Del Rio taking return in stride
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jack Del Rio laughed off the question.
The Raiders’ head coach has a swagger about him, so surely reporters can do
better than ask him about his feelings on returning to Jacksonville for the first time since getting fired in 2011 after nine years coaching the Jaguars.
“I’ve been in this league a long time, so I’ve gone back
to a few places before,” Del Rio said. “It’s not the first time going back to places where I’ve been. So yeah, I think I’ll be OK.”
Ask him next week, after Sunday’s game, and you might get a different answer. Ask his wife, Linda, and you might get a different answer. After all, the Del Rio family is revisiting a huge chapter of their lives — with an addendum: Son Luke will be playing quarterback for Florida at the same stadium next Saturday.
“This is definitely a big game for Jack,” Linda Del Rio said. “All our kids grew up here and Jacksonville was our home. And now we’re all going to be back in the same stadium twice in a week, to see Jack and then Luke.
“This is a huge week in our lives. Mostly, because we have such fond memories of our time here.”
His players agree that the 53-year-old Del Rio will be geeked, although quarterback Derek Carr said Del Rio resisted putting on a helmet and joining practice this week.
“It’s exciting for him,” said safety Reggie Nelson, who has played for Del Rio in Jacksonville and Oakland. “We’re going to put on a show for him. We know what’s at stake.”
The Raiders (4-2) have appeared to turn a corner in Del Rio’s second year, similar to the one the Jaguars turned when they went 9-7 in 2004. Jacksonville made playoff appearances in 2005 and 2007 under Del Rio, getting its first postseason win in eight years by beating Pittsburgh in the 2007 wild-card game.
The Jaguars then hit a wall, fired Del Rio in 2011 and have struggled ever since.
“Certainly learned a lot during my time there, had some great experiences and family and friends there,” Del Rio said. “I think when you first get an opportunity to sit in this head coach seat, the amount of volume that you have to deal with, the decisions that you have to make, I don’t know that you’re really prepared for it until you get in there and start doing it.
“I feel much more prepared, obviously, having nine years of experience there and four games in Denver as the interim (head coach) and a year and a half here.”
Being a former NFL linebacker has helped Del Rio deal with players, but his focus is mentioned by his supporters.
Like Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, whom Del Rio once fired in Jacksonville.
“The two years I worked for him in Jacksonville were the best two years of my professional life,” Musgrave said. “The organization, the structure. … So I jumped at the chance to do it again, and I’m really glad I did.”
Like Linda Del Rio, who has made more than 40 moves in her husband’s 32-year NFL career.
“He is the most focused, calm, in-control person when it comes to football that I have ever seen in my life,” she said. “When he was on the Ravens staff that won the Super Bowl, he was super calm, met with the family that weekend, asked to be left alone so he could get a two-hour nap and won the game like it was something he was supposed to do.
“He’s really good at seeing it and doing it. Plus, as you know, he has such passion for his players.”
And for his family. Besides Luke, the Del Rios have three successful daughters — Lauren, Hope and Aubrey — who will all be on hand to cheer on the Raiders.
“We have tons of friends in Jacksonville, who are hopefully torn on who they want to win,” Linda Del Rio said. “We had so many good experiences there. Even the bad ones help you build character, so it’s all positive.”
The Del Rios always thought that Jack would get another head-coaching shot. The defensive coordinator job in Denver from 2012-2014 was an ideal transition job, and one that came up because of Luke.
“We moved to Denver to look for a high school for Luke’s senior year,” Linda said. “And we found a great one where he played with Christian McCaffrey and became an Elite 11 quarterback. Jack hooking up with John Fox and the Broncos was a byproduct of that and not the other way around, as many have written.
“We really won the lottery there.”
The Broncos’ defensive coordinator job became open because the Raiders hired away Dennis Allen to be their head coach. Picking from the same tree three years later has worked out much better for Oakland.
And for Del Rio, who has the potentially elite quarterback in Carr that he never had in Jacksonville (Byron Leftwich, David Garrard and Blaine Gabbert).
The team has the coach’s confidence and, hopefully for him, the focus that his wife mentioned, as the Raiders try to shore up the league’s worst defense. A win Sunday would mean that the Raiders are 4-0 on the road for the first time since 2000, when they reached the AFC Championship Game.
And that would mean more — maybe not a lot more — to Del Rio than sending his old team to 2-4.