Raiders’ Gruden resolute after Bills loss
It’s impossible to know what’s going on behind closed doors at the Raiders’ practice facility, but coach Jon Gruden’s public response Monday about the job performance defensive coordinator Paul Guenther was succinct:
“I know he’s a good coach and the mistakes are correctable and we’ll correct ‘em.”
Gruden answered the question in matter-of-fact fashion and in such a manner that it invited no followups, not that it would have mattered anyway. Gruden isn’t about to put Guenther’s feet to the fire in a media setting. Not when Guenther was Gruden’s handpicked coordinator as well as a good friend.
It’s four games into the season and the Raiders have the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs up next at Arrowhead Stadium. The immediate challenge of sorting through injuries and putting together a plan to somehow stay on the same field with Patrick Mahomes and Co. supersedes everything else.
It’s not as if Gruden has a lot of options even if he were to take the unlikely step of an in-season firing or demotion. Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli (Cowboys) and defensive backs coach Jim O’Neil (Browns and 49ers) are the only assistants with coordinator experience and they’ve got their hands full with their own struggling units.
The Raiders have played poorly on defense since Guenther’s arrival with Gruden in 2018, a season from which not a single starter remains. An influx of talent through free agency this year and the draft over the past few years in theory would add the speed and athleticism necessary for a representative unit.
Instead, the Raiders, 2-2 after a 2-0 start, have yet to give up less than 24 points in a game and have only four sacks and two interceptions through 16 quarters.
How Gruden answered questions about his defense and other issues Monday:
Lack of a pass rush — “Your pass rush is never good enough and right now ours is not good enough. And we’re going to continue to work at making it better. Yesterday we did some good things to control the pocket, to keep (Josh) Allen from scrambling . . that was a reason yesterday I think the rush wasn’t as good as perhaps it could have been because we did want to be careful in containment of the quarterback.”
Play of the secondary after loss of rookie corner Damon Arnette — “I think we played pretty good. We just have eliminate the mistakes. The first touchdown pass we’re in a man-to-man coverage and we’ve got a couple of
guys who don’t play man-to-man. It’s not that hard. That’s very correctable and it’s going to get corrected. If we eliminate the mistakes we can be a whole lot better.”
Whether linebacker Cory Littleton is still getting adjusted to his new team — “A little bit. He spent his whole career at one place. He’s on a new team and a new defense with new teammates and had very little time in the offseason and really during training camp to be acclimated so it’s a
work in progress. I still know he’s a heck of a player and I’m glad we got him.”