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“Raiders-What Are They Getting?”

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Oh are they happy in Oakland right now, those lifetime passionate Raiders fans.

Jon Gruden has come home to coach the Raiders again, this after having been out of coaching since 2008.

He had success, briefly in the NFL, at the tail end of his stay with the Raiders, and in the beginning after he went to Tampa Bay.

But in terms of a sparkling career, more so on television as an analyst rather than on the sidelines as a head coach.

The ledger shows a career record of (95-81), decent. It also shows his getting axed in Oakland and then fired in Tampa Bay. Nothing unusual there, for Al Davis went thru lots of coaches, and the Bucs have a dismal history of franchise problems.

Oh they love Gruden on television, his Monday Night Football work, and his NFL-Quarterback School features on ESPN.

But what are the Raiders getting this second time around? A really strong personality, yes. A really strong football man, I don’t know.

In his long run as a head coach, he won with just 2-journeyman quarterbacks. Rich Gannon arrived, and flourished for two years after bouncing around a lot. Older guy, system fit him, a driven competitor..

Brad Johnson had been lots of places, and won for a couple of years after Gruden’s arrival in Tampa Bay.

But Gruden did nothing of importance with all the other QBs he inherited. Names you have probably forgotten, Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski, Jeff Garcia, Brian Griese.

And the Super Bowl ring he got with the Bucs, was with Tony Dungy’s great program that he inherited, when Dungy went to Indianapolis.

In fact, Gruen has had just 6-winning seasons in 11-years as a head coach. And his resume included seasons of 9-11 and 12-losses.

Raiders fans get excited about lots of stupid things. The Black Hole. Mount Davis the empty Stadium, and Raiders history.. The teams of yesteryear because more recently the franchise has been in disarray.

Current owner Mark Davis thinks his late father would be proud of what he did, paying Gruen a reported 10-year-100 million contract. Truth is All soured on Gruen in a nasty personality clash, that led to his Oakland exit. A power struggle between the fiesta kid and the old man-you always know how that winds up, especially in Oakland.

So much for revisionist history about Gruen-Raiders-Davis et al.

He does inherit a great thrower in Derek Carr, and an off-injured great athlete in Amari Cooper, a strange mix of personalities in Marshawn Lynch and Michael Crabtree and a really poor-but young-needs to be developed defense.

The glaring number about Gruen is the fact he went (57-55) after he won with Dungy’s players in Tampa and really failed the last group of years.

Are the Raiders getting a great coach, or just a TV personality to be their coach?

Raiders fans always buy a bill of goods in Oakland, so maybe it doesnt really matter.

But NFL people are really skeptical about this guy, that hire, and what the end results might be.

Gruden talks a good game, but that’s on TV, not on the sidelines in game action.

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