Former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is ready to make a return to coaching. To refresh his coaching skills, the boys on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast asked how he’d handle an oddly specific end-of-game scenario.
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Host Will Compton – who briefly played for Gruden in 2021 – laid out the situation.
“You are down a point. Two seconds left. It’s 4th-and-20 from the 35-yard line, but your kicker broke his foot. What’s the play call?”
NFL teams don’t carry two kickers, so attempting a field goal from this range (52-53 yards) is out of the question. As a result, Gruden had to dig into his playbook to find a solution. Unsurprisingly, his play call came with contingencies.
“I’ll go Tandem Right 76 Rebound Pass. I’ll throw a Hail Mary up there… isolate my best receiver. If they play one-on-one over there, I’ll throw it to him. If not, I’ll pop it up into the end zone.”
Gruden, as an offensive head coach, has something in mind for every theoretical moment. He is extremely confident that that play would give his team a chance to win. Unless, as he put it, his quarterback elects to conserve his numbers instead of trying to win.
Jon Gruden’s qualms with selfish QBs
A Hail Mary is one of the NFL’s most unconventional pass types. Every coach has their own method for them. The only common thread between playbooks is the quarterback needing to keep the ball in the field of play so their teammates can secure six points.
In Gruden’s mind, some signal-callers prioritize avoiding an interception on Hail Mary attempts instead of potentially winning. And that aggravates him to no end.
“When guys throw [a Hail Mary], and the ball lands off the field of play… have you ever seen that? Yes, you have. It’s the QB Rating… They don’t want to throw interceptions… these are the greatest passers in the world… you can throw the ball in a tight window… you can sizzle it in there, off platform… but on the last play of the game, you can’t keep the ball on the playing field?”
Quarterbacks don’t practice the Hail Mary as often as other passes, but Gruden does have a point. They know the distance necessary for their guys to have a chance on every such attempt. Barring an unexpected blitz or pressure, they have all the time in the world to set up their throw.
There’s really no excuse for overshooting the end zone at such a critical juncture. Robbing your teammates of an opportunity to win for personal preservation can’t go over well in a locker room, which is why Gruden got extremely agitated mentioning it.
Hopefully, any quarterback he potentially coaches in the future is wise enough not to attempt such a stunt.
