Suddenly, next season’s Raiders49ers matchup has marquee value
Gruden, Garoppolo and a matchup at Levi’s Stadium: Is this heaven?
The hoopla over the NFL schedule release usually leaves me cold. It’s a big day for NFL writers who book their Marriott rooms and for the few fans who actually travel to away games, but it’s not that significant.
However, in April, I’ll be watching closely. Because we will find out when the Raiders and the 49ers will play each other at Levi’s Stadium. There’s a chance that could be one of the hottest games of the 2018 season.
In fact, the Bay Area could be the center of the NFL universe next fall.
That’s not something we would have expected six weeks ago. In early December, the 49ers were 1-10 and looked like a team at the start of a prolonged rebuild. The Raiders were slipping back toward oblivion and eyeing two years of annoying lame-duck status and the reality of losing their hardcore fans.
Two men have changed all that. Two men have turned expectations inside out, have condensed timelines, excited fans and made two previously mediocre teams must-watch sensations next season. Which means 2018 could be a lot of fun. The two men share the same initials — and the type of charisma and energy that can change a team’s fortunes.
Jimmy Garoppolo arrived in late October from the Patriots to change the entire outlook for the 49ers. Jon Gruden arrived this week from the broadcast booth to do the same for the Raiders.
Football is the ultimate team game? That cliche is getting upended by the twin oneman Energizer bunnies. The arrival of a single individual at each headquarters has the power to make the local franchises giddy with hope and anticipation.
Though the Raiders and the 49ers play in
separate conferences and rarely see each other, as long as they share the same market, they provide mutual measuring sticks. It’s no fun when they both stink, which has happened too often since the Raiders returned to the market in 1995. When they are both competitive — there was a fleeting window in the late 1990s and early 2000s — it invigorates the fans, the rivalry and the entire Bay Area sports scene.
This coming season, both teams will have new energy. And the added bonus that they will play each other.
The last time they met, in 2014, the Raiders won 24-13. It was the unraveling of the Jim Harbaugh era for the 49ers. Colin Kaepernick played horribly in the game. For the Raiders, it was the tail end before launching the Jack Del Rio era. Derek Carr was great. One team appeared to have an upside, the other none.
Next season, both teams hope to be on the upswing. The Raiders’ schedule will take them to Miami and Baltimore and to London to play the Seahawks. And they will play at Levi’s — the stadium they could have called home — for the first time.
(Speaking of Raiders stadiums, it is worth wondering what could have happened if Gruden had been hired earlier, if Mark Davis had succeeded at the start of his six-year quest to bring back Gruden? Would the Gruden excitement and energy have helped give real momentum to an Oakland stadium? Would Gruden, with his ties to the 49ers and sensibility about the NFL, have been able to convince Davis that the New York and Los Angeles model of sharing a stadium made sense for the franchise and its fans? I asked Davis that Tuesday and he said he didn’t know. I guess we’ll never know).
It will be intriguing to see how Gruden, 54, does in comparison to Kyle Shanahan, at 38 an offensive whiz-kid coach in the same mold that Gruden was 20 years ago. Shanahan hit all the right notes in his first year, and it will be fun to see him grow into the role with a season under his belt. Will Gruden be a better coach now with the wisdom that comes with age and the perspective from getting to know every team in the league?
The most natural comparison will be between Carr and Garoppolo. Selected 26 slots apart in the second round of the 2014 draft, the parallels are obvious.
Carr has made 62 starts in his career (28-34). Garoppolo has made just seven, and won them all. Carr signed a $125 million contract last summer; Garoppolo might be getting something close to that soon. (The money Davis is throwing around — now potentially on the hook for $225 million for his quarterback and coach combined — should put pressure on the Yorks to get a deal done with Garoppolo).
Though both are 26, Carr has far more miles on his body, and there is legitimate reason to believe the injuries he has suffered in both 2016 (broken leg) and 2017 (fractures in his back) had a major impact on his play last season. Garoppolo and Shanahan had a two-month head start on their partnership heading into 2018. I imagine Carr is already sequestered with Gruden in some dark film room, working to get up to speed.
This is going to be fun. The motto for the 2018 Bay Area NFL season is J.G.: Jimmy Garoppolo, Jon Gruden.
Just Great.