still working on it. We got one more day to get better."

Q: I think this is the first time you came in with no coffee. Do you just not need the juice this week? Coach Pierce: "No, I brought the juice. You guys brought the juice. Sometimes someone else got to bring the juice, you need a little pick me up. No coffee, but I had it out there and a couple of red bulls this morning. I'm good."

Q: You obviously played against Andy Reid teams quite a bit. Now having the chance to coach against him, what are hallmarks of an Andy Reid coached team? Coach Pierce: "Execution, situational football, screen game, quarterback play. And then as much as you think he wants to throw the ball; he likes running the ball. He likes to see that number. At the end of the day, you'll see that stat where he wants to get 20 to 25 touches for the back. And obviously, if they get 100 that's their goal."

Q: It's not as an explosive of an offense that it's been in the past. When you watch the film, do you see there'ssomething that's maybe close to popping for them and that they're just kind of working through it? Or is it a different team for them? Coach Pierce: "No, 15 (Patrick Mahomes) is still quarterback, so it's still special. The explosive plays, I mean, I'm not going to talk for them. Dangerous threats, you see number four (Rashee Rice), he's coming along. Number 15 makes a lot of guys better, man. And I think that's the one thing that jumps off the film. Different players, different roles, it doesn't matter. Next man up mentality. It doesn't matter if the running backs are out, the tight ends out, I mean, they're just making plays and they're winning. They're still winning our division. They're Super Bowl champs. So, I'm not going to get into that, that they're not as explosive. It might not be as exciting as people are used to seeing them play, but the production is there. They still got the wins. That's all that matters."

Q: Obviously there's been a lot of talk about Maxx Crosby going up against Patrick Mahomes because of the series on Netflix and everything with their rivalry. How do you see Maxx dealing with everything? Coach Pierce: "Good. I mean, health-wise, Maxx is going to be Maxx. He's going to play, he'll be fine. In a game, it's Mad Maxx, right. Since I've been here at least, just watching him play, he's had a play or two where he's got to the quarterback. And we're going to need more of that. But not even just that, just impacting the game from a run standpoint to disrupting the quarterback, disrupting [Travis] Kelce, putting stress on that offensive line. I think that Maxx should be up for Defensive Player of the Year. He's probably the best football player by far that I've seen defensively this year. And I'm not talking just on our team. Like just watch, he's dominating. So, we need another performance."

Q: In this game in particular, how important is it to get that interior push? Coach Pierce: "Yeah, critical. I mean, if you really go back and watch ourlast game,that wasthe difference. Both ends did a good job of turning the corner and getting pressure and making the quarterback step up. Well, he can't step up. That has got to be a big part. Just rush coordination, rush discipline, everybody doing their job, right? You hear it, it's very cliche, but it's true. Especially with a quarterback that buys time, it’s never on rhythm. And we know that, we understand that, and we got to do a better job up front along with our coverage."

Q: Three games left. What do you want to see from Aidan O'Connell as he continues? Coach Pierce: "Growth. Just continuing to get better each and every day. Just like our entire team, just not Aidan, everybody. I mean, your evaluation is not over until the end of the day, right? You can sit there and judge AP three weeks ago, you can judge AP today. And that's the same for our team, and that's why I told them, 'At the end of the day, we'll let all the chips fall where they fall, we'll let our day play out and say, okay, what was it, what did it really look like?' And hopefully, as we get to Week 17 and 18, people are saying, 'You know what? This team for nine weeks as a head coach has gotten better each and every week in some phase and some facet.'"

Q: How much of that is confidence? How much does this team have confidence in that they can do it? How much has that grown? Coach Pierce: “Yeah, big time. A little Ric Flair today, we had the ‘Woo!’ We had that going on today. So, confidence, swag, belief. You got to have that, man. You got to walk into the building believing you are the baddest ass, right? You got to believe you are top notch. Are you? I don't know. You go to go out there and prove it to everybody, and that's our goal. And that's what we're trying to do. But that's one thing I believe and really try to push into our team is confidence. Believe in who you are. If you're not, you shouldn't be in this business.” Q: You're going into a hostile environment at Arrowhead. How much do you feed off that environment? Coach Pierce: “Well, I said it at the beginning of the week, we're bringing our own noise. I'll leave it at that.”

Q: This is probably Aidan’s biggest game on the road so far. How do help him keep everything locked in focus and not have the moment get too big? Coach Pierce: “Every game is big, to be honest. Not to be that kind of guy, but when we went to Miami that was pretty big too. That was tough. Now this one, I get it, division, Chiefs, all that good stuff. Very cliche. Another day, another opponent. Somebody we don't like, somebody that don't like us. It’s divisional. We need to play our best football.” Q: Any health updates? Coach Pierce: “Yeah, I expect all the guys to play unless otherwise. I mean, it's that kind of game, right? Suit up. What you waiting for? Suit up. Let’s go play some football.”

Q: Josh Jacobs is healthy and ready to go? Coach Pierce: “Nobody is healthy. Nobody's healthy. Ready to go? We'll be ready to go.”

Q: Holiday wish? One football related and one non-football. Coach Pierce: “Want to win. I want the big present. I want a ‘W.’ Can you put in a big box with a bow for me? But in black, not red. And then the other one, thankful and wishful for everybody that's supported myself, this organization over the last several weeks. It's been fun. It's been fun. So, keep the wishes coming."

Q: That wasthe word that you described when you took over November 1, that we all need to have fun and you included us as well. But how much fun have you been having? Coach Pierce: "I come up smiling every day right? Win, lose or draw. I'm not changing. I haven't changed since I've been in this seat, linebacker seat, out of football, in football. Whatever you want to call me, you're not going to write my narrative, you're not writing my book, nobody. I'm going to have fun doing it, and like I said, when AP is done, retired, dead, 'Man, that dude, he lived life," and that's what I'm going to do."

Q: How much growth have you felt personally from like a game day management perspective as being a head coach from the time you started to now? How much have you grown and how much have you felt that? Coach Pierce: "My worst day was November 1. That was the worst I was ever going to be the head coach. Get better each and every day. I don't think I got worse. You learn, there's mistakes, there's things you could do different. I mean we could all be Monday morning quarterbacks, I sat in your seats too and analyzed other coaches and players. That's difficult to do when you're in a fire. But one thing I noticed and one thing I realized and I told the coaches and players, I go with my gut. I go with my feeling. That's why I'm in this position, that's why Mr. Davis gave me this opportunity. I'm going to stay with it, I'm going to stay true to AP."

Q: I know for you guys it doesn't make a difference because you're just playing the game, but this is a it's a Nickelodeon game. They're trying to use it to grow to kids. I guess how important do you see that as being as kind of reaching a different audience? Coach Pierce: "Well I'm mad at Nickelodeon, I wish they were out when I was a kid. I had Tom and Jerry and all those other cartoons. If you realize they didn't even talk, it was just about sound effects. I didn't realize that till I was almost an adult. So Nickelodeon is kind of cool, right? You got the slime game, you got all that good stuff. Hey listen, it's fun as long as we're not the one getting slimed. I don't know if that's good or bad.

On Christmas Day at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, the Silver and Black will return to action versus their AFC West rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs. Don't miss it on Monday, December 25, at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST.

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