Raiders made “business decisions” in shock home loss to Panthers

Against the Las Vegas defense, Dalton became the first quarterback this season with at least 300 passing yards and three passing scores in a game. The Raiders had players like Chuba Hubbard and Diontae Johnson play career games. After totaling just 352 yards in the first two games, the Panthers managed 437 against Las Vegas.

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders were no better, completing 3 of 11 third downs and scoring just three points on 12 possessions. The running game, which Pierce rightly criticized, only produced 55 yards on 16 carries. The game got so out of control that Gardner Minshew was replaced by Aidan O'Connell in the fourth quarter.

Pierce was generally unimpressed with Las Vegas' performance, but was highly critical of his club's leadership.

“I think as the game went on, it wasn't the team anymore,” Pierce said. “I think there were definitely some individuals who made business decisions and we'll continue to make business decisions going forward.”

When asked what positives he could draw from the defeat, Pierce quickly replied: “Nothing.”

Officials in the Raiders locker room weren't sure who Pierce was talking about, but agreed with their head coach that Sunday's performance wasn't good enough.

“We've got a lot of guys that need to look in the mirror,” Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby told ESPN.com. “Everybody's got to continue to get better. It's not the end of the world, but it's a wake-up call, you know what I mean? We've got to get better. Period… it's as simple as that.”

“I don't know. There's a lot of things. You have to look at the film. It just wasn't good enough. Just a bad loss. I mean, sucked. We didn't play our best football.”

The Raiders will be in similar company next Sunday as they try to rebound against the 1-2 Browns, who also suffered a surprise home loss in Week 3. Las Vegas hopes to give its fans a better result in Week 4 – and get back to business.

“I think today was just a bad day for all of us,” Pierce concluded. “A bad day for the Raiders.”