Greg Papa isn’t with the Raiders anymore, but he still has opinions on them. Few were higher on Jon Gruden when he was hired than Papa, but the former voice of the Raiders isn’t impressed with Gruden’s effort so far, particularly as it relates to coaching the offense.
“The Raiders, and I hate saying this. I don’t even want to think it, but I am thinking it, and you know me. I think out loud,” Papa said Monday on his 95.7 The Game radio show. “After watching it over, and over, and over, and over again, I’m going to say they are a poorly coached football team.”
“That pains me. Because Jon is a really clever play designer. I don’t see a lot of combination routes. I see guys running vertical.”
Technically, the offense hasn’t been terrible overall. They were second in the league in total yards after four weeks, but certainly the offense struggled in week five against the Chargers.
Interestingly, Papa’s tone was a little different on Gruden just a matter of months ago.
“Jon’s been studying this league for a long time,” Papa said of Gruden back in April. “So before you all think he’s going to have 10 fullbacks on the field with Derek, just watch and see what he does with tempo and personnel groups. It will be state of the art.”
For what it’s worth, Gruden might actually agree that he hasn’t done a great job to this point and said as much today.
Jon Gruden: “I’m going to continue to emphasize the good and do everything I can to fix the things that are bad because most of the things that are bad, my fingerprints are all over.” #Raiders
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) October 8, 2018
twitter: @raidersbeat
Raider’s are making too many mistakes constantly, in the red zone they suck! Too many old guys! Let those rookies get some experience. The season is over nothing to lose. Gruden should be getting tired of being out coached! They need to get out of that shithole stadium ASAP!!
Fart. That’s this season so far
either the raiders are tanking on purposes for a complete rebuild
or gruden is in waaaaaaaaay over his head and needs to resign after the season.
those are the only 2 options/reasons/excuses
nothing else computes
Let’s me honest . Gruden is a disaster who has ripped the heart and soul out of this team . He is an egotistical buffoon who only cares about his bank account . Why Marc Davis did you want him ?
Lets call it what it is. I’ve been a Raiders fan since 1968. Back then, the Raiders were a gritty, hard nosed football team that was accused of not being able to win The Big One. This was not because the Raiders lacked the fight or the toughness. In fact, the Raiders, of that time frame, were revered for a never say die and by any means necessary attitude. Even their opponents, while optimistic that they could beat the Raiders, knew that playing the Raiders, of this era, was going to be an all day job, with nothing coming easy. That was the Raiders that I fell in love with. That was the Raiders that beat you up and you knew that, no matter what, there was never such a thing as an “easy” game against these guys. One of the famous quotes about the Raiders, of this era, came from none other than Deacon Jones himself when he said; “when we knew that the Raiders were coming to town, we would tell everyone to hide the women and children.” Why? Because he and every player on every team in the league knew that no one and nothing was safe from the Oakland Raiders. There was going to be carnage, pillaging and plundering and it was for certain that there was going to be damages, consequences and repercussions. Shucks, these guys might even take some names and for certain they were going to laugh at you while they kicked your butt. This, yes This is why the Raiders still have such a loyal fan base. Those are the type of Raiders that Raider fans world wide long for, hope for and wish for again. Those Raiders made NO excuses and if they lost to a team, you could be certain that the next time that they met that those Raiders wanted revenge. Not just to beat you but blood shedding revenge and more times than not, that’s exactly what they got. A friend of mines, who is a Steelers fan, once said to me that the reason that the Ravens play the Steelers so tough is because the Ravens were built to beat the Steelers. Well, back then, the Steelers were built to beat the Raiders. Mean Joe Green, L.C. Greenwood, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount and company didn’t just come to the Steelers by accident. They were drafted specifically with the intent to offer a formidable reply to the Oakland Raiders. At that time, the only team that was possibly more physical, than the Oakland Raiders, was the Green Bay Packers.
Now, presently, my allegiance remains but it is surely not to this edition of the Oakland Raiders. It’s most assuredly to teams and memories past. Boy, were those some great memories. Good luck Las Vegas, you’re going to need it.
First year I haven’t had Sunday ticket just to watch the Raiders since it was available. Disgusting is what Gruden has become. As hypocritical as they come, who would want to play for him.