Chargers 34, Raiders 20
Q. There's obviously a speculation, talk out there. Do you have any clarity on where this might go in terms of you coming back next year?
ANTONIO PIERCE: No comment.
Q. You said you wanted to finish the season strong. How did today talk to those goals?
ANTONIO PIERCE: Obviously the loss with, that's not strong, right?
Q. You said you wanted to finish the season strong. How did today related to those goals?
ANTONIO PIERCE: Obviously the loss, so that's not strong, right? You want to win three in a row, win at home in front of your crowd, win a division game.
Started off well at half and obviously turnovers and momentum deal, and we didn't recover.
Q. A.P., I think this has been kind of the same theme. Things were going good, rolling, and then a turnover just kind of threw it in a wrong direction. I mean, that has been clearly the theme of the season. I'm curious, as you head into the offseason, what are some ways you look at analyzing and try to address that?
ANTONIO PIERCE: It's simple. I mean, we talk about it. You look at the two wins. It's simple math. Take care of the football, be efficient on third down, in the red zone, run the football, time of possession. Today that didn't happen.
Q. Coach, Vinnie kind of just talked about it right now, but rumors, trades, injuries. At any point during your tenure, did you feel like you were working with a full deck?
ANTONIO PIERCE: I was working with 53 guys. That's all I can say. Whatever 53 guys I get, I work with them. It is what it is. Nobody feels sorry for the hand you're dealt.
Q. You got some pressure from the D-line at first. What did you see from the buy-in as far as those guys this year and all the injuries?
ANTONIO PIERCE: Can't really say enough about that group, man. Just the way they battled throughout. I mean, a bunch of young guys from other teams. We had a meeting today where we had about 20 guys stand up that wasn't with us at training camp, and a lot of those guys were in that D-line room.
I thought Robbie and Andre have done a really good job of just bringing them along. Jonah, Zach, have really stood out for us. Bringing in Casey was a big boost for us after losing Malcolm, and then Max later on in the season.
So really good job for them guys. Obviously it's going to be a big offseason for them as we get healthy and bring everybody back.
Q. When you look at your division, three teams are going to the playoffs. Obviously you guys were competitive all year long. A lot of injuries. How far do you think you guys are away from being one of those teams now?
ANTONIO PIERCE: Yeah, I think everybody sees a glaring need of what you need.
Q. Obviously a lot of talk for Brock this year and deservedly so, but could you talk about Jakobi? He gets to his 1,000 yards. A clear wide receiver one in this league.
ANTONIO PIERCE: Yeah, how about it, right? Probably didn't start off No. 1 for us with who we had here, didn't draft him, Brock.
Then all of a sudden Jakobi gets put back in the spotlight. To me it's the ultimate compliment for this player because he's done all the dirty work, the crack blocks, the run blocking, hell, reverses, throw the ball, whatever we asked him to do. Now he gets an opportunity to showcase himself as a premiere or a legitimate No. 1 receiver and put himself kind of in that category.
Now, what I love about it is he didn't really talk about that, right? He wanted to win. We understood. We all knew it was there, and obviously we threw the ball to him. He made plays, but if you talk about a pro that's been consistent from the day he walked into this building last year, it's been Jakobi Meyers.
He's the ultimate team guy. He's the ultimate tough guy, an A.P. guy. He's a Raider. I'm glad he's on our team.
Q. You faced a lot of injuries and adversity this season. Obviously didn't finish with the results you probably wanted, but do you feel like you deserve another opportunity to be the head coach the of Raiders?
ANTONIO PIERCE: No comment.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports