Antonio Pierce defends his decision after Raiders punt in Chargers territory late in their opener

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders trailed by six points with just over seven minutes to play when their offense faced fourth and 1 on the Los Angeles Chargers' side of midfield.

Got to go for it, right?

Coach Antonio Pierce didn't think so, and it might have cost him the Raiders' season opener.

After a brief but intense sideline discussion, Pierce sent punter A.J. Cole onto the field at the Chargers 43. Displeasure and confusion rumbled through SoFi Stadium, with a low thundering of boos emanating from the crowd in a metropolitan area where the Raiders are still a home team.

With the game likely on the line, Pierce and his Raiders didn't try to seize it.

The Chargers did it instead, responding to the punt with a 92-yard touchdown drive for the final points in a 22-10 victory Sunday.

After his first game since getting the Raiders' top job permanently on the strength of a 5-4 run as the interim coach last season, Pierce defended his decision to go against the NFL's modern conventional wisdom and most of his fans' ardent wishes at a key moment.

Pierce repeatedly said he felt Las Vegas' defense should have been able to get the ball back in time for a winning touchdown drive.

“I mean, we got what we wanted,” Pierce said. “We got them backed up. We’ve got three timeouts there. Play good football, get the ball back (at) midfield, hopefully. But they broke off a long run, and that was the end of it.”

No NFL team had punted on fourth-and-1 inside its opponent's territory while trailing by one score in the fourth quarter since 2016, according to Sportradar.

“We considered going for it,” Pierce said. “It was a long 1 (yard for a first down). We got stopped earlier in the game. Momentum. The punter had done a good job pinning those guys back. I think he had two or three punts inside the 20. Again, defense was the strength for the most part of the game.”

Indeed, the Raiders' defense was largely outstanding for the first three quarters against Justin Herbert and the Chargers, allowing just 212 yards and no touchdowns.

Las Vegas' offense also got stopped near midfield on fourth and 1 in the first quarter, and that was just one low point in a fairly unimpressive opener. In his Raiders debut, Gardner Minshew passed for 256 yards with one touchdown, one late interception and one comical lost fumble recovered by Khalil Mack shortly before halftime.

The Raiders’ 10 points were their fewest in a season opener since 2006.

“That’s Coach’s decision,” Minshew said of the key fourth down. “But I think anybody that’s a ballplayer wants the ball in their hands with the opportunity to help the team.”

Receiver Davante Adams, who had five catches on six targets for 59 yards, also declined to weigh in.

“I mean, my job is to run routes and do what’s called,” the six-time Pro Bowl selection said. “I don’t really want to get into that.”

Pierce’s decision was highly debatable, but it wasn’t completely indefensible in theory.

Some of the NFL's top coaches in recent years have also been among the most conservative. The Rams' Sean McVay and the 49ers' Kyle Shanahan both have well-earned reputations as being more risk-averse than their counterparts despite being two of the top coaches in the game, while Bill Belichick was particularly cautious later in his career.

But Pierce ranked last in the NFL last season on the Aggressiveness Index, a metric put together by Football Outsiders to measure coaches' eagerness to go for it on fourth down.

Pierce's playing career ended in 2009, and he didn't return to the NFL until 2022 as the Raiders' linebackers coach. The professional game evolved during his absence, with the importance of being aggressive on fourth downs largely becoming conventional wisdom. Pierce knows it in theory, but putting it into practice as a head coach could still take time.

At least one major football mind saw the logic in Pierce's decision: Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh.

“I wasn’t surprised or anything,” Harbaugh said. "I mean, the stop we got early in the game played into that. Their punter was doing a good job punting us down in there. I’m sure they felt our offense wasn’t moving the ball. We had a lot of three-and-outs in this game.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams, middle, runs against Los Angeles Chargers safety Alohi Gilman (32) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew II jogs off the field after the Raiders were defeated by the Los Angeles Chargers in an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew II (15) is sacked by Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Morgan Fox (56) and linebacker Khalil Mack (52) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce walks on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Suspicious packages were sent to election officials in at least six states on Monday, but there were no reports that any of the packages contained hazardous material.

Powder-containing packages were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma, officials in those states confirmed. The FBI and U.S. Postal Service were investigating. It marked the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were mailed to election officials in multiple state offices.

The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than two months ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse offices around the nation, causing disruption in what is already a tense voting season.

Several of the states reported a white powder substance found in envelopes sent to election officials. In most cases, the material was found to be harmless. Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office there contained flour. Wyoming officials have not yet said if the material sent there was hazardous.

The packages forced an evacuation in Iowa. Hazmat crews in several states quickly determined the material was harmless.

“We have specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. “We immediately reported the incident per our protocols."

A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, was also evacuated due to suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.

Topeka Fire Department crews found several pieces of mail with an unknown substance on them, though a field test found no hazardous materials, spokesperson Rosie Nichols said. Several employees in both offices had been exposed to it and had their health monitored, she said.

In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesperson Misha Mohr said in an email to The Associated Press. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which oversees security for the Capitol, secured the envelope. Testing determined the substance was flour, Mohr said.

State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne were sent home for the day pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s office.

Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in at least six states last November, including the same building in Kansas that received suspicious mail Monday. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in some local elections.

One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Four county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.

The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the overdose reversal medication naloxone.

Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase the security of their buildings and boost protections for workers amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.

Salter reported from O'Fallon, Missouri. Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan. Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

FILE - William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower stands June 22, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)