Raiders’ Jon Gruden seeks patience as season seems lost. What he and Derek Carr are saying

Just two seasons ago, things were looking bright for the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders were rolling until Derek Carr’s season was cut short in Week 16 because of a broken fibula against the Indianapolis Colts.

Oakland finished that season 12-4 and lost in the wild-card playoff game to the Houston Texans. Last season, the Raiders finished 6-10, leading to the firing of Jack Del Rio.

Enter Jon Gruden who was hired in January, hoping to restore the glory days before he got traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Instead, the Raiders are 1-5 after Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks in London. Gruden said patience is needed.

“We are going to continue to build the team,” Gruden said. “I‘ve only been here for six or seven months. We know we have a ways to go here. I told the rookies after the game, don’t forget this. I want the rookies to take advantage of this playing time.”

The Raiders have a bye this week and will play the Colts (1-5) on Oct. 28 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Carr said he understands fans’ frustration.

“Our players, our team, our coaches want it now and trust me, we are trying to do it now,” said Carr, who is second in the NFL in completion percentage with 71.7 percent. “But we’ve got to take this bye week, look at what we can do to play better right off of this bye week. What can we do to win that game? And that’s where our mindset has to be.”

Said Gruden: “We’re not tanking anything. Ain’t nobody tanking it. I left them with a clear message. I’ll say this: ‘We’re not tanking anything.’ I hear the hatred out there. The rumors that we’re tanking it to get a first-round pick or a higher pick. We’re not getting up at 4 o’clock to tank it. Ain’t nobody tanking it. That’s not the case here. We’re going to continue to work hard and continue to build our team. That was part of the message (to the players).”

After the Colts game, the Raiders have a short week facing the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 1.

The next three Raiders’ games include the Los Angeles Chargers (home, Nov. 11), at Arizona (Nov. 18) and at Baltimore (Nov. 25).

“We just got to keep fighting,” Raiders defensive end Bruce Irvin said. “You can’t start pointing fingers. You’ve got to stay connected and stay together. Just keep chipping away. We’re very confident with the group that we got. Just things not falling our way right now. We just got to continue to work at it.”

Carr, who is 10th in the NFL with 1,763 passing yards this season, said the Raiders’ 2014 draft class helped changed the culture that culminated with a winning season in 2016. He said he feels the same can be done with the current teammates and wants the rookies to know that.

“You’ve got to learn that when your number is called and you head out there on that field, you have to play on that guy’s level who just got out of the game,” Carr said. “We won a whole bunch of games and those kind of things and fell apart, but I definitely think where we’re at today, compared to my rookie year, is night and day, I promise.”

▪ Gruden said Carr — who injured his left arm on a sack during the fourth quarter of Seattle game — is sore but will be OK.

▪ Gruden said he’s concerned about running back Marshawn Lynch, who has a groin strain.

▪ The Raiders released linebacker Derrick Johnson and promoted linebcker Jason Cabinda.

Anthony Galaviz: 559-441-6042, @agalaviz_TheBee

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 12:33 PM.