Coach Gruden is paying the price for CEO Gruden
If Jon Gruden the CEO doesn’t do a better job, then Jon Gruden the head coach has no chance.
That’s the state of the Raiders with five games left in the season after absorbing a 34-17 road loss to the Baltimore Ravens in which the talent disparity was glaring in a league designed to reward parity and provide as much competition for the consumer as possible.
The Ravens are nobody’s pick to make the Super Bowl, but they’re not the Arizona Cardinals, an opponent that gave Raider Nation a bit of false hope a week ago as the Raiders snapped a five-game losing streak.
At 6-5, Baltimore is in position to grab one of the AFC wild-card berths after toying with the
Raiders for a half offensively before playing to the strengths of rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson.
They’re not anywhere close to the Kansas City Chiefs, who are next up on the schedule for the Raiders at the Coliseum. They trail the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are in Oakland the following week.
Once coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg determined at halftime the best course of action was push the Raiders around, the game was over. The Ravens rushed for 242 yards overall, with 178 coming on 33 carries in the second half.
It’s the sign of a team with inferior talent to hang around until halftime and into the third quarter and then get overwhelmed late. The Raiders have been outscored 192-87 in the second half this season, a 105-point margin that is the biggest in the NFL.
Nit-pick scheme and play-calling all you want, but that only happens when one team doesn’t have the horses to make it a horse race.
The Ravens’ exclamation point was telling.
When Matthew Judon sacked Carr for the third and final time and forced a fumble, Terrell Suggs scooped it up and ran 43 yards for a touchdown. Suggs is one of the NFL’s premiere pass rushers but is 36 years old and had an Achilles’ tear in his 30s.
Marcell Ateman, a starting wide receiver, couldn’t run down Suggs from behind. Ateman is more of a jump-and-catch receiver than a speed guy, but he’s a 24-year-old wide receiver.
When the Raiders tried a reverse, it went to 33-year-old Jordy Nelson, who couldn’t turn the corner. The element of surprise has no chance against superior speed.
In the first half, when the Ravens were futilely attempting to be balanced, Cyrus Jones ran 75 yards for the easiest punt return touchdown you’ll ever see. It would have been a touchdown in flag football. One of Jackson’s completions was a 74-yard pass to a tight end, Mark Andrews, who blew past cornerback Rashaan Melvin, who in theory should be able to keep up.
“You give up a 75-yard punt return, a 74-yard pass to a tight end, you can’t get off the field stopping the inside running game when you have to,” Gruden said. “Those are the storylines to me. Those are things I’ve got to figure out. And until we do, we’re going to have a lot of long faces.”
As for Gruden the roster builder, it’s fair to be skeptical. He wasn’t wrong about the roster he inherited from Reggie McKenzie, who now works at Gruden’s discretion. The Khalil Mack contract issue aside, Gruden was right to tear it apart. But his first crack at restocking that roster resulted in a team even less talented.
The team Gruden put together has been ravaged by injuries, but it’s also athletically inadequate.
The Raiders are unable to protect their most valuable commodity in Carr.
The Raiders weren’t stout enough to stop the Ravens from running inside, thereby setting up everything else Jackson can do.
It’s something you see in high school and college football all the time, when one team either by geography or recruiting has an overwhelming advantage in talent. It’s not supposed to work that way in the NFL.
The offseason, which includes three first-round draft picks barring trades, is obviously critical. As is doing a much better job in free agency.
If Gruden the CEO can’t get better players, there isn’t a thing Gruden the head coach can do to prevent the Raiders from limping off to Las Vegas in the next year or two as an also-ran.