Las Vegas Raiders: Has Jon Gruden worn out his welcome?
Amid highly questionable playcalling, conservative decisions, and a refusal to admit his mistakes, has Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden worn out his welcome?
What was once billed by fans as a glorious return to the coaching sidelines by Jon Gruden, the return tour has now turned sour for some Las Vegas Raiders fans. After three years, the Raiders have made some strides, such as quarterback Derek Carr‘s progression as an efficient passer, and the return of the power running game, but unfortunately, there have been issues that have remained unsolved such as the defense.
In a move that should’ve taken place long ago, Gruden waited until the 2020 season was in a downward spiral to fire defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. There have also been very questionable personnel decisions, such as essentially trading one of the NFL’s top receivers for an underperforming safety.
The team’s drafting has also had some questionable picks, though general manager Mike Mayock surely deserves some of the blame in that department.
On top of all that, Gruden’s on-field decision making continues to hinder the team, case in point, Saturday’s matchup against the Miami Dolphins. Gruden decided to have Josh Jacobs go down on the one-yard line followed by Carr taking a knee on third down. They settled for a field goal, seemingly one of the worst coaching calls by a Raiders coach in recent memory.
The short-lived two-point lead didn’t last as ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez pointed out.
Gruden’s inability to admit his mistakes is driving fans even more insane, and can you blame them? After the Dolphins came back to win on a pass by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick while his head got torqued by way of his facemask, Gruden stuck to his guns.
"“It’s hard to swallow right now. That’s a horrible way to lose a game. I don’t regret taking a knee. We wanted to give the Dolphins the ball with as little time as possible with no timeouts.”"
The Gruden Era has turned sour for the Raiders…
Josh Dubow of the Associated Press pointed out that Tom Cable’s reign as head coach has been more successful than Gruden’s current stint. Adding salt to the wound, Dubow added that JaMarcus Russell was Cable’s starting quarterback in 20 of those 44 games.
With another late-season collapse in the books, Gruden’s conservative, out-of-date playcalling is hurting this team. The inability to field a competitive defense has also stymied any progress the Raiders have made as well. Well, with the season now over, fans have had enough.
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You only have to spend a minute or two on ‘Raiders Twitter’ to gauge the frustration. What surely makes fans even more frustrated is that in all likelihood, Gruden isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Needless to say, said frustration is palpable, and it is only going to get louder if the Raiders finish out the 2020 season with a loss to Denver, and another losing record.