Bad news coming at Gruden from all sides
ALAMEDA >> Jon Gruden admitted he was “a little depressed” the day after his team’s fourth loss of the season, a 26-10 loss to the Chargers and the first game this season in which the Raiders never had a realistic chance in the second half.
A lengthy flight from Oakland to London awaits the Raiders (1-4) on Thursday night, and Gruden isn’t excited about that either.
Gruden once flew 14
hours back from Belarus after his son Deuce’s powerlifting championship and had vertigo for a month.
“I couldn’t even lay down, the house was spinning. I am hoping I don’t get vertigo,” Gruden said. “I’m not a great traveler. I’ll be honest with you, I hate it. I’m not good. I’m concerned.”
Gruden joked he’s more worried about his flights to
and from London than his goal-line offense in the aftermath of Derek Carr’s goal-line interception on Sunday (hint: he was being sarcastic). Aside from some post-loss humor from the Raiders’ head coach, here’s what else we learned from Gruden on Monday.
WHY GAREON CONLEY BARELY PLAYED >> Conley, the 2017 first-round pick, has started every game for the Raiders at cornerback this season. Last Sunday he grabbed his first career interception and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown in the Raiders’ 45-42 overtime win over the Browns.
Against the Chargers on Sunday, Conley only played 13 of a possible 64 defensive snaps, which equates to exactly one-fifth of the defensive snaps Oakland had. In his first four games of the season, Conley played 90 percent, 97 percent, 70 percent and 68 percent of the Raiders’ defensive snaps, respectively.
Conley’s defining moment on Sunday came late in the third quarter, when Tyrell Williams blazed by him for a 48-yard gain down the left sideline. Conley’s mishap came the play right after Carr’s end-zone interception and allowed the Chargers to escape from deep in Raiders territory.
Here was Gruden’s explanation for a sharp decrease in Conley’s playing time:
“Worley played good,” Gruden said of cornerback Daryl Worley, who made his season debut off a fourgame suspension. “Worley’s a good player and Gareon had a couple struggles yesterday. We’re trying to find the right mix at a lot of positions. Daryl Worley is a good player. I think he was second on our team in tackles and he earned the right to be out there.”
WHAT GRUDEN THINKS OF CARR’S FIVE FIRST-DOWN INTERCEPTIONS >> Five of Carr’s league-leading eight interceptions have come on first down, the most such picks in the NFL.
In fact, as The Associated Press’ Josh Dubow points out, Carr has more firstdown interceptions this season than Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has in his last five seasons.
Two of Carr’s more perplexing interceptions this season have come on first down, one with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter against the Dolphins when he targeted Martavis Bryant on a fade from the 13-yard line on first-and-10. The second came Sunday, when Melvin Ingram intercepted Carr in the end zone on first-andgoal from the 1-yard line as the Raiders neglected to feed Marshawn Lynch.
So what does Gruden make of Carr’s five interceptions on first down? Does Carr need to be more conservative?
“Interceptions are bad on any down,” Gruden said. “First down, second down, third down. He’s too good a player to throw any, and I believe that. I think we can correct these interceptions and we are going to correct these interceptions. I think he’s aggressive and we’re coaching him to be aggressive. We feel like we got some good shot plays. We’ve got some good receivers, but I think we can tone down some of that aggressiveness. We got to eliminate the turnovers. We have to win the turnover battle to be a great football team and right now we’re turning the ball over too many times and we aren’t getting the ball back.”
DOES GRUDEN REGRET NOT RUNNING LYNCH FROM THE 1?>> It may not have mattered in the end, but Carr throwing an interception instead of handing off to Lynch on the 1-yard line with the Raiders down 17 late in the third quarter essentially ended any Raiders hopes of coming back against the Chargers.
Lynch ripped off his helmet and reared back to throw it before restraining. Gruden said he thinks he threw his visor and headset, too.
“I don’t want to see anybody get upset. I want everyone to be happy. It won’t be the last pass I call on firstand-goal either,” Gruden said. “I think it’s the best time to throw down there. I regret that it was intercepted. Turns out to be a horrible call, but we were down 20-3. Melvin Ingram is their middle linebacker in a jam front, and I wanted to throw a play-action pass on the 1-foot line. My opinion is that it shouldn’t have been intercepted. We shouldn’t do that right there. But we did. Lynch is frustrated. I think I threw my visor and my headset, so I think he and I have a lot in common.”
Gruden’s quote of the day came shortly after, when he realistically summed up the criticism of his decision and why Lynch didn’t play a snap after almost throwing his helmet. It just so happens the Raiders are next playing the Seahawks, still coached by Pete Carroll, who was the last head coach to receive backlash for not handing Lynch the ball on the 1-yard line.
“We were down 20-3. It wasn’t the last play of the Super Bowl. We were down 20-3,” Gruden said. “It was first-and-goal, trying to save as much time as we can with a play-action pass. We got into the twominute drill after that. We only had a few possessions in the second half. Everybody is on the same page. Jalen Richard is a heck of a third-down back. He’s been our two-minute back all year, for the most part. That’s what you saw.”