Gruden energized over his return to Raiders
ALAMEDA, Calif. – It wasn’t hard to get enthused about rejoining the Oakland Raiders on Tuesday.
Hall of Famers Jerry Rice, Howie Long and Tim Brown were among those in town to offer their greetings.
Fans outfitted in Raiders regalia waited outside the team’s headquarters, hoping for a peek at the returning savior.
A horde of reporters and camera operators hung on every word during a news conference held at the Raiders cavernous workout facility instead of the usual auditorium to accommodate the media’s massive presence.
How could Jon Gruden not be pumped about taking over as the Oakland coach again?
And indeed, Gruden displayed both charm and enthusiasm, repeatedly expressing his love for Oakland and the Raiders and saying, “I’m thrilled to be back. I have a great opportunity and I plan on doing everything I can with this opportunity. Let’s go.”
The question is how long that excitement can last and whether the 54-yearold Gruden can again summon the intense drive and unflagging commitment he showed during his first Raiders stint while in his mid-30s.
Gruden is back on the sidelines, taking one of the most demanding jobs in all of sports after nine years spent in the comfort of a TV analyst’s gig, where the outcome of a game had virtually no impact on his job or quality of life.
How difficult will it be to recapture that passion?
“It’s not difficult,” said Rice, who played for Gruden in 2001 before retiring in 2004. “Just listening to him talk — and I’ve been out of the game for a long time — I wanted to suit up. He can get you going. But the thing, too, is he’s so smart about the game of football, he’s going to know the buttons to push.”
Lured back to the sidelines by a 10year contract reported to be worth
$100 million, Gruden takes over a team that went a disappointing 6-10 after entering the season with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.
The year before, the Raiders had gone 12-4 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2002 as up-and-coming quarterback Derek Carr finished third in the MVP voting. But Carr regressed in 2017, his passer rating dipping from 96.7 to 86.4 and his interceptions more than doubling from six to
13.
Getting him back on track will be one of the main priorities for Gruden, ringleader of ESPN’s QB Camp show for eight years.
“He has a great arm talent. He’s athletic. He’s got natural leadership skills,” Gruden said of Carr, who threw for 22 touchdowns. “He’s young, he’s in his prime. He’s healthy now. He’s been in a lot of different systems; he’s played for a number of quarterbacks (coaches). There has not been a lot of continuity around him that way. I think he’s got huge upside.”
Gruden and Carr, who is signed to a five-year, $125 million deal, give the Raiders two critical pieces who figure to be around when the club makes its planned move to Las Vegas in 2020. But Sin City was not a popular topic of discussion Tuesday, Gruden proclaiming himself more focused on the short term, starting with the two remaining seasons in Oakland, where he logged a
38-26 regular-season record from 1998 to 2001 and twice took the club to the playoffs.