Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s attention and energy are focused inward.
ALAMEDA >> After absorbing another demoralizing defeat and with a compacted schedule heading into Thursday night’s game against the 49ers, Raiders coach Jon Gruden was saving his energy for what’s most important.
It’s as if Chucky was replaced by a low-key alterego named Charles.
Gruden’s weekly news conferences have been must-see TV, a treasure trove of video clips and quotes to be parsed, skewed in terms of context and then parceled out to social media for further dissemination. Most of it with a mocking tone.
No so on Monday. The day after a 42-28 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Gruden was subdued and resigned to making his regularly scheduled appearance without an edge and uninterested in sparring over questions he took issue with.
Since the Raiders are 1-6, go ahead and assume in some quarters it will be perceived as Gruden waving a white flag. That’s the life of being an NFL head coach. Push back against criticism and you can’t face reality. Accept it and you’ve lost your fire. Much like the team he coaches, Gruden can’t win. No one believes a coach with a 1-6 record.
There was no sign of pep rally Gruden, the man who entertained fans at Ricky’s. Or fiery Gruden, railing against “tanking” and criticism of quarterback Derek Carr.
In their place was a more self-deprecating Gruden. He pivoted on a question about his young assistants in Tampa Bay (at a facility known as the woodshed) including 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan by remarking “people are going to take me to the woodshed pretty soon if I don’t get this thing going,” and later said, “I try to stay away from four syllable words.”
Media sparring, which Gruden actually seems to enjoy, serves no purpose at 1-6. To know Gruden is to understand that he’s not worried about his legacy or rate of pay (10 years, $100 million if you’re buying the initially reported and never confirmed figure) relative to how it plays in public.
Gruden didn’t spend all those years studying football in a tricked out strip mall office to mail it in after seven games. It’s why the whole “tanking” issue bothers him so much. Gruden does not recognize the perception that dealing players for draft picks can be legitimately perceived as giving up on the season, even if he has final say on personnel.
He may wear the visor of GM and head coach, but in Gruden’s mind, he’s forever designing the next play, figuring out the best way to teach it, and mobilizing an entire roster to compete every Sunday. Gruden finds the notion that anyone could think he would attack that job with the idea of anything other than winning as repellent.
Since Gruden runs the show, he must strike a balance as the losses have piled up, particularly after an Indianapolis game which so clearly can be laid at the two left feet of an inadequate defense.
Sunday was the closest thing we’ve seen to what Gruden wants the Raiders to be on offense, with touchdown drives of 75, 79, 75 and 75 yards. It wasn’t against formidable opposition, but the pass protection was good, the run blocking was solid, the Raiders averaged 8.7 yards per snap and Carr ran it all with a cool efficiency.
Make no mistake, it’s the best offensive system the Raiders have had since the one Gruden installed in 1998 in terms in terms of one play setting up the next and giving the best balance of run and pass.
The defense, meanwhile, made the Colts look like a contender, which they most assuredly are not. And this came after what defensive coordinator Paul Guenther called his unit’s best week of practice, something that was echoed by cornerback Daryl Worley in the postgame locker room.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” Gruden said. “I’m not going to sit up here and say much more. We have to do a better job collectively. Getting off blocks, staying in the right gap, making physical tackles and knocking them backward. Those areas, it’s hard to practice live ... but we are practicing well. Guys are on the details. I don’t know why Indianapolis had that much success. I do give them a lot of credit, but we have to go back the drawing board and solve this quickly.”
The alarming contrast between offense and defense puts Gruden in an awkward position. He can’t gush or be overenthusiastic about his offense, and then excoriate the defense. Not when there’s an entire team to consider. To do so would cause whatever natural fissures which exist in a 1-6 locker room to become a gaping crevasse from which there is no return.
As a practical matter, there is no returning from 1-6, not where the postseason is concerned. But there are nine more games to play. So at least temporarily, Gruden is avoiding jabbing and countering with the media in favor of putting his energy into getting a win or three.
It’s not great for snappy quotes, retorts or sound bites, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.