The Las Vegas Raiders are undefeated with former linebacker Antonio Pierce as their interim head coach. It’s only been one game, but still, it could be worse.
Pierce, who served as the linebackers coach under the recently fired Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, was a surprise choice to take control of the talented team from Sin City.
But apparently Pierce won over the locker room just before McDaniels was canned by telling them the 2007 Giants had the mindset they were going to win every game. And, of course, the 2007 Giants went on to defeat the undefeated New England Patriots, who had McDaniels as their offensive coordinator, in the Super Bowl.
Here are five things you didn’t know about Antonio Pierce:
Pierce was born in Long Beach, Calif. and attended Paramount High School in Paramount, Calif.
Pierce played college football at the Unversity of Arizona, but went undrafted when he entered the NFL due to many scouts believing he was undersized.
Given that Pierce played nine seasons in the NFL, earning one Super Bowl ring and one Pro Bowl appearance in the process, you could say he proved them wrong.
Pierce was signed as an undrafted rookie in 2001 by Washington, where he ended up playing his first four seasons with them before joining the Giants.
Following Pierce’s last season in 2009, he ended his career with 691 tackles, with 535 of them being solo tackles. He also had 9 sacks and Before his current tenure with the Raiders, Pierce had worked as the head coach for Long Beach Poly High School and as the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at Arizona State University.
