Gruden takes shot at ESPN, says Raiders deserve credit
Jon Gruden has bone to pick with his former employer, as well as the perception that the Raiders were recipients of a gift Sunday in their 31-28 win over the New York Jets.
The football world is abuzz at how Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams called for an allout blitz Sunday that led to Derek Carr’s 46- yard game- winning touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III. Williams was fired Monday morning.
Gruden wasn’t asked directly about Williams’ firing Monday during his weekly teleconference, but said in a text message, “I’m sensitive to that. I’ve been fired myself. We’re never right when we lose.”
In the aftermath, ESPN produced a statistic that claimed 251 scenarios since 2006 where there were no “zero” or all- out blitzes called in a similar situation with the game on the line. ( The “zero” indicates no safety help deep in the secondary).
Keep in mind that during the course of the video conference, Gruden said he was “just being a little sarcastic and having a little fun here,” but sarcasm and humor have long been part of his way of dealing with slights both real and imagined.
“I think it’s all hogwash,” Gruden said. “Who has the ability to look at 251,000 games? Nobody can do that. It’s not the first time we’ve seen an all- out blitz at the end of a game.”
Gruden, an ESPN analyst for “Monday Night Football” for nine years, wasn’t finished.
“I used to work at that channel, so I do know some of these stats are a little bit fantasy driven. It’s a credit to Derek Carr. It’s a credit to our offensive line. It’s a credit to Ruggs for making a play against any coverage,” Gruden said. “They played a different coverage the previous snap, we had a good look at (Nelson) Agholor and had that play scored ESPN probably would have had more statistical data for you.”
As an offensive play designer, Gruden understands the number of things the Raiders had to adjust to on the fly to score in the face of seven or eight blitzing defenders.
After an initial dropback, Carr found a crease and threw the pass moving forward without ever having set his feet.
“A lot of people (wonder) what about the call the Jets made?,” Gruden said. “What about the pick up that Darren Waller made on the edge. What about the blitz pickup by Jalen Richard? Are you kidding me? What about the throw under intense fire? And what about the route? That, to me, was as exciting and amazing as any call that anybody made. There was some great execution there.”
It was the most spectacular of three times the Raiders have managed to win games they appeared on the verge of losing.
“We found a way to win at Carolina. It wasn’t pretty. We found a way to win on the last play of the game with instant replay against the Chargers,” Gruden said. “We found a way to win against the Jets. And I’m sure it doesn’t please all the people that are analyzing games like I used to, but I could care less.” NOT EXPECTING JACOBS OR ABRAM >>
Until he hears differently from the medical staff, Gruden took the safest approach to the status of some key players heading in to their Week 14 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
A week ago, Gruden was optimistic running back Josh Jacobs would return and a knee injury to Johnathan Abram didn’t seem all that serious since he had finished the game against the Atlanta Falcons.
But neither ended up practicing nor making the trip to New Jersey, where the Raiders beat the New York Jets Sunday 31-28.
There is also the matter of right tackle Trent Brown, who was removed from the COVID-19 reserve list, and cornerback Damon Arnette, who came out of the game two straight week after taking blows to the head.
“I wouldn’t expect those guys to play right now based on what I saw last week,” Gruden said at his weekly teleconference.
Indianapolis is 8- 4, and one of three teams that currently are in a wild- card position along with Cleveland (9-3) and Miami (8- 4) ahead of the 7-5 Raiders.