Gruden’s challenge isn’t criticism, it’s reviving Raiders after knockout

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ALAMEDA — During the Raiders’ lone open locker room opportunity during a painful bye week, wide receivers Amari Cooper and Seth Roberts appeared briefly, but were unavailable because they are in the league’s concussion protocol.

In a general sense, the Raiders as a team Tuesday were dealing with being knocked out, and coach Jon Gruden’s ability or inability to get 53 men back on their feet will chart the course for the rest of the season.

Can they somehow win some games and avoid a 10-loss season? Or is this careening toward 3-13 or worse?

It’s a course that includes three of the next four opponents which have 1-5 records just like the Raiders — Indianapolis on Oct. 28, the 49ers on Nov. 1 and the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 18.

In a previous column I referenced the 2006 opener under Art Shell, and how being physically manhandled in Week 1 set the tone for the rest of the season.

But you only have to go back to last year to see what an effect a knockout can have. The Raiders were a high-flying 2-0 coming off a playoff season and heading to Washington in Week 3.

The Raiders lost 27-10, but it was carnage. Washington pummeled the Raiders physically at every turn and abused quarterback Derek Carr in a manner the score didn’t reflect. A team that thought it was pretty good suddenly had a crisis of confidence, and the feeling here is that game showed there was something different within their DNA, an unquantifiable quality which a team either has or doesn’t have.

Does a team that gets knocked out go into its next game and fire off the ropes, or cover and protect?

Running back Jalen Richard said such losses are simply an occasional part of NFL life but conceded, “We can’t let nobody just do us the way Seattle did us this past weekend. That just can’t happen.”

Gruden believes he knows enough about his team, record be damned, to be confident about the Raiders getting back up. He bristled at the talk of “tanking,” as would any coach who spends an obscene amount of time preparing his team to win each week.

There’s a distinction to be made here between “organizational” tanking, i.e, not putting the best players on the field while setting things up for the future, and game-day “tanking,” which would be deliberately setting in motion a game plan designed to score fewer points than the opposition.

You could look at the Khalil Mack trade and make the argument the Raiders are doing the former. In Gruden’s mind, there is only the latter, and the suggestion that he’s trying less than his best to win on Sundays struck a nerve.

“We are not getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning to tank it,” Gruden said. “Ain’t nobody tanking it.”

Gruden has no problem firing back, as he demonstrated Tuesday during his bye week press conference. And everyone with a Twitter account can and will take potshots.

Parsing words is a big part of modern-day media, and Gruden keeps feeding the fire. If the Raiders were 5-1, he’d be colorful. At 1-5, Gruden is an endless supply of snarky punchlines. It fills up timelines, posts and column inches. While entertaining and revelatory (nothing is more “Look at me! Look at me!” than Twitter), seldom does it deal with the Raiders’ real problems.

Winning or losing the press conference has no bearing on what transpires on the field, and only occasionally does it give any insight. Much more problematic than what Gruden says — and at 1-5 he’d also be getting killed for the usual coach-speak and generic platitudes — are issues to be dealt with on the field.

Gruden’s offense, which showed promise early on, has sputtered in the last two games. Carr isn’t being adequately protected, and now Marshawn Lynch has a groin injury which may or may not be something to be worried about.

Gruden’s defense has a minimal pass rush and a lack of speed. The kicking game and the rookie battery of snapper Trent Sieg, holder/punter Johnny Townsend and kicker Matt McCrane is poor.

The roster as a whole has a bevy of injuries and the offensive line in particular is a mess. Related Articles Raiders will be without Henry Ruggs III against Patriots

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Add to all that the potential of creeping doubt after going all the way to London to get poleaxed by Seattle.

Gruden’s first tenure with the Raiders was defined by his team’s eagerness to compete. The last 50 games he coached, the Raiders never lost by double digits and had a legitimate shot in the fourth quarter to win every game.

The bye week should enable the Raiders to get healthier. The upcoming level of competition could provide a spark. But more than anything else, Gruden needs to coach his team in such a way that they believe they can win and don’t go into a turtle shell when slugged in the mouth.

Who knows where Gruden can find such a formula? Maybe he can’t. One thing’s for sure — he won’t find it on Twitter or anywhere in the mainstream media, where the Raiders have already been counted out. Like our Oakland Raiders Facebook page for more Raiders news, commentary and conversation.

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