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NFL

Raiders obligated to lose Oakland home game to London as relocating team

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Now that we know the Oakland Raiders will be giving up a home game this coming season to play host to the Seattle Seahawks in London on Oct. 14, a few suppositions can be made.

For one, the Raiders will likely have their bye week the following Sunday, which would be Week 7 of the NFL season.

For another, Oakland might ask the NFL schedule makers to give it a road game in the east on Oct. 7. That way the Raiders, to cut down on travel, could shoot down to Florida after that Eastern time zone game and train for the week at the IMG Academy in Bradenton before heading across the Atlantic Ocean for the game at new Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Three of the Raiders’ 2018 road opponents reside in the Eastern time zone — the Cincinnati Bengals, the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins — though exact dates will not be announced until late April.

The Raiders will play at Tottenham’s new stadium in 2018 — one of three NFL games to be played on consecutive weeks in London. Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

At least, that was the thought under former coach Jack Del Rio, who was fired after the regular-season finale on Dec. 31 and replaced by Jon Gruden on Tuesday.

The Raiders have spent a week at IMG the past two seasons in between games on the East Coast, against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2016 and the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins in 2017.

Gruden’s home is in the Tampa area so staying in nearby Sarasota and practicing in Bradenton before the London trip could be appealing to him.

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It will be the fourth time in five years the Raiders will give up a home game to play host in an international game. In 2014, the Raiders lost to the Dolphins, 38-14, at Wembley Stadium in Week 4. In 2016, the Raiders beat the Houston Texans, 27-20, at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca in Week 11. And in 2017, the Raiders fell to the New England Patriots, 33-8, at Azteca in Week 11.

With the Raiders in the process of relocating to Las Vegas for the 2020 season, they are obligated to give up a home game for the international series — be it England or Mexico — each year until the new building is up and running.

The Los Angeles Chargers, who are playing in the soccer-specific StubHub Center in Carson before the stadium they will share with the Rams in Inglewood opens in 2020, are in a similar situation as they will lose a home game by playing host to the Tennessee Titans in London’s Wembley Stadium on either Oct. 21 or Oct. 28, while the Jacksonville Jaguars, mainstays of the London series with a fifth straight England game in 2018, will play the Philadelphia Eagles on the other date. The Rams, who are playing temporarily in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, are expected to be the home team in a yet-to-be-announced Mexico City game in 2018.

“The Raiders are a truly global brand,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement, “and we look forward to hosting the first NFL game in Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium.”

NFL

New Seahawks offensive coordinator will mean a new voice for Russell Wilson
10:34 PM ET

  • Brady HendersonESPN

With Darrell Bevell no longer the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, quarterback Russell Wilson will have a new voice in his ear for the first time in his NFL career.

Maybe that was the point.

Or maybe it was at least one of the Seahawks’ primary motivations for firing Bevell after seven seasons with the team. The Seahawks announced that move Wednesday while also firing offensive-line coach/assistant head coach Tom Cable. Moving on from Bevell wasn’t shocking nor was it necessarily a foregone conclusion, and in trying to make sense of the decision, a recent comment from coach Pete Carroll came to mind.

Carroll, speaking with KIRO-AM 710 ESPN Seattle, was asked at season’s end to evaluate how Wilson played in 2017.

“He had a fantastic year, really. He really did have a fantastic year in a lot of ways, and he can be better. Russ can be better,” Carroll said. “I know you guys got on me a little bit [earlier in the season], ‘Boy, he’s criticizing Russ.’ Russ wants to be criticized. Russ needs to be criticized. He wants to be great.”

Perhaps Wilson wasn’t getting enough of that tough love from the mild-mannered Bevell, the only coordinator he has had in his six seasons with the Seahawks.

Darrell Bevell, right, came to Seattle as offensive coordinator in 2011, the year before the Seahawks drafted quarterback Russell Wilson. Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire

To be sure, Seattle’s offense badly hit the skids this past December and struggled all season with inexplicably poor starts, but Bevell was much better than his harshest critics suggest. The Seahawks won one Super Bowl and nearly another during his run in Seattle, and though the goal-line interception that decided Super Bowl XLIX will forever be a black mark on Bevell’s résumé, the truth is that it wasn’t solely his decision to throw the ball instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch.

