Jon Gruden didn’t get into specifics on why he fired Paul Guenther. He didn’t need to. Not with all the evidence available showing how his hand-picked defensive coordinator (and good friend) couldn’t cut the mustard. “It’s really hard because I have a lot of respect for this guy, Paul Guenther,” Gruden said during his Monday
What a Rod Marinelli-led Raiders defense entails
Listening to Marinelli’s presser today, I will repeat what I said in another story comment and say i wouldn’t be surprised if the defence plays with a lot more effort and passion going forward. He really emphasized the non-talent things…passion, staying on side, being disciplined, etc. I do believe some of the guys lacked focus and weren’t doing their jobs. Hopefully a teacher like Marinelli can get them to band together. Although with a short week I’m not sure how much he can do.
Such a shame this obvious change which a lot of us have been calling for, for so long, has been left so damn late in the season.
Marinelli is now left with very little time but at last we might get to see why players that looked good on other NFL teams or top college programs suddenly looked so poor in the Raiders D.
That pattern has happened so often it must be linked to the coaching they have received. Marinelli has a chance to let his players play to their strengths, as suggested by Ray in the article.
Can’t wait to start finding out whether these guys can actually play at the NFL level – only thing I’ve been sure of on our D for the last couple of seasons is that Guenther can’t coach!
Good luck coach Marinelli – see if you can keep our hopes on life support for another week….
Wade Phillips is making it known he is very interested in becoming the next Raiders DC. It’ll be up Gruden who he choses, but considering two of his former players are Raider players, it is worth asking Joyner and Littleton for their thoughts about playing for Wade. After all, they thrived in his defense. If it is about making the defense better, Gruden shouldn’t be hiring Marinelli or Raheem Morris (if ATL fires him) either. Go with a Wade Phillips, or Anthony Lynn (if the Chargers fire him). Matt Patricia, he’s probably headed back to NE. Even if the Raiders don’t hire Wade as DC, certainly hire him as their senior defensive consultant.
When DEN hired Wade as DC after JDR came to the Raiders, he turned around an underachieving defense into a top five unit. He did the same with the Rams, making a poor unit into one of the best. I’m sure he would do the same for the Raiders. And, getting a chance to coach against old rivals (DEN, KC and the Chargers).
A Gruden offense works the best with a stout defense. Right now, a good ale is more stout than the Raiders D.