The MAJOR TAKEAWAYS From Antonio Pierce's Training Camp Press Conference

The Las Vegas Raiders are in Costa Mesa, California for day one of training camp. Oh my God, we are two weeks away from preseason football. I cannot wait, I'm so excited for this frickin' season to start. I'm trying my best to tamper my expectations, to not get too high, to keep a level head. But Antonio Pierce just had his first training camp press conference. He discussed a lot of different topics and I'm here to break down each thing he said, things that stuck out to me, takes I have on things that were mentioned in the press conference. So go check that out and then come here for the takes or if you want the condensed version of that press conference, I'm gonna hit you with some stuff. Some major important things he talked about during this press conference, the way he answered certain questions. I think this guy is an absolute stud of a head coach. The way he conducts himself, the way he's put people around him to be in the best position to succeed. We're gonna get into the stuff he said right now. But before we do, we're trying to hit 10,000 subscribers before week one, Chargers and Raiders going at it. We wanna get 10K by the All Aboard Raiders name. Can you hit that sub button if you haven't yet but you've been watching my videos for a while? About 60% of the people that watch my videos are not subscribed. So we could flip a couple of those people. Boys and girls, hit that sub button. Let's get to 10K before the new league year. Okay, so the first thing that he discussed that he was asked about by moving the training camp to Costa Mica and having it closed doors, no fans and no other teams, there will be no joint practices. So we're not gonna be playing like the Rams or the Cowboys or different teams in little scrimmages during training camp. There's going to be none of that. It's just going to be us competing one another against each other and then the preseason games. And the reason why I really like this is because they clearly are holding their cards close to the vest. They don't wanna show the Brock Bowers plays. They don't wanna show the different schemes the defense can be running. And when you have these joint practices, it's just gonna be vanilla offenses anyway because nobody wants to show anything and you're gonna get guys hurt and you're gonna get guys fighting with other people and getting kicked out of practice. And that's not something we need right now. So the idea of no joint practice is something I really, really like. AP was then asked what the ideal timeframe for picking a starting quarterback is. And he said, when it's clear and obvious. It's either gonna be right before the first game. It could be the first practice when we go, oh, Garner's way better or oh, Aiden's way better. He's not waiting or using strategy play here to say, I'm gonna wait till the very last second to name a starting quarterback. He said, when it's clear and obvious and when one guy steps up to take the reins of this thing is when we are going to pick that quarterback. And he also mentioned that the quarterback situation right now is the same place it was at in spring, meaning Aiden is getting the first team reps, but nobody has really separated themselves. And he said, the reason why that's the case is because it's not really fair to judge Aiden or Garner, both learning a new system, both learning how to play with some new weapons without pads. There's gonna be good days for both, good days for one, bad days for the other, bad days for both. And it's not fair to judge how you are going to play during the season when you're learning a new complex playbook with no pads on. So he said, the quarterback situation is exactly where it was week zero in the spring. He said, Gardner Minchu obviously has that swag. He's got an eccentric, different personality, but Aiden is matching that swag. And he said, a lot of people don't know that Aiden had this swag last year. He had this confidence and bravado, and you saw that in the receiver dock, the way he talked to Devontae Adams. He talked to him like, hey, I'm your quarterback. I'm gonna get you this dang football. And he showed a level of maturity last year. I mean, the stuff that he's gone through in his life, the stuff that he's had to battle with adversity-wise, he's been thrown into the fire in terms of having to mature at a rapid rate, and you could see the maturity in that. And AP has gone out of his way to say that Aiden is matching the confidence and swagger of Gardner Minchu. When asked who will be deciding who's gonna start week one in terms of our different players or coaches are gonna have influence on Antonio Pierce picking the guy who's gonna start, he said, it's going to be myself, Tom Telesco, and Luke Goetze, and that's it. Closed door, these are the three guys that are going to be picking the starting quarterback. And he said a lot about Tom Telesco. He brought up Tom Telesco's experience in terms of picking players, in terms of getting personnel decisions in the right areas, and in terms of making this training camp a fluid and efficient one. He's leaned on him and Marvin Lewis, two guys that he repeatedly brought up in the press conference, to streamline how the off-season program is working. And that's why I think it was important for us to get a GM like Tom Telesco, who has already been in the league a long time, who has already seen how practices are run. It's kind of like another coach in the building that also has to do with