Anonymous Raiders Player Has Telling Admission On Jon Gruden
The Las Vegas Raiders overcame various trials and tribulations within the organization to make the NFL playoffs this season. The NFC West franchise won its last four regular season games under interim head coach Rich Bisaccia after a year filled with drama off the field to end the campaign on a high note.
There’s no doubt that it took a special group in Las Vegas to power through the adversity of the season and into the playoffs. However, one Raiders player suggested that part of the reason for the team’s success was not having a specific aspect of Jon Gruden’s coaching style down the stretch.
An anonymous member of the Raiders told Michael Silver of Bally Sports that having Bisaccia in charge allowed the team to have lighter practices in the final weeks of the regular season. If Gruden had still been in charge, the player doesn’t think the team would have put together the same run.
“We didn’t have Gruden grinding us late in the year,” the Raiders veteran told Silver. “Gruden would kill us, and we would fall apart. The reason this team played so well down the stretch is that Rich listened to the players and took it easy over the back half of the season.”
Derek Carr put down a marker: He wants Rich Bisaccia. Why @Raiders owner Mark Davis should think hard about this decision… @BallySports https://t.co/Ikzs0CZ5SN
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 19, 2022
Bisaccia took over after Gruden resigned after five games in the wake of an e-mail scandal. The special teams coordinator quickly endeared himself to his players and led the Raiders to a 7-5 record while at the helm.
Although Bisaccia’s future remains up in the air, quarterback Derek Carr and a number of other players advocated for him to keep the head coaching job in 2022.
“I think we can all think that he’s the right guy,” Carr said of Bisaccia after the Raiders’ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals over the weekend. “He’s proven that people listen to him. Our team listens to him. And I love him so much, I’m thankful for him. All those things will be decisions that I don’t make, (that) I don’t get to make. I just play quarterback … but with everything that went on, if you really look at what happened, all the pieces missing, everything that changed, yeah, he held it together.”
The Raiders reportedly interviewed Bisaccia for their head coaching vacancy on Wednesday. Las Vegas is expected to make a hiring decision in the near future.
The post Anonymous Raiders Player Has Telling Admission On Jon Gruden appeared first on The Spun.
