Coaches and players talk about the “24-hour rule” all the time, saying that they give themselves one day to ruminate on the previous win or loss before moving on to the next game.
But sometimes things happen that are more difficult to get past.
That’s apparently the case for Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, who on Monday seemed like a man still bothered by the way his team lost to Miami on Saturday.
“The disappointing thing is we played well enough to win that football game,” Gruden said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It goes down to one lousy play and it still sticks in my gut the wrong way right now.”
Miami’s Ryan Fitzpatrick somehow completed a 34-yard pass to wide receiver Mack Hollins with defensive end Arden Key twisting his facemask to the side of his head. The pass plus the 15-yard penalty put Miami on Las Vegas’ 26-yard line with 12 seconds left — so much time that Fitzpatrick had to throw another incomplete pass to run the clock down.
“They have 19 seconds left with no timeouts at the minus-25-yard line,” Gruden said. “For us to not get off the field with a victory, it’s a shame, it’s a disgrace and it’s a reflection on me only. We have to do a lot better job than that.”
Given the unique circumstances of the loss, it’s not hard to understand why it’s sticking with Gruden. It may be little consolation, but at least the Raiders have a chance to finish the season at .500 with a victory over Denver in Week 17.