Jon Gruden said in the offseason that if he couldn’t get the job done in Oakland, he would give Mark Davis his money back. After only six games, there probably aren’t many Raider fans who wouldn’t like to see Gruden follow through on his promise.
There’s no question Gruden has lost the team and at this point he has only himself to blame. Apart from an overall ridiculous offseason of pretending to work with Reggie McKenzie, these are the decisions that have led Gruden and the Raiders to an embarrassing start… that may actually get worse.
– The Khalil Mack trade. The season turned when Gruden traded arguably the league’s best player. You could just feel it. Gruden had about a two-week window from the start of the season to prove to his players that the Mack trade was in the best interest of the team and he failed.
On a side note, if the Mack decision was about money or cap space, why is it that credible reports have separated Davis and McKenzie from the trade from the beginning?
– Credit to Gruden for prioritizing young offensive linemen in the draft, but why is he leaving them on an island every week against the best pass rushers in the game? In 2016, when the Raiders started the season 12-3, Bill Musgrave made a habit of giving Carr protection in numbers. It wasn’t uncommon at all for him to keep 7 in to protect the quarterback.
Gruden is bound and determined to let his rookie tackles learn by plastering his $125 million quarterback every Sunday. In all his years studying the game from a distance, Gruden apparently didn’t pick up any new ideas on protecting the quarterback… and forgot the ones he already knew.
– Gruden was supposed to bring a “state of the art” offense to the Raiders, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Nothing about what Gruden is doing with the offense looks like he is any more of an offensive genius than Todd Downing.
Don’t you think the players recognize this?
– What’s going on with all the young talent on the roster? Gruden has all but abandoned Karl Joseph, Gareon Conley, and Nicholas Morrow. Meanwhile, he continues to allow defensive coordinator Paul Guenther to play veterans (that have arguably no place in the league) every week.
How can Joseph be any worse than Reggie Nelson? How can the coaches not understand Conley has more potential than anyone in the secondary?
The only explanation? Gruden is making his decisions based on something other than making the Raiders better at football… and the Raiders are getting worse at football.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Exactly
I know there is probably more to it than all this. I know it takes time to build a team. I know that a head coach wants the best for his team and owner. This is why I don’t know WTF John Gruden is doing to this franchise. So far he’s setting it back five years and this article is giving voice to the feeling every member of Raider Nation is thinking. IF the organization did not have the money, seriously no money, to afford Mack then I understand the silence. Davis get’s enough flack from the owners about being the poor kid in the room. But I’m doubting this. As for what we see on the field…finger prints. No kidding Gruden. Al would’ve fired you by now. For better or worse we’re all along for the ride that is Gruden’s Raiders. As a life long Raider fan it sickens me to see a franchise that looked to be heading the right direction digress into this. I honestly can’t believe McKenzie is still on board and hasn’t resigned. All this work for nothing but have it dismantled by a coach who was frankly, at best, average in his prime.
I agree. Every reason he gives for a move he makes is ridiculous. Trading Mack; benching Conley and starting
Reggie over KJ. Not to mention he never mans up to his decisions. He’s pissed me off so bad I’m ready to quit football.
Letting musgrave go 2 years ago was the first mistake. Hiring Gruden the 2nd. Trading Mack the 3rd. I say 3 strikes and your out!
Agree . Gruden is a money grubbing clown . He is a .500 coach at best . Team will take years to recover . My hope is they lose out and het gets fired ..
The worst thing about this is that Davis can’t get rid of this clown without taking a bath financially. Best case scenario is that Gruden realizes that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, wonders why he came back, collects his 2018 salary and goes away, leaving Mark with the remaining 90 million dollars. Downside to that is what would the Raiders end up with as a coach even though early returns suggest it couldn’t possibly be any worse than this.
SMH ! Davis get your head out your *** ! Demote him to ballboy! 100 million dollar GOOF !
It is easy to make a report like that when you don’t even put you name.
Yes, Gruden is intentionally running the team into the ground. He has a 10-year contract and he wants to build his own team, which includes picking his own QB. His plan is to tank this year to get a Top 5 pick and draft a young QB, and I believe he wants Justin Herbert from Oregon. Honestly, he looked at the roster he inherited, determined it wasn’t good enough to win a Super Bowl, so he’s just ripping it apart and rebuilding from scratch.
Hahaha. You guys are made at the wrong person. Well, at least oarially. Who hired Gruden? Who didn’t have the deep pockets to sign Mack? Here is a clue: he looks like Lloyd Christmas.