Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders: 3 things we learned
Jon Gruden’s decision making is getting better but still needs work
No matter how fun loving and loose Jon gruden makes himself seem in interviews, we’ve seen in his Raiders tenure that he is still in old school coach. He still relies on the run game to set up the pass, and is one of the few coaches in the NFL that still believes in three tight end sets, and even using a full back.
Despite his old school leanings, Gruden may be coming around on some of the analytics that prove aggression is the way to go to win football games. On Thursday night, Gruden’s aggression versus Anthony Lynn’s conservative approach was nearly the difference in the game for the Raiders, but when it mattered most, Gruden reverted to his conservative roots.
The Raiders offense was a woeful 5- 13 on third downs on Thursday but were in excellent 4-4 on fourth down. However, when the Raiders were facing the most important fourth down of the game in overtime, Gruden decided to kick the field goal and rely on his historically bad defense to try and win the game.
The Raiders had the ball on first and goal from the Chargers four-yard line, and after two unsuccessful runs, and a bizarre play call on 3rd down, Gruden had a decision to make that ultimately decided the game. He could have gone for the touchdown, and if they were successful, the Raiders would have ended the game right then and there.
Had they not been successful, the Chargers would have gotten the ball inside the five-yard line and would have had to drive nearly the length of the field given their lack of confidence in a kicker that had already missed twice on the night.
Gruden opted for the conservative choice and was quickly proven wrong, as the Chargers marched down to the goal line with ease and punched it in after a series of failed quarterback runs. The saying goes that an old dog can’t learn new tricks, and it’s time that Raider Nation accepts that this is who Gruden is. He will always lean towards a more conservative approach, and will only go for it on fourth down when absolutely necessary.
He did so on Thursday night with great success because his hand was forced, but there were several other chances to be more aggressive this season, but he opted to take the points and rely on his defense. Unless the Raiders are able to bring back Gruden’s defense from the Tampa Bay area, his lack of aggression will continue to be a factor that holds back this team and this offense.