Raiders coach Jon Gruden made some waves on Friday by making some strong comments about new backup quarterback Marcis Mariota.
Bits and pieces of the remarks from Gruden made their way to Twitter. In the interests of completeness and clarity, we listened to the entire comments on Mariota. They appear below.
Gruden was asked to discuss Mariota’s transition. Here’s what Gruden said: “He’s interesting. He took off a couple times today, really fired me up. He’s been hurt. Looked like the ankle has really turned the corner. He’s a dazzling playmaker with his feet, and that’s the key to his game. So I saw that, glimpses of that today. It was exciting. Started off slow in seven-on-seven, but picked it up. Had a nice day. Had a really nice day.”
That’s enough to raise eyebrows. It’s enough to get the attention of starter Derek Carr, who has said he’s tired of being disrespected -- and who thereafter was called out by a team employee who works on the team’s radio broadcasts. Whether it’s enough to put Mariota in position to leapfrog Carr ultimately hinges on how Carr performs.