The Las Vegas Raiders entered their Week 9 matchup with the New York Giants on a two-game losing streak.
They were blown out by the Chicago Bears and were coming off a primetime loss to the Detroit Lions.
Josh McDaniels had just been fired from his post as head coach, leaving the team in the hands of interim Antonio Pierce.
Pierce responded accordingly, leading the Raiders to a convincing win over the Giants.
Several players from the Raiders were seen celebrating in the locker room, even smoking cigars to commemorate their victory.
The Raiders faced some criticism for these antics, given it was just one win in a regular season game.
Davante Adams explained their actions in a recent press conference, hoping to quell the public outcry.
Adams said, “They’ll never understand why we had that feeling and why it led to cigars being lit in the locker room.”
#Raiders WR Davante Adams on having victory cigars after last week's win: "Anybody that has dealt with the type of adversity we have this year … they'll never understand why we had that feeling and why it led to cigars being lit in the locker room. … It was definitely… https://t.co/6i5l9KnJ2D pic.twitter.com/ffgrYxzyfG
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 9, 2023
He later added, “It was definitely warranted for something like that to happen.”
While the Raiders are still under .500 on the season, this win felt different for this team, as Adams describes.
They have rallied around Pierce, seemingly elated to be out from McDaniels and his coaching style.
For a team that felt lifeless heading into this game, the Raiders have a renewed sense of energy.
Can they keep this momentum going for the rest of the season?
At 4-5, the Raiders are still in a position to make the playoffs, but they’ll have to rattle off several key wins in the back half of the year to make this happen.
NEXT: Raiders Star Discusses Major Rumor Involving Josh McDaniels
