Oakland Raiders: Jon Gruden’s biggest test awaits in London

The Oakland Raiders 2-2 start for the 2019 season comes as a surprise. Their Week 5 matchup will prove to be the biggest test for Jon Gruden.

Many NFL fans might forget this, but when the then 32-year old Jon Gruden was hired by Ray Rhodes to be the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1995, he was seen as something of a boy wonder. He would then be hired by the Oakland Raiders in 1998 at and turn the franchise around with journeyman quarterback Rich Gannon and a vessel of veterans.

But Gruden ultimately won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at age 39. At the time, he set the record for the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl before Mike Tomlin would win at age 36 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In a nutshell, Gruden was Sean McVay before Sean McVay.

Now in his second stint with the Raiders, Gruden has already had to overcome the Antonio Brown fiasco, next year’s move to Las Vegas and appearing on Hard Knocks. That’s a lot of off the field distractions.

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Gruden has also taken a lot of flak for his old school approach and the trades that sent Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper away. However, he and general manager Mike Mayock used those assets to build the foundation of a solid core of young players that are growing before our eyes.

Despite all of that, his Raiders find themselves 2-2 to start the season, which comes as a pleasant surprise to many. Pleasant because the Raiders are one of those teams in sports that make the sport they’re participating in more enjoyable when they’re playing at a competitive level.

He’s also reminded everyone that he knows offense.

The Raiders have scored points this year with Derek Carr captaining the ship throwing passes to lifelong Raider fan Tyrell Williams and emerging tight end Darren Waller. Rookie running back Josh Jacobs from Alabama already runs the ball like a veteran and Trevor Davis showed his versatility in the Raiders’ win against the Indianapolis Colts, carrying the ball on multiple reverses and even scoring on one. The receiver finished with 74 yards rushing on two carries.

Don’t look now, but Gruden’s offensive approach may come off as old school, yet it’s no less exciting.

This week, they “host” the Chicago Bears in the first London game of the 2019 season, a team that has arguably the best defense in football. So far this season, the Raiders were able to score 24 points on the Denver Broncos and 31 on the Colts.

However, they could only muster 10 against the Kansas City Chiefs at home and 14 on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. Those defenses range from mediocre to very good, but none are even that close to the new Monsters of the Midway.

The Bears should have Roquan Smith back from taking a leave to deal with personal matters and the aforementioned Mack should be out for blood against his former team, not making the matchup any easier, especially since both are tough to deal with when they’re in a good mood. They are ranked 12th in the NFL defensively against the pass, but third against the run and fifth overall.

This will, without a doubt, be Gruden’s greatest test as a coach and offensive mind this season. However, the Bears should be starting Chase Daniel in place of the injured Mitch Trubisky. So, in theory, all the Raiders would have to do is have Carr out-duel Daniel and they will be above .500 for the first time this season since opening night.

At the same time, Matt Nagy is no slouch when it comes to offensive coaching either. Going against this defense and this coach in an unfamiliar London environment, it’ll be no easy test to pass.