Jon Gruden and Derek Carr minimize "a slight disagreement, insist that everything is fine"

GLENDALE, Arizona – Jon Gruden and Derek Carr both insisted that the animated discussion between the coach and the quarterback in the first half of the Oakland Raiders' 23-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals did not make any difference. was not their first discussion of this type.

It will not be the last either.

What was different this time was that the exchange was filmed, and Lee Smith played the role of peacemaker by putting a hand on the neck of Gruden to calm the situation.

Gruden followed Carr after missing Jalen Richard on the right side in a third pass.

"It's the first time you see it," Gruden said with a mischievous smile, "but it's not the first time this has happened – we're both competitors. We have man situation and he went for the big game.

"We had a slight disagreement, but you know what, this is part of this business, we are going to have moments when we are fighting each other a bit, but we are also very supportive of each other, and I am very proud of him. He has gone through a lot of things this year and I'm glad he's our quarterback. "

The news of the season was about how Carr would adapt to Gruden, notoriously difficult. But Gruden was keen to infuse Carr at every turn.

This made the parallel exchange of week 11 so unique.

Still, Carr said that he was "surprised" that it took cameras so long to catch them in the act.

"We are both very proud – many people do not see this in me all the time – we are both competitive," Carr said. "A minor disagreement on something and the beautiful thing is, when we do that, it's not a humiliating thing or a finger pointing." We're both screaming the same kind of thing, almost: & # 39; repair it! "

"All is well, I promise you."

Carr completed 19 of 31 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns in Arizona, while being fired four times. It was his 15th win in the fourth quarter of his career as the Raiders improved to 2-8.

The secondary broadcast also recalled memorable explosions between Gruden and Rich Gannon during Gruden's first tour of Oakland, which lasted from 1998 to 2001. Gannon joined the Raiders in 1999 and became the most valuable player in the league the year following the transfer from Gruden to Tampa. Bay, Gannon said his best years in the NFL have been with Gruden.

"He wants everything to be so perfect," said Carr. "On this part of games, we are simply trying to put ourselves on the same page, each game … every detail.

"We're just learning from each other, and again, no one wants to hear it, but it's a process, it takes time." The beautiful thing about it, people have as (sideline) occurred and then we went down and we won the game. We always communicated and we hugged it. "

Carr later said that he was joking about the fact that they had kissed each other, but Smith was physical, so to speak.

Because, after the cameras returned to the game, Raiders radio sideline reporter Chris Townsend reported that the conversation between Gruden and Carr had resumed and had become more inflamed. This lasted throughout the duration of Oakland's defensive series and Smith, a close friend of Carr, "grabbed" Gruden by the back of the neck to try to dispel the situation, reported Townsend.

When asked if Smith was a "peacemaker" in the team, Gruden smiled.

"Did it look like?" Gruden burst out laughing. "I can handle my own business."

Smith said that he was not trying to be a peacemaker.