player personnel, that he can say, hey, this is what I learned from my time in Indianapolis, from my time in San Diego and Los Angeles, things that were good that we did in training camps, things that were bad that we did in training camps, things to avoid pitfalls to step over. And Tom Telesco was brought up a lot by Antonio Pierce in this press conference. He said the defense is already gelling, it looks like it's going to be on another level, and that is all thanks to the consistency of having a third year under Patrick Graham. It was so, so important for the Raiders to retain Patrick Graham, because when the offense is going to be stumbling every now and again, trying to mesh, and trying to be cohesive under the new Luke Getsey system, Patrick Graham and the defense will be like, it's okay, we got these few drives, these few games, because it's a lot of the same players under a system that they've known and been in and are familiar with for a third season now. And the way you get guys who are not familiar with that system to be great immediately is when you get guys whose skill level is off the charts, like a Christian Wilkins. He will be a little bit behind in terms of learning the system, but he's a pro's pro, he's a pro bowler, so he will take little amounts of time to get on the same page as all these guys. And AP has said the defense so far in this spring has looked great. They got a ways to go, like every other aspect of every team, but look out for this defense. They asked him, you know, the past regimes, the McDaniels regime, the Gruden regime, they didn't play a lot of the starters. Do you expect, in the preseason, do you expect that to change in terms of the quarterbacks? Do you need to see guys playing, blah, blah, blah? And he said straight up, I expect every single person to play in the preseason. So I'm assuming Devontae and everybody you might think is not gonna suit up for week one in the preseason is going to suit up and get a couple drives with each quarterback. I think that's the way to go. Look, you can get hurt walking down the stairs. You can get hurt in practice. You can get hurt going to sleep, okay? We gotta see what this offense can do with these new quarterbacks. And the best way to give both quarterbacks an equal opportunity is to give them the entire plethora of weapons. And you have to play these preseason games as if you are going out there to try and be the best you can, especially with no joint practices. And if people are upset that people are starting in preseason games, that they shouldn't be, that we should be holding them out because they can get hurt, then those are the same people that would be anti-joint practice. So I don't understand where that would be coming from. I like the idea of the starters getting a couple drives in every single game. And the last thing Antonio Pierce said that really stuck out to me is that he said our goal this year is to be consistent. He said, look, you can't win every game. Obviously, that's the goal, is to go out there and be undefeated. Only one team ever has done that. That was a little shot at the Patriots that he beat because the Patriots were undefeated, but then we're like, eh, just kidding. Lost to the Giants. He said, every single week, we want to go out there and be the same exact football team. Pound the rock on offense, dominate on defense, physical, violent, consistent. And I was saying last year, the reason why I thought Antonio Pierce was right here when Passaccio was like right here is that there were games we played with Passaccio that were not competitive. Every single game we played with Antonio Pierce, we had an urgency and a grit and a competitiveness and a consistency that is hard to replicate week to week with great teams. So his goal right now is to be absolutely consistent, to be a brotherhood of people. And that is why he brought training camp to Costa Mesa. Obviously, it's 70 degrees there, which is way better than 107 like it is here. But his other point with that was, it's going to be two weeks of essentially a bootcamp, a summer camp where the coaches and the players don't have the distractions of the fans, don't go home to the wife and the kids. They are in a hotel together, bonding as if they are back in middle school or summer camp, creating this necessary brotherhood and bond that Antonio Pierce said is going to be key to the success of our football team. Because there are going to be times this season where it's not going to go perfect. And you have to be able to lean on those brotherhood bonds that you've created in training camp when you didn't have the outside distractions of the fans watching, of the media, of the families that you're going home to. It is two weeks of bootcamp, the Raider way to build a consistent program, to build an identity. And Antonio Pierce in his first press conference has said all the right things, has shown that he is capable to be a head coach in this football league. And I am very excited to hear the developments coming out of this training camp two week period. I am very excited for week one of the preseason. Comment below your thoughts on my takes, on AP's takes, who's going to be the starter. You know the drill, leave likes, leave comments. Check out the Patreon, patreon.com slash All Aboard Raiders. You get exclusive content, bonus content, your name at the end of the credits, early access to all these videos. Please be sure to subscribe, but it's free after all the charge to you. I love you guys, and I'll see you next time.