HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Anybody can be replaced.
That was the message defensive back Nate Hobbs felt was sent when assistant coaches Luke Getsy, James Cregg and Rich Scangarello were relieved of their duties after the Las Vegas Raiders lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 41-24 last Sunday.
“You’ve got to come in here and earn it every day,” Hobbs said. “If you’re not producing and doing what you were brought here to do, and what was envisioned before the season started, then you can be replaced.
“It’s the NFL. They say ‘Not For Long.’ So, never get complacent.”
The Raiders (2-7) head into their bye week mired in a five-game losing skid and with plenty to fix under first-year coach Antonio Pierce.
“I just want to see ‘us,’ man, like I always talked about," Pierce said. "'Us’ looking right, sounding right, matching the philosophy and idea of what I preach, which is physicality, ability to run the ball, taking shots down the field, protecting the football, first and foremost, disciplined up front.
"I think what we’re going to do going forward, we’ve got to deal with what we have to. Obviously, we’re dealing with injuries. A lot of new players are in and out of the lineup. We’ve got to do what’s best and gives us the best opportunity to win, whatever that may be.”
He took the first step Tuesday by adding Norv Turner to the coaching staff as a senior advisor, and naming Scott Turner as interim offensive coordinator and Joe Philbin as interim offensive line coach.
Norv Turner is back for his second stint with the Raiders after serving as the head coach from 2004-05. He has also served as head coach in Washington and San Diego and has been an offensive coordinator with several teams since 1991.
Scott Turner, Norv's son who is taking over for Getsy, was previously the pass game coordinator with the Raiders.
Philbin, who has nearly four decades of coaching experience, joined the Raiders this season as a senior offensive assistant and replaced Cregg
The Raiders are 26-34 since Hobbs was drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 draft, and the team has been filled with plenty of drama since — on and off the field. There isn't much, Hobbs said, the team hasn't been through — and overcome.
“I’ve been with this team through so much, thick and thin, it’s just football at the end of the day,” Hobbs said. “That’s what we get paid to do. That’s what it is, our profession at the end of the day, it’s football. I’ve been through so many things off the field with this team. ... But as long as it’s happening on the field, we got a chance to change that narrative. We get to come here every day. It’s not life and death. It’s not sickness and health — it’s football.”
Unfortunately, football has been a difficult navigation for the Raiders, who have one of the most inept offenses in the league, including the worst rushing attack that has just 692 yards this season, or 76.9 yards per game.
The top three running backs in the NFL have more yards rushing than Las Vegas, including Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs (762), who was drafted by the Raiders in 2019.
Then there’s the quarterback situation, which Pierce said he is monitoring, be it sticking with underperforming journeyman Gardner Minshew or going with newly acquired Desmond Ridder. Neither has proven to be a franchise quarterback, nor has second-year pro Aidan O’Connell, who is expected to return in roughly a month from a broken thumb.
Whomever is under center won’t have a legitimate No. 1 receiver when the team returns to action in Miami on Nov. 17 since the team shipped Davante Adams to the New York Jets last month.
On the other side of the ball, where Las Vegas has allowed 27.9 points per game — ahead of only Jacksonville, Dallas and Carolina — Hobbs said things need to be better and can be if the Raiders he’s familiar with return from their bye week with the same mindeset.
“Every man comes into work to do their job, to execute their job, and do it to the best of their ability,” Hobbs said. “I only say that because I know when this team does that, how good of a team we are. We’re that same team that beat the Kansas City Chiefs. We’re the same team that beat the Baltimore Ravens.
“So if we could come with the details to do our job every single day, to execute them, I have no doubts about what we will do in this next stretch of the season.”
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W.g. Ramirez, The Associated Press
