There’s a new sheriff in Sin City, and the Giants had best beware when they play the Raiders on Sunday in Las Vegas.
As dysfunctional and rudderless as the Raiders looked in their sloppy loss to the Lions on Monday night in Detroit, they’re certain to be a different team under the leadership of Antonio Pierce, their new interim coach and former backbone of Giants defenses from 2005-09.
“It’s a new day, a new era and a new chapter,” the 45-year-old Pierce told reporters on Wednesday after he was promoted to replace fired head coach Josh McDaniels. “I’m humbled. I’m honored and don’t take that lightly. I was born for this. I’m a former player. I touch players. They’re going to feel me.’’
Three coaches who know Pierce best — Tom Coughlin, his former head coach with the Giants during his five seasons wearing blue (2005-09), Steve Spagnuolo, his defensive coordinator in 2007-08, and Herman Edwards, who hired him as a linebackers coach at Arizona State in 2018 — all seconded those emotions Pierce preached.
All three, when speaking to The Post on Thursday about Pierce, emphasized common themes — his passion, leadership, intensity, smarts, preparedness, knowledge of the game and how he constantly burns to get better every day.
“He’s one of those guys that people follow and they cling to, because he’s got some swagger to him,’’ Coughlin said. “The players that he’s coached [with the Raiders] will definitely be affected by him getting the job. He’s the kind of guy that the players know has paid the price and he’ll have a leg up in terms of respect from the players because of that.”
Spagnuolo said he “felt when I was coaching him that someday he would be a football coach.’’
“He has a unique flair for seeing the whole game unlike other people,’’ Spagnuolo said. “When I was coaching him, he watched film differently than the other guys in that he always saw the big picture. He also has a tremendous way with the players. He was a guy that could go into every individual meeting room and be a part of the room just naturally and guys gravitated to him. That’s a leadership quality that you’re just born with.’’
Edwards expects the Raiders to be a different team under Pierce “because he’s got a feel for the players.’’
“When you get the change-of-guard in the locker room, the players go, ‘Oh, OK,’ and that gets their attention,’’ Edwards said. “Regardless of what happened in the past, now they got a new head coach. A lot of those players relate to ‘AP,’ and now it’s a matter of, ‘Hey man, let’s keep this guy the head coach. Let’s go win some games.’
“Players are going to feel his passion. They’re going to feel his energy. And, with a Giants team that’s struggling some, this team will be excited about playing.’’
The Giants had better be prepared for a different, more stoked, Raiders team than they watched on film when they see them Sunday.
“Their energy level is going to be heightened with Pierce as the head coach, so we’ve got to make sure that we match that,’’ safety Xavier McKinney said.
“He’s one of the best leaders to ever don a Giants uniform,’’ Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh said. “There’s a reason they promoted a linebackers coach over a DC or OC. Those players will be fired up. There’ll be a lot of energy there. I know it happened when I was here when coach [Ben] McAdoo got fired [in 2017] and Spagnuolo came in. We had a lot of energy. Guys wanted to impress the new staff. Everyone feels like their job’s on the line.’’
Spagnuolo recalled his interim run as the Giants head coach and the part Pierce, whom he’d brought onto the staff as a part-time quality control coach, played in that.
“There were two guys I brought into the room before I even got in front of the players, and it was Antonio Pierce and Jesse Armstead, because they had a pulse beat on the guys,’’ Spagnuolo said. “From that standpoint, I think it’s good that Antonio had a month of watching an interim head coach in a difficult situation. I think that will help him going forward.’’
Coughlin said he believes the way Pierce — whose only blemish as a Giant came in late November 2008 when he was with Plaxico Burress at that Manhattan nightclub where the Giants receiver accidentally shot himself in the leg and Pierce took the gun home after bringing his teammate to the hospital — played and studied gives him a great chance to be a successful head coach.
“He didn’t have size, he didn’t have speed, but what kept him at the level that he played at was the fact that he was so smart that he would often be a play ahead of the offensive team,’’ he said. “He had charisma, he had leadership qualities. The game means a lot to him.’’
No game may mean more to him than the one he’ll coach Sunday against the Giants. Ironically, Pierce stands between his beloved former team saving its season for another week or spiraling to 2-7 with a difficult date at Dallas looming next Sunday.
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