The Seahawks finished between first and seventh in offensive DVOA from Wilson’s rookie season in 2012 to 2015. They did that despite often being hamstrung by a poor offensive line that couldn’t protect Wilson and, more recently, couldn’t open holes in the running game. Bevell had to navigate those issues while having to strike a delicate balance between being aggressive and playing the type of mistake-free football Carroll mandates. He did well under the circumstances.

Bevell deserves his due for that and also for his role in developing Wilson into one of the game’s top quarterbacks.

Make no mistake: Wilson had no issue with Bevell. He respects him as a person and as a coach, and he enjoyed playing for him. But this isn’t about what Wilson wants so much as it seems to be about what Carroll believes Wilson needs, which is a coach willing to hold the quarterback more accountable and be more demanding of him.

During his 710 ESPN Seattle interview, Carroll said he was tougher on Wilson than usual during halftime of the team’s season finale against the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks had finished the first quarter with zero net yards and had all of 24 by halftime, laying an offensive egg in a game they needed to win in order to have any shot of reaching the playoffs.

So Carroll did something he doesn’t normally do.

“I sat down at Russell’s locker at halftime with him and said, ‘We’ve got to turn this thing,’ and in a way that he hasn’t heard me talk to him, just because I knew that he was the one that was going to lead the turnaround if it was going to happen,” Carroll said. “We needed to change things. We were getting chased, and we were running all over the place, and it was hard, and he missed some choices and some decisions too because he was under duress. I said, ‘I know you can fix this. Fix it.’ And we did, and he did. And he turned it, and he did what he’s been able to do in remarkable fashion.”

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In Dana Bible, Wilson had that type of voice in a coach at North Carolina State. He hasn’t had that in the NFL. It isn’t in Bevell’s nature to challenge a player in the way that, say, Josh McDaniels will challenge Tom Brady on the sideline after a missed throw. That type of exchange didn’t happen with Bevell and Wilson.

There’s a tricky balance in all of this. One-time Seattle offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates is a good example. Bates was Bevell’s predecessor with the Seahawks, having followed Carroll from USC to Seattle. He was fired after one season, and it is believed that it wasn’t because of underperformance from the offense but rather because of how his negative attitude didn’t at all align with the culture Carroll was trying to build.

The challenge for Seattle will be finding something in between, a coach whose personality fits but also one who can push Wilson’s buttons in a way that will get the most out of him.

NFL

Jerry Rice: Jon Gruden's 'Chucky' is coming for the young Raiders

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Ten years might not seem long in general, but it is an eternity in the NFL.

So many things have changed since Jon Gruden last roamed an NFL sideline in 2008 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We aren’t just talking about the CBA, rule changes or where the Oakland Raiders will be calling home in 2020 (pssst, Las Vegas).

Because while no one who has been around Gruden the past decade will ever argue that he is not insanely prepared to coach a football game, there are questions as to whether his manic, in-your-face style of coaching will jibe with this generation of players.

“I think I was deep down somewhere [wanting to coach again],” Jon Gruden said Tuesday during his introductory news conference in Alameda, California. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo

“He can be your best friend or your worst enemy,” said Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, who played for Gruden in Oakland in 2001. “That’s going to keep you on your toes. And maybe that was something that the players, they were lacking this year.

“I hope these players are ready because they’re going to get Chucky. They’re going to get him … Chucky’s going to come out.”

Gruden is expected to light a fire under players who might not be properly motivated, so to speak. Rice, the greatest receiver of all time before he crossed the San Francisco Bay to join the Raiders, said Gruden motivated even him by pushing him.

“Either you buy in, or you’re not going to be a part of it,” said Rice, who compared Gruden to Bill Walsh as a motivator and coach.

That’s what Gruden is expected to do with the likes of Derek Carr, Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper.

“Yeah, he’s coming for them, man,” Charles Woodson, who was Gruden’s first draft pick in 1998 and who last played for Oakland in 2015, said of the current Raiders.

“I think the guys will be ready. I think the one thing that will probably take them by surprise is the star-like quality that Gruden has and the relationship that he had with the fan base when he was here. They haven’t seen that. So he’ll be the most popular guy on the sideline. It won’t be Derek Carr. It won’t be Khalil Mack. It’s going to be Jon Gruden.”

Woodson recalled how “demanding” Gruden was as a coach.

