“Gruden would kill us, and we would fall apart,” says one Raiders veteran, crediting Rich Bisaccia’s approach for the team’s late season playoff push.
We are in a results-oriented business. And it can be hard to argue results. The reason for those results can often be argued, but the results cannot.
Take the Raiders’ records the past few seasons.
In the first three seasons with Gruden back on the job, the Raiders have collapsed down the stretch. To the tune of a 2-4, 1-5, 2-4 5-13 record over the final six games of each season.
The past two seasons, the Raiders came surging out the gates to go 6-4 over the first ten. They were even 6-3 in 2020 before the collapse began, going 2-5 over the final seven.
Now, suddenly, despite all the tumult surrounding the team with Gruden’s midseason forced resignation, Henry Ruggs’s fatal DUI crash, and more, they reeled off four-straight wins at the end of the season to make their first playoff appearance since 2016.
Why? One anonymous Raiders veteran had his theory and he shared it with Mike Silver at Bally Sports.
“We didn’t have Gruden grinding us late in the year,” one Raiders veteran told Silver. “Gruden would kill us, and we would fall apart. The reason this team played so well down the stretch is that Rich listened to the players and took it easy over the back half of the season.”
It’s true he took it easy on the players from a physical standpoint. Starting in Week 15, in preparation for the Browns, the team would have walk-thrus on both Wednesday and Thursday instead of padded practices.
That was also the game that started their four-game win streak. Coincidence? One Raiders veteran clearly doesn’t think so. And the results seem to back up his assessment.
Some can point to the fact that the Raiders were knocked out of the playoffs as proof to the contrary. But consider that in every game they played late in the season, including the playoff loss. they seemed to get stronger as the game went on. They beat the Chargers — who had a better record and were on a path to the playoffs themselves until the loss to the Raiders knocked them out — and took the Bengals to the wire.
That game against the Bengals was the only actually competitive game of the Wild Card weekend. So, even in a loss, the Raiders were clearly doing something right. And there was no question about their stamina late in games.
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