Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce defended his decision Sunday to punt on fourth-and-1 late in his team's 22-10 season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium, Paul Gutierrez of ESPN reports.

With the Raiders facing what Pierce called "a long 1" yard to convert from the Chargers' 43-yard line and trailing 16-10 with 7:15 to play, Pierce opted not to go for it. The Raiders became the first team since 2016 to punt on fourth-and-1 when in opposing territory and trailing by one score in the fourth quarter.

According to ESPN Analytics, Pierce's decision dropped the Raiders' win probability from 24.8% if they went for it to 19.1% with the punt.

And while the Raiders pinned the Chargers on their 8-yard line on the punt, Los Angeles put together a 92-yard touchdown drive, keyed by a 61-yard burst up the left sideline by running back J.K. Dobbins.

"I mean, we got what we wanted," Pierce said of Raiders punter AJ Cole putting the Chargers deep in their own territory, with Las Vegas still holding three timeouts.

Pierce said he trusted the defense, which had kept the Chargers in check up to that point, to maintain.

"But they broke off the lone run, and that was the end of it," he said.

Technically, three snaps later, Justin Herbert hit Ladd McConkey on a 10-yard touchdown pass, before the Chargers attempted a 2-point conversion that was stopped by the Raiders before a fight broke out that resulted in the ejections of Las Vegas cornerback Jack Jones and Los Angeles receiver Joshua Palmer.

Said Pierce: "A lot of things factor into not going for it on fourth-and-1."

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