“That’s what they’ll have to be ready for,” he added. “They’re young and impressionable, and Gruden will bring the best out of them. And if you don’t respond, you’ve got to go. You’re all-in or nothing.”

Hall of Fame receiver Tim Brown, who was with the Raiders for all four of Gruden’s seasons in Oakland, played his final NFL season with Gruden in Tampa Bay. Brown also had some advice for the current Raiders players.

“Get ready,” he said. “It’s going to be real. I think the one thing we all loved about Jon is he brought passion to the game. It wasn’t just about playing football. It was about playing football with passion.”

Lincoln Kennedy played right tackle for the entirety of Gruden’s Raiders and said he bought in to Gruden immediately, even though he said Gruden had a “Napoleon complex” as coach. Kennedy does wonder about the current group, though.

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“The mentality of today’s player is different,” Kennedy said. “Can he mesh with that?

“He’s excited about the opportunity. I’ve known Jon for many years. I’ve known he wanted to get back. I know he felt there is unfinished business … he’s got a young team. He’s got a young nucleus. He’s got a quarterback. When you have a quarterback, you’ve got a chance. He didn’t really have that in his years in Tampa Bay.”

What about Gruden? Does he wonder if his coaching style will work a decade after he last coached?

“Well, these 50 extra Oakland Raider players that are here today didn’t mind it,” Gruden said of his adversarial style, with a laugh. “I mean, I don’t know what my reputation is. There are some great video clips of me swearing, screaming at players, but I was also the biggest cheerleader in the league. I get excited when we make a play. I get excited when we make a first down. I really get excited when we win. I get really upset when we don’t, and I hope that still has a place in the NFL.

“That is how this organization rolls. It is about winning. If you aren’t winning, we are not going to be happy. I hope that is still a big part of every team in this league because it will be a big part of this organization.”

NFL

New Packers GM wants Eliot Wolf to stay but 'wouldn't hold him back'

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Brian Gutekunst wants Eliot Wolf to be his top advisor, but the Green Bay Packers general manager says he will understand if his longtime coworker leaves after getting passed over for the job.

It sounds like Gutekunst will let him go.

Wolf, who holds the position of director of football operations, did not receive a promotion Monday, when the Packers introduced Gutekunst as GM and announced changes to their management structure to include president Mark Murphy as the overseer of Gutekunst, executive vice president/football operations Russ Ball and coach Mike McCarthy.

“I would envision him kind of being a right-hand man to me,” Gutekunst said of Wolf on Monday following his introductory news conference. “We have a great relationship. I’m very fond of the person, and the scout is excellent. I’ve told him that. I really want him to be here. But I also know he has other opportunities, and I wouldn’t hold him back from that because I care about him. But if he was here, I’d like to get him more involved in the college side of stuff and have a broader approach to what he’s been doing.”

Eliot Wolf, who holds the position of director of football operations, did not receive a promotion on Monday. Evan Siegle/The Green Bay Press-Gazette

Because the 35-year-old Wolf is still under contract with the Packers, Gutekunst could block him from taking anything other than a GM job with another team, but it doesn’t sound like he would prevent Wolf from leaving.

New Browns general manager John Dorsey wants to hire Wolf as one of his top advisers. Dorsey, the former Packers’ personnel executive, already hired away Alonzo Highsmith to be his vice president of football operations.

Wolf was one of four candidates Murphy interviewed for the GM job. The others were Ball and former Bills general manager Doug Whaley.

Former Packers GM Ron Wolf did not sound happy that his son was passed over for the job he once held, telling ESPN on Sunday night, “Obviously, the people up there don’t think he’s worthy, or they would’ve hired him.”

Gutekunst, 44, got the edge over Wolf in large part because of his experience. Gutekunst is more versed in the college scouting area, having spent 13 years as an area scout and four years as the Packers’ director of college scouting before he became director of player personnel in 2016.

Most of Wolf’s experience has been in pro scouting, which is why Gutekunst believes they would make a good team.

“We’ve been talking throughout this whole thing,” Gutekunst said. “Like I said, he’s a friend, and we do have a very good relationship. I talked to him multiple times and will continue to and see where it goes.”

Gutekunst is expected to retain director of college scouting Jon-Eric Sullivan and director of pro personnel John Wojciechowski.

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