AP
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, left, talks with defensive coordinator Paul Guenther during an NFL football training camp practice Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Henderson, Nev. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)
Monday, Oct. 5, 2020 | 2 a.m.
The Raiders sideline was a little less crowded during Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, as defensive coordinator Paul Guenther packed up his clipboard and moved his play-calling operation upstairs to a booth on the upper level of Allegiant Stadium.
Guenther, who is in his third year at the helm of the Raiders defense, had previously worked from field level, so there was some question during the game — a 30-23 loss in which the Las Vegas defense allowed 5.7 yards per play and forced zero turnovers — as to why the change was made.
Around the league, the decision to run the defense from the field or the booth usually just comes down to the coordinator’s preference (in conjunction with the head coach). Could it have been done at Jon Gruden’s direction, as an effort to shake things up for a defense that has been very bad through the first quarter of the season?
Before any conspiracy theories really got a chance to gain traction, Gruden addressed it in his post-game press conference and attempted to defuse the situation.
“That’s a loaded question,” Gruden said. “Paul Guenther went up in the box so he could see better. We’re playing a lot of new players and I think it worked out pretty good. I think his communication was good with the middle linebacker from the box and I think he was good communicating with the staff from the box as well.”
Guenther’s relocation to the booth did coincide with the return of middle linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, who had missed the previous two games due to injury. Kwiatkoski is the defensive player the Raiders have designated to wear a helmet speaker, so Guenther can communicate with him directly between plays.
Kwiatkoski also wore the helmet speaker in Week 1 at Carolina, when Guenther called plays from the sideline. After Sunday’s game, Kwiatkoski said there didn’t seem to be much of a difference on this end.
“I felt like it went good,” Kwiatkoski said. “There were no mishaps and there was great communication. I can’t speak on the last two games, but we kind of left off where I was at in Carolina a couple of weeks ago. The calls were coming in and there were no problems.”
Those explanations probably won’t be enough to quell the fan base, as the Raiders have lost two straight games and currently rank in the bottom five in the league in yards per play allowed, yards per rush allowed and takeaways. But for now, the official word is that Guenther’s move away from the action was not a judgment on his job performance, but rather a benign streamlining of the play-calling process.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
