Antonio Pierce explains Raiders' decision to punt on key fourth-and-1 vs. Chargers: 'It was a long one'

Jacob Camenker

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Antonio Pierce explains Raiders' decision to punt on key fourth-and-1 vs. Chargers: 'It was a long one' image

The Raiders faced a key decision with 7:15 remaining in regulation of their Week 1 game against the Chargers.

The Raiders trailed 16-10 when Alexander Mattison was tackled just short of the line to gain on a third-and-7 dump-off from Gardner Minshew. That set up a fourth-and-1 and forced Antonio Pierce to decide whether to go for it from Los Angeles' 43-yard line or to punt and try to get the ball back on defense.

The proverbial analytics suggested that going for it was the right decision. ESPN's Seth Walder reports that going for it would have increased the Raiders' win probability by 5.7 percent compared to their chances of winning by punting.

Pierce chose to punt. The decision came back to bite him, as the Chargers managed a 92-yard touchdown drive to put the game out of reach.

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Antonio Pierce explains decision to punt

Naturally, Pierce was asked for his thoughts about the decision to punt after the game. He cited his defense's strong performance and the possibility of pinning the Chargers deep as the main reasons he opted not to attempt the conversion.

"We considered going for it," Pierce said. "It was a long one."

Pierce also noted that he didn't want to give the Chargers any "momentum" by allowing them to earn a key fourth-down stop. He also explained that the team getting stopped in a short-yardage situation earlier in the game influenced his decision.

Punter A.J. Cole's performance also contributed to Pierce's decision, as the veteran had fared well throughout the defensive battle.

"The punter had done a good job pinning those guys back," Pierce opined.

Pierce wasn't necessarily displeased with the decision. He was happy that Cole pinned the Chargers back at their own 8-yard line and set the Raiders defense up to make a stop.

It just didn't work out that way, as the Chargers earned two first downs before JK Dobbins ripped off a 61-yard gain to position Los Angeles for a game-winning score.

Nonetheless, Pierce didn't seem to rue his decision. He was more worried about the defense's lacking execution on that decisive drive.

"When the game is on the line, we got to fill out the run correctly," Pierce said. "And guys got to get off blocks, and second-level players got fit over. We did a poor job of that."

"But hats off to them," Pierce added of the Chargers. "They stay consistent with their game. They didn't beat themselves."

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.