With the 2017 NFL season officially over, the team can now start to shift gears toward the offseason. Aside from the looming decisions the Rams will need to make in the near future, they can also take a look at their opponents for the 2018 NFL season.
Among the notable opponents includes a matchup versus his former colleague in Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden. To no surprise, McVay offered up some high praise for Gruden during his press conference:
“Great coach, great motivator, great leader, great teacher in terms of just understanding the big picture,” McVay said. “He’s gotten exposed to a lot of different things. I’ll be interested to see, will he run the same offense that he was running when I got a chance to work with him in Tampa or will he now implement some of the different things that he’s had a chance to kind of continue to get exposure to over the last handful of years?”
McVay was admittedly not too excited about the matchup with Gruden’s Raiders.
“Either way, hate the fact that we’ll have to go against his next year,” McVay said. “It will be fun, but he’s a great coach and you see why Oakland is so excited about being able to get him back to the Raiders.”
McVay worked as a coaching assistant under Gruden for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2008. Since then, it has become evident that both have shown a tremendous amount of respect for each other.
Oakland’s lucrative hiring of the former Super Bowl-winning coach was one of the early headlines of the NFL offseason. It goes without saying that the Raiders were among the most disappointing teams this year. That said, they will be looking to bounce back strong under the command of their new high-profile coach.
