[ad_1]
Two years ago, the Raiders were 6-2 and 12-30, and Derek Carr was a legitimate MVP contender. But they slipped to 6-10 last season, coach Jack Del Rio was sacked and his owner Mark Davis replaced him with his white whale, Jon Gruden, who would return to the sidelines for the first time since the 2008 season.
It turns out that a lot has changed in the NFL over the last ten years and Gruden, at least in six games, seems ill-equipped to deal with it. He spent the first weeks of the season complaining about the absence of the assist, even though he traded Khalil Mack to the Bears. But after scoring 45 points against the Browns in the only victory of the Week 4 Raiders, the offense has only managed 13 points in the last eight quarters. The low point came Sunday in London, where Seattle led 27-0 before Oakland made a successful mid-fourth quarter goal.
More on the NFL
That does not help: Gruden, inexplicably, decided to take an Oakland flight to London, arriving early Friday, about 48 hours before the bidding. It's eight hours off, making it almost impossible for players to set their biological clock in time for the match.
"Did a lot of research on this, obviously – people who did it, people who made this trip across California from California," Gruden said last Monday, explaining his thinking. "I do not know much about it, we just do what we think best for our players, get the proper preparation here, then go to London, find the right rest, take some time, and then get ready to play Sunday. "
There is more.
"I hope to be able to do it, honestly, I'm not great (on a trip)," continued Gruden. "I became claustrophobic, my son was a weightlifter and he won a powerlifting competition in Belarus, I had to fly 14 hours, I had to fly 14 hours, I was dizzy for a month, I could not even I'm going to sleep, I was going around in circles I hope I'm not dizzy I'm not a big traveler I'm going to be honest with you, I hate it I'm not I'm worried, I'm more worried about this than our goal-line offense right now. "
Imagine Bill Belichick saying something like that. You can not, right?
Fortunately, the Raiders are in their way. And maybe their best chances of winning will come next month when they host Indianapolis at Week 8, go to San Francisco at Week 9 and Arizona at Week 11. In the middle of October, the other seven games all look like defeats. In other words: 4-12 would be Oakland's worst record since 2014, which was also Carr's rookie season. Not exactly the return on investment that Davis was waiting for after giving Gruden $ 100 million.
While Gruden probably would not say it publicly, are the Raiders already in rebuild mode? Reading between the lines, it sounds good.
"We will continue to train the team," Gruden said after the match. "I've only been there for six or seven months, some players have been injured."
Carr, meanwhile, had a different tone.
"I hope not, do you see what I mean?" he said Sunday.
"It's my fifth year, I do not like it, we do not like it [talk of a rebuild], you know? I have the impression that we have done a little bit of that, right? Nobody likes to do that … it's my fifth year, you want [success] now, "he continued. You want everything now. I know our fans want it now, and believe me, we're trying to do it now. But we have to take this week off, look at what we can do to play better this week off, what we can do to win this game. This is where our mentality must be. "
The reality is that the Raiders are currently forming a dreadful football team and it is not unreasonable to think that Gruden will continue to rearrange the team in his own image, which could even mean leaving Carr.
[ad_2]
Source link
