The hooting and hollering and yelps of celebration reverberated behind locker room doors late Sunday afternoon, the Raiders having finally earned victory in 2018, a 45-42 final against Cleveland at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
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When he sticks to the script, Jon Gruden has proven over the first three weeks of this NFL season to be Laurence Olivier, prepared and versatile, creative and confident, a virtual Henry the V calling plays.
A dink-and-dunk passing trend needs changing if wins are to come, the next opportunity for the Raiders being against the unbeaten Dolphins on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
DENVER — There were under two minutes remaining in a football game the Raiders had led all Sunday, under two minutes until they could depart with a road victory over a division rival, and this was the scene along their defensive line:
Jon Gruden will remember most the final score of his return to the Raiders, because losses stay with folks in this league more than anything, a 33-13 defeat to the Rams before a Monday Night Football audience and a silver and black faithful who spent much of the fourth quarter booing.
The team deserved much of the criticism pointed its way for trading Khalil Mack, but on the opposite spectrum of appraising the franchise is how it has served the needs of those in the Bay Area and Las Vegas.
The team hasn’t played a real game in 2018, meaning if things weren’t as agreeable and copacetic between head coach and his star quarterback as publicized, fans of the team should really be concerned.
That the NFL will get this quick a look at whether Raiders rookie Arden Key’s potential really is supported by skill is another story, a fact accelerated when star pass rusher Khalil Mack was shipped to Chicago and a rookie from LSU suddenly understood his was a much greater responsibility.
Jon Gruden on Sunday addressed the media for the first time since the Raiders sent elite pass rusher Khalil Mack, a second-round pick and a conditional fifth to the Bears for two first-rounders, a third and a sixth.
This isn’t what Raiders fans imagined when they celebrated Gruden returning as head coach, his decision to trade the team’s best player in Khalil Mack, a defensive end in his prime who should he continue on a current trajectory of production, will one day be sized for a gold blazer in Canton.