Raiders Starter Benched Leading to Confrontation, Antonio Pierce Responds

It wasn’t a dream revenge game for Marcus Peters against his former team. The Las Vegas Raiders cornerback was benched in the second quarter of the game against the Kansas City Chiefs and replaced by Jack Jones after a number of missed tackles.

After the cornerback was benched, he had a spirited conversation with interim head coach Antonio Pierce, per a November 26 X post from Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Spirited conversation between CB Marcus Peters and Antonio Pierce over on the sideline.

— Vincent Bonsignore November 26, 2023

Logan Reever of 8 News Now caught a video of the conversation and Peters clearly starts to get frustrated.

Marcus Peters was standing alone at the 50 during the drive. Stayed there while the rest of the defense met on the bench after giving up that score.

Peters and Antonio Pierce dapped each other up before halftime but looks like there was some disagreement in the conversation.... pic.twitter.com/EdvP1CCuUW

— Logan Reever November 26, 2023

Pierce was asked about the decision to bench Peters after the game but he simply referred to it as a “coach’s decision” in his postgame press conference .

Heading into the game, Peters had 11 missed tackles on the season, per Pro Football Focus , and certainly added to his total against the Chiefs. He’s never been an elite tackler but his sticky coverage and great ball skills made him a Pro Bowler.

The Raiders have seen flashes of his playmaking ability but he has just one interception on the season. It appears the team isn’t willing to overlook his tackling issues anymore.

Las Vegas Raiders Defense Comes Back to Earth

The Raiders defense has been playing quite well in recent weeks and was allowing just 12.7 points a game over the past three games. The defense came crashing back to Earth against the Chiefs as the group allowed 31 points and didn’t do much to stop the offense outside of the first quarter.

The offense has struggled all season and didn’t have what it took to overcome a bad defensive game. A big reason for the bad game was due to defensive end Maxx Crosby being limited with a knee injury. He was doubtful heading into the game but ended up playing.

He was clearly not 100% and had to take some snaps off. The Raiders weren’t able to generate much of a pass rush with him off the field. The Chiefs offense hasn’t been great this season and was only averaging 22.5 points per game heading into Week 12. They were able to get right against the Raiders. Las Vegas’ defense has been better this season but their lack of depth and pass rush was on full display against Kansas City.

Playoff Hopes Dwindling

The Raiders’ playoff hopes were restored when Antonio Pierce took over as interim head coach and went on a two-game winning streak. With back-to-back losses to the Miami Dolphins and Chiefs, the team’s chances of making it to the postseason are dwindling.

There are now 11 teams with better records than the Raiders in the AFC right now. Only seven teams get into the playoffs so Las Vegas has a lot of work to do. The Los Angeles Chargers are the only team remaining on their schedule that doesn’t have a winning record. It’s an uphill battle for the Raiders to get a playoff spot.

It’s always possible the team could go on a run as they did in 2021 but this is a very different team that’s starting a rookie quarterback. If they can’t turn things around, there could be some big changes in the building once the season ends.