Antonio Pierce’s first game as interim coach of the Raiders couldn’t have gone much better.
The Raiders scored the first time they had the ball and took a 27-0 lead in the third quarter before posting a 30-6 victory over the Giants. Pierce assumed his new role after the Raiders fired Josh McDaniels eight games into his second season.
Jakobi Meyers gave the Raiders the lead with a 17-yard run in the first quarter, and Josh Jacobs ran 26 times for 98 yards and two more touchdowns as the Raiders built their big lead. Rookie Aidan O’Connell replaced Jimmy Garoppolo as the starting quarterback when Pierce took over, and he went 16 of 25 for 209 yards.
Wide receiver Davante Adams was targeted on seven of those passes and had four catches for 34 yards a week after expressing frustration over a single catch in the Raiders’ loss to the Lions. When asked this week about the firing of McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, he said that he felt it was time for the team to make a change because he felt the team needed something to to revive the season.
They seemed to find it on Sunday, and that has been the case with many of the Giants’ opponents this season. They are now 2-7 and they saw quarterback Daniel Jones leave the game with a knee injury on the first play of the second quarter. Jones had missed the last three games with a neck injury, and another extended absence won’t do much to keep the Giants competitive in the second half of the season.
Right tackle Evan Neal also left the game with a left ankle injury. He returned Sunday after missing two games with a right ankle injury. So it was a bad day for several offensive players.
They’ll be in Dallas next weekend looking to avoid a repeat of the Cowboys’ 40-0 loss in Week 1. Pierce and the Raiders face the Jets next Sunday night in Las Vegas.