Recently, new Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was talking about the excitement he feels about being back in football.
“Being back on the grass with a group of guys that have a lot in common, that’s what I missed the most, being on a team,” he told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback. “Being back in Oakland is special, and I have a strong responsibility. And I know I have an uphill battle, a lot of people probably doubting me, but I’m gonna do the best I can to do it.”
Not only is he eager to see what he can do with this Raiders team that fell flat at 6-10 in 2017, but the TV networks are, too.
When the Raiders’ 2018 schedule was announced Thursday night, there, in a prime-time slot in Week 1 for “Monday Night Football,” are Gruden and the Raiders. Oakland will take on the Los Angeles Rams in a 7:20 p.m. game at O.co Coliseum.
Raiders fans and football fans across the country will tune in to see how Gruden – away from coaching for so long – will do, and how the Raiders will look in a tough matchup against a Rams team that won the NFC West last season and has added some big-time players this offseason.
It also will be a matchup of Gruden against his former protégé, Rams head coach Sean McVay, who has run an offensive scheme similar to Gruden’s.
The prime-time season opener is one of four night games Oakland will play in 2018.
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As Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch said Thursday night, there’s obviously plenty of interest nationally in the Gruden-Raiders story, and TV networks want to jump on it.
“Gruden must’ve cut some side deals,” Lynch said in a video tweeted out by the Raiders. Lynch was discussing the 2018 schedule with quarterback Josh Johnson. “We got a lot of prime-time games, man.”
