Somewhere, some place, the likes of Chuck Bresnahan and John Marshall must be shaking their heads, wondering, what in the name of Rolando McClain covering Calvin Johnson is keeping Paul Guenther in his role as the Raiders defensive coordinator? Good question, and one that only head coach Jon Gruden can answer. To hear Guenther tell
Guenther, Key, Williams and Joyner among those entering prove-it seasons
To be fair, Guenther was severely hamstrung when Gruden ignored that side of the ball and traded away the best player the Raiders had at the time on the defensive side of the ball. That trade probably cost the Raiders one to two wins in a season. However, I’m not sure if Guenther is fitting his scheme to the players’ talents or just running his scheme without regard to the talents of the players. From this uneducated viewpoint, it appears he is doing the latter and not the former. As with last year, the offense is expected to carry the load for this team. The defense just needs to be better than it was last year, so Guenther has a low bar to hurdle, IMHO.
If Raiders had kept Mack and gained those one to two wins, they would have still ended the season mediocre and wouldn’t have had the draft capital to get them into the position they are today. Long term I think we’d rather be setting ourselves up for a sustained future over perennial 7-9 or 8-8 seasons. In a few years I think we’ll look back and better understand the Mayock/Gruden strategy that has been painful to watch and experience.