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PRE-MATCH
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Jon Gruden still believes it was an escapee.
It’s been almost 20 years since the Las Vegas Raiders head coach left the snow-covered Foxboro Stadium following a heartbreaking 16-13 loss to the New England Patriots, during the 2001 NFL playoffs.
It all came down to the end of the fourth quarter, when Tom Brady was struck from behind resulting in a fumble. The referees initially called a fumble, but the decision was overturned following a video replay and the game ended up instead with an incomplete pass.
The Patriots tied and then won the game on the winning field goal of Adam Vinatieri. They then took off, en route to the first Super Bowl conquest in franchise history.
“Yeah, thanks for reminding me,” Gruden said earlier this week. He dropped that damn ball. “
Back with the Raiders after a stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a stint as an NFL analyst on TV, Gruden will return to New England on Sunday with the goal of securing his first coaching victory. -chef against the Pats of Bill Belichick. In his only other match in New England in 2005, the Gruden Bucs were pulverized 28-0.
He mentioned that the Raiders’ opening game against the Carolina Panthers and the next against the New Orleans Saints made him feel “like traveling back in time” when he was in charge of the Bucs. in the southern section of the National Association.
The nostalgia is further amplified this week by this clash against the Patriots.
“Every time you find yourself in a stadium like this, memories come to the surface,” Gruden said. Some of these memories are unpleasant, but we are happy to be here. “
This is also the case for the Pats, who will try to bounce back after suffering a 35-30 loss against the Seattle Seahawks.
Since they are part of the same generation of coaches who rose through the ranks of the NFL, Belichick said he still had a lot of respect for Gruden, despite his absence from the sidelines which lasted for over a decade. following his departure from the Bucs in 2008.
“It’s a lot easier to have a relationship with someone who isn’t competing with you,” Belichick said.
He believes that the time Gruden spent analyzing matches for television gave him new perspectives, which he didn’t have in their first two clashes.
Belichick expects the friendship to be forgotten on Sunday, however.
“When you’re competing with someone, that all changes for a short time,” Belichick said. But I’m sure that at some point it will become a different kind of relationship. “
