Antonio Pierce: Raiders made ‘business decisions’ in shocking home loss to Panthers

Against Las Vegas’ defense, Dalton became the first quarterback this season with at least 300 passing yards and three passing scores in a game. The Raiders allowed the likes of Chuba Hubbard and Diontae Johnson to post career games. After totaling just 352 yards through its first two games, the Panthers put up 437 against Las Vegas.

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders were no better, finishing 3 of 11 on third down and scoring just thrice on 12 possessions. The run game that Pierce rightly admonished picked up just 55 yards on 16 carries. The game got so out of hand that Gardner Minshew was replaced by Aidan O’Connell in the fourth quarter.

Pierce was not impressed with Las Vegas’ performance broadly but had his strongest criticism for his club’s leadership.

“I think as the game went on — I don’t think it was the team,” Pierce said. “I think there was definitely some individuals that made business decisions, and we’ll make business decisions going forward as well.”

Asked what positives he could take away from the defeat, Pierce quickly retorted, “Nothing.”

Leaders in the Raiders’ locker room weren’t sure whom Pierce was talking about but concurred with their head coach that Sunday’s showing wasn’t good enough.

“We’ve got a lot of people that have to look in the mirror,” Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby told ESPN.com. “Everybody’s got to continue getting better. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a wake-up call, you know what I mean? We’ve got to be better. Period … simple as that.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot of things. You’ve got to watch the film. Just wasn’t good enough. Just a bad loss. I mean, s—-y. We didn’t play our best football.”

The Raiders will be in similar company next Sunday, as they look to bounce back against the 1-2 Browns, who also had a surprising home loss in Week 3. Las Vegas hopes it can deliver a better result for its fans — and get back to business — in Week 4.

“I thought today was just bad by all of us,” Pierce concluded. “Bad day for the Raiders.”