Jon Gruden is having the time of his life back with the Oakland Raiders. He and his team celebrate their London victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The Oakland Raiders improved to 3-2 on the year after outlasting the Chicago Bears in London on Sunday afternoon, 24-21. They find themselves certainly in the mix for an AFC Wild Card spot in the early part of the year. More importantly, head coach Jon Gruden is having a blast leading the Silver and Black.
The former Monday Night Football superstar in the booth and NFL head coach is back with the Raiders after far too long. Everything feels right with Gruden leading the Raiders into the next century of football. Even though they are going to Las Vegas next year, Gruden and his team had fun celebrating at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday evening.
Gruden said, “this is the most fun I’ve ever had” and told his team, ” you can beat anybody, anywhere in any f*****g time zone.” That is a quote if there ever was one. He’s fired up, no doubt about that.
He’s not just a television star anymore, but Gruden looks to be a good football coach once again. The Raiders are playing complementary football that is translating into many wins many of us didn’t think they’d have. Winning six games in a lame-duck year for the franchise would have been a huge hit. Instead, this team might very well go over .500. That’s absolutely remarkable.
The Raiders will have a bye before getting ready for the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field on Oct. 20. Oakland will spend far too long away from the Bay Area, as the Raiders won’t play their next game at The Coliseum until Nov. 3 against the Detroit Lions.
Winning on the road is never easy, much less winning on foreign soil. The Raiders had a 17-0 lead at halftime over the Monsters of the Midway but managed to hold on to beat the Bears by three points to get over .500 for the early part of the season.
There is a lot of football ahead of this bunch, but the Silver and Black can certainly hang with the best of them. Gruden is having fun. If the coach is having fun, then so might the players. Maybe this 10-year contract will work out after all? Raiders have to feel great about themselves heading into the bye. There’s no other way to look at it.
