2018 Oakland Raiders: Where do we go from here?
The teams effort levels
It’s going to be insanely difficult for head coach Jon Gruden to get his players up for every game. There will surely be some who will show up with a winning mentality, but that’s the minority. With the reports of unease in the locker room due in part to Gruden’s handling of the Amari Cooper trade, it’s hard to see these players care to get up for a game. The effort levels were already poor against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Seattle Seahawks.
The trade just worsens the environment for the players. Their trust and relationship with Gruden is shaky at best. Now I know what you might be thinking. These are highly paid athletes, so they have plenty of reasons to show up with maximum effort.
Well sure, I guess that is true, but there’s still a human element to this. Raider nation is far too familiar with player’s effort levels being poor. There have been countless players who have come to the Oakland Raiders just to collect a check and not produce on Sundays.
The players on this roster now are no different. The only way I can see this team actually being motivated to win is if they rally around their dislike and/or trust of Jon Gruden.
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I just don’t see how these players will be able to take Gruden seriously at this point. To not address the trade following practice on Monday shows how little he thinks of his players. His words mean as little to them as they do to us on the outside, so why would they want to give their effort to win games for him? With all of the unsettled heads in the locker room I highly doubt that this team will even win another game this season.
I hope I’m wrong, but there is nothing to suggest otherwise. I’d wager that a bunch of these players are hoping they’re traded or cut next so they can find new salvation. This is why we need to paying close attention to this teams effort.
Who will show up to actually try to win? It doesn’t matter if they win. All that matters is who shows up and who doesn’t because we’ll get all we need to know from their performances. Will it be the gutless effort we saw against the Seahawks? Or will this time somehow find a spark to want to compete?