Gruden says no regrets over Mack trade

Coach Jon Gruden was in no mood to rehash Denver’s final drive that handed the Oakland Raiders a second straight defeat to open his tenure as coach.

Case Keenum and the Broncos were able to move the ball down the field with little pressure in the heat and altitude of Denver and get a 36-yard field goal from Brandon McManus in the closing seconds of a 20-19 victory Sunday.

A second straight game with no consistent pass rush raised an obvious question for Gruden about whether the decision to trade edge rusher Khalil Mack, who was holding out, to Chicago for a package of draft picks was a wise move.

“It doesn’t make me regret,” Gruden said Monday “We made the trade. We made the trade. There has got to be hindsight, 50-50, all that stuff. We would have loved to have him here and I’m not going to keep rehashing this. I would have loved to (have) coached him, loved to have him here, but he’s not here. Somebody’s got to step up.”

That hasn’t happened through two games so far this season as Oakland has just two sacks combined in losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Broncos in the opening two weeks.

Bruce Irvin, who used to be nicknamed Robin to Mack’s Batman, has been unable to deliver with the bigger responsibility of being the top pass rusher. He had one sack in the opener against the Rams but didn’t provide much this past week.

He committed a personal foul that extended a touchdown drive for the Broncos after Oakland had appeared to make a third-down stop and looked gassed on the final drive when Keenum moved the ball from his 10 to the Oakland 18 with under two minutes remaining.