Entering Monday night, head coaches in the NFL debuting with a new team had gone a collective 0-5 after the Arizona Cardinals’ Steve Wilks, Pat Shurmur of the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears’ Matt Nagy, Frank Reich of the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans’ Mike Vrabel all saw their teams lose.
Matt Patricia of the Detroit Lions and Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders had a chance to reverse that trend … but they didn’t.
The Lions self-destructed during a humbling 48-17 loss to the New York Jets that saw Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford toss four interceptions and the team commit a number of awful plays on defense and special teams.
Gruden didn’t fare much better during his return to the sideline of the Raiders as Oakland fell apart in the second half and were rolled by the Los Angeles Rams 33-13.
“It was a tale of two halves, and obviously we did not take care of the ball and that was a critical part of this football game. Very disappointing,” Gruden said after the Raiders were outscored 23-0 after halftime.
Following his team’s shellacking at home to the Jets, Patricia vowed to coach better next time out.
“We’ve got to coach this a lot better than what we did,” he said. “We’ve got to go out and execute a lot better on the field. It’s a team game, and it starts with me.”
If he doesn’t, his first head coaching gig may be his last.
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