Giants fans react to playoff hero Antonio Pierce named interim Raiders HC

The NY Giants will be going up against a former fan favorite this weekend in Las Vegas
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Arizona Cardinalsv New York Giants / Jared Wickerham/GettyImages
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Well, it was bound to happen and it did. While everyone was asleep, the Las Vegas Raiders announced late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning that they had fired Josh McDaniels as their head coach, plus general manager David Ziegler.

As for the Raiders interim head coach, it will be former New York Giants fan favorite from years ago Antonio Pierce. Pierce played nine seasons in the NFL as a linebacker and won Super Bowl XLII with the Giants, which was one of their massive upset wins over the New England Patriots.

Pierce, the linebackers coach the last two years with Las Vegas, is now set to run the show with McDaniels out of town. The timing is intriguing, as Big Blue is headed to Sin City this weekend for a huge Week 9 matchup:

Antonio Pierce taking over as Raiders coach is bittersweet for Giants Nation

Indeed, the Giants are set to take on the Raiders this weekend at Allegiant Stadium, marking the debut for Pierce. Countless people in NY/NJ always want the best for Pierce, but there's no question they're hoping a big-time L is coming for him this weekend. Still, with that said, that doesn't change the fact that folks are pretty fired up for him:

As you can see, Big Blue fans are very happy that Pierce will now get an opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL and take over a team that has been in the basement of the NFL for many years. Over his nine seasons in the NFL, Pierce racked up nine sacks in 124 games he played for the Washington Commanders and Giants. Pierce was also a key factor in the NY Super Bowl run during the 2007 season, as he made a huge tackle against Green Bay Packers running back Brandon Jackson on third down in the NFC Championship Game. It saved a TD - the Giants won that game in OT.

With the Giants at 2-6 and the Raiders at 3-5 and both offenses playing very poor this season, this game could be a low-scoring, lackluster showing. However, there are now countless headlines being made with the Pierce/McDaniels news. Congrats to Pierce on his new gig and we wish him nothing but the best, just not this Sunday vs. the G-Men.

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