Gruden figures struggling defense needs new voice
There wasn’t much for Jon Gruden could say, so he didn’t say much at all.
Gruden was available to the media Monday for the first time since firing Paul Guenther, the man he selected to be his defensive coordinator in 2018 and a close friend. He had no interest in going past the here and now or his plans on shaping the defense in the future in terms of coaching candidates or changes in philosophy.
Not when the Raiders are in a short week and host the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night at Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders can still make the playoffs as a wild- card team, but it would likely take wins over the Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos to pull it off. Given the way the Raiders have played the past three games, it looks like a longshot at best.
“Paul is a great friend and a great coach,” Gruden said. “He’s given great effort here for two-and-a-half years. It was a very tough circumstance with the COVID, the players coming and going, all the injuries. We need a new voice right now. I think it will help Paul in the long run, probably, getting away from me.”
Guenther was unavailable for comment and did not respond to messages. Raiders players aren’t made available through teleconference on Mondays.
Next man up, the cliche that applies to players stepping into the breach because of injury, is interim coordinator Rod Marinelli. Marinelli came in as the defensive line coach in place of Brentson Buckner this year after serving as the defensive line coach and eventually defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. He’s been an inseason replacement before for Monte Kiffin in Dallas.
“I think he’s one of the great teachers, great motivators, one of the great people I’ve met in this business,” Gruden said. “He looks forward to adversity. He thrives on it. I think he looks forward to these challenges, the building of this defense, putting it all together. That’s why we brought him here in the first place. It would certain help if his soldiers got healthy up front, but he’s got great experience and a great amount of experience in situations like this.”
With three games to go, Marinelli doesn’t have a lot of options. Fewer, in fact, than Guenther had. Both linebacker Nicholas Morrow and safety Johnathan Abram are in concussion protocol for injuries sustained against Indianapolis. Morrow has been the Raiders best defensive player since stepping in to an expanded role when free agent signee Cory Littleton was lost to coronavirus. With the game being Thursday, there’s a possibility neither will be cleared to play.
Rookie cornerback Damon Arnette was out because of head injuries in back to back weeks, at least one of them ruled a concussion. Safety Jeff Heath is on injured reserve after his concussion and can’t come back until the regular season finale. It’s been a revolving door defensively, and Gruden, while saying he didn’t want to make excuses, detailed them anyway.
“Cle Ferrell comes out of the game. John Abram is in concussion protocol. Nick Morrow is in concussion protocol. We’re missing Damon Arnette, Jeff Heath. A lot of guys are unavailable right now,” Gruden said. “We like our young team. I want to reiterate that. We do have some veteran players that we are excited about. We’ve got to put it all together, and it goes on me right now to get that done. At the end of the day it’s my responsibility.”
What Gruden didn’t say is that many of the players who have been hurt weren’t playing all that well when in the lineup and healthy. Ferrell, Abram, Arnette, Littleton, Nassib and Maliek Collins linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski were all expected to be key performers on defense. All have been injured or ill to some degree, although Nassib’s last two missed games were as a healthy scratch.
“We have to do some damage control,” Gruden said. “We’ve got to continue to coach and grind and stay positive and hope that Vic Beasley, Takk McKinley and some of these newcomers can step up and play key roles for us.”
Beasley went from eight snaps to 24 against Indianapolis as an edge player with little effect. McKinley, who had a groin injury and failed physicals with the Bengals and 49ers before joining the Raiders, has missed the requisite three games on injured reserve and in theory could play against the Chargers.
The Raiders are giving up 30.1 points per game, ranked 30th of 32 NFL teams and are on track to be the second-worst team in franchise history in that department, trailing only the 2-12 Raiders of 1961 in their second year of existence.
After being gashed for 418 yards on the ground the last two weeks, Gruden identified myriad problems.
“We misfit some runs. Sometimes our force isn’t where it needs to be,” Gruden said. “Sometimes we don’t tackle well. It’s a play here, a play there. We’ve got to do everything better, honestly, and not just one kind of run. Inside runs, outside runs.”
It’s the first time in his career as a head coach Gruden has replaced a defensive coordinator during the season. He serves as his own play- caller with Greg Olson the offensive coordinator in job title only.
The last time the Raiders made an in-season change was 2017, when Jack Del Rio fired Ken Norton Jr. in favor of John Pagano, who was a defensive assistant. Pagano immediately improved the defensive statistically in terms of yardage and points per game, but the overall impact didn’t change the Raiders’ fortunes. They were 4- 6 when Pagano took over and finished 6-10, with the staff being swept out when Gruden returned to coaching.
In 2008, interim head coach Tom Cable took over play-calling duties for Greg Knapp, with Knapp remaining on staff. The Raiders were 2- 6 with Knapp calling plays and 3- 5 under Cable, with the Raiders winning their last two games. Cable was named head coach the following season, but Al Davis hired Hue Jackson to take over the offense.
In 2006, Raiders coach Art Shell fired Tom Walsh as the offensive coordinator after 11 games. Tight ends coach Jon Shoop took over and the Raiders lost their last